Donald Trump's recent attack on Venezuela, which continues to shake the international community, also cast a shadow over the traditional Military Easter celebration at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Without explicitly mentioning it, King Felipe VI underscored the need to strengthen the armed forces, invest in defense, and generate a "credible deterrent" in the face of the "growing sense of threat." In his year-end address, the Spanish monarch noted that we are living in a "complex geostrategic era." In his view, the past year has once again "demonstrated how valuable and necessary" it is to have a well-prepared and well-equipped army, one that is "up to the challenge." The monarch praised Spain's "firm and unequivocal commitment" to its EU and NATO allies, as well as to organizations such as the UN and to "multilateralism and, ultimately, the rules-based global order."