Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is a student of “narco-chavist dictatorships”, the leader of Spain’s VOX party, Santiago Abascal, has claimed.
Abascal claimed that his Socialist Party rival represented “the European paradigm of corruption, the suppression of liberties and attacks on public property”.
Speaking at the opening of a joint event between the conservative group’s think-tank, Fundación Disenso, and the American conservative group, the Heritage Foundation, Abascal described the premier as an “advanced pupil of narco-chavist dictatorships, Xi Jinping’s China and Iran’s theocratic regime”.
The dangers posed by such politicians, he continued, were not limited to just Spain.
“Freedom is not in good health on both sides of the Atlantic,” claimed Abascal during the April 19 event.
He argued that Socialist-led governments across the world “use” international organisations to “put a democratic disguise on their anti-liberties, anti-Rule of Law agendas”.
“Our nations are under threat,” he added.
Abascal also denounced Sánchez’s alleged proximity to the left-leaning governments of Brazil and Colombia.
VOX has maintained that Spain is the only European Member State to have communists among its governing coalition.
According to Abascal: “The Atlantic community must be morally stronger to defend liberty and sovereignty.”
In his speech, he also referred to the situation in the Middle East, saying: “The positions some international organisations have taken against Israel is unsettling.”
The Spanish Government is lobbying hard for the recognition of Palestine as a State. Sánchez has said this would be the “first commitment” of the new legislative term.
Abascal has previously claimed that the dominance of left-wing groups across Europe would not last, and that the “winds of change” are blowing in the EU.
Despite losing more than 15 MPs in last year’s Spanish general election, VOX is now optimistic about its prospects in the upcoming June 9 European Parliament elections.
According to Abascal, “patriotic and conservative forces” would be able to determine the direction of the EU in issues such as migration and security.
He said a change in the leadership of the US Government also “presents an opportunity”.
Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano agreed with this last point, saying that a conservative president “would bring about a change in American foreign policy”.
VOX is putting great effort into its international relations development. In February, Abascal met former US president Donald Trump during a four-day visit to Washington where he spoke at the CPAC Conference.
Abascal also had meetings in December with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to “outline strategies” ahead of the European Parliament elections.
