🌍 This Week in Spain: Sánchez's Wants His Crusade to Go Global

Also: A diplomatic fight with Mexico, Alvise may be in trouble and the TV wars heat up.

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | September 26, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #71

🎉 Welcome to The Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!

🥜 This Week in a Nutshell: Remember our diplomatic troubles with Venezuela? That’s so last week! Now it’s Mexico, please keep up with the times. Also, PM Sánchez really wants his war against disinformation to expand beyond borders so he’s taking it to the UN this week.

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The plan for a “democratic regeneration” lands in New York

PM Sánchez takes his fight against disinformation to the UN. Will anyone listen?

Here we are again, discussing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s so-called “democratic regeneration plan” (his crusade against disinformation that we’ve been covering since April).

As it’s highly unlikely that parties such as the PP (center-right) or Vox (far-right) will support the PM’s legislation at home, Sánchez has found some people abroad who are willing to at least listen, among them Brazilian President Lula Da Silva.

• Forum time. So the two organized a forum at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this Tuesday, entitled “In defense of democracy and against extremism”, that was attended by Canada’s Justin Trudeau, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Chile’s Gabriel Boric, among others.

• Democracy and news (the fake kind). The goal was to discuss the effects of disinformation and threats to democracy, as well as the “growing disillusionment observed in millions of citizens worldwide”. (Da Silva has also been dealing with the intersection of democracy and fake news at home, with the 2023 assault on the nation’s Congress building and the current legal fight between Brazil’s Judiciary and Elon Musk).

Sánchez used his opening remarks to warn that “never before have so many people been exposed to lies and disinformation”, adding that “transparency” in digital media is necessary.

• Sánchez also urged the international community to “engage in the fight against fake news and disinformation with the aim of strengthening democracies and combating extremism”.

• Then yesterday around midnight came Sánchez’s speech at the UN General Assembly, in which he repeated his push for a fight against disinformation and the rise of far-right extremism in the Western world.

• The man’s words. “The world faces a real risk of democratic backsliding. Rights that were once believed to be secure are now being questioned or rolled back. A global reactionary agenda is gaining ground, fueled by distrust in institutions, polarization, and the promotion of a fabricated past, as false as its proclamations”.

• Tough words! “Democracy cannot hope to win this battle with one hand tied behind its back. It faces unscrupulous people: activists of lies, fake news, and hatred, willing to split societies to impose their regressive agenda.”

That sounds great…but there’s a catch, right? Yeah, sorta. As noble-sounding as Sánchez’s crusade for democracy and against “fake news” sounds, it’s raised some, uh, eyebrows 🤨. And not only because Donald Trump popularized the idea of “fake news” to describe any news he didn’t like or that contradicted him. 

• As far as I can throw him. In Spain's current hyper-polarized moment, there is little trust between Sánchez’s PSOE and the main center-right opposition, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo’s PP. So while the PP supported some of what Sánchez is proposing when it was enacted at the EU level as part of the European Media Freedom Act—such as rules enforcing transparency of media ownership and the fair distribution of state advertising—they do not trust (or at least say they don’t) that the rules won’t be used to attack media that Sánchez just disagrees with as opposed to all those that are spreading actual slander, libel and lies. 

Pot calling kettle black? Plus, Sánchez’s hyperventilated support of democracy against extremism at the UNGA forum didn’t quite square with his recent take on the state of democracy in Venezuela.

• Don’t say “Maduro”. Sponsors Lula and Sánchez didn’t mention the repression unleashed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro since it became clear he lost July elections by a landslide, seeming to suggest threats to democracy were not so bad if they came from the left. (Sánchez later mentioned Venezuela in his speech to the assembly, but only to say that the votes should be counted “in total transparency and verification”.)

• Chile’s leftist President Gabriel Boric was not willing to ignore the Venezuelan elephant int he room. “Human rights violations can’t be judged according to the color of the dictator or the president who commits them — either Netanyahu in Israel, Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Ortega in Nicaragua or Vladimir Putin in Russia,” he said. “We need to be able to defend principles and I believe we sometimes fail to do that.”

• That Caracas visit. These doubts were not eased by the fact Spain’s allowed Maduro lieutenants Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez into its ambassador’s residence in Caracas, where they apparently pressured opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez to sign a document recognizing the legitimacy of the bogus election before he fled to Spain.

TL;DR Sánchez’s support for democracy and pushback against publishing lies is commendable, but trust has been worn too thin to get his legislation much beyond the slogan stage in the near future.

We can’t leave you without a funny moment. Actress Anne Hathaway was apparently slated to present Sánchez with a UN ‘He for She’ award for his commitment to gender equality (which he indeed has shown in his cabinet). Not surprisingly, Sánchez’s Transport Minister (Chief Troll Oscar Puente then mocked Feijóo by saying the PP leader “would never get over” such an image. But then Hathaway didn’t show up and the PP supporters mocked right back. Ah, how the children play on Twitter/X).

More news below. 👇👇

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week

1. 🇲🇽 Move over, Venezuela: We have a bone to pick with Mexico now

Mexico’s president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is channeling her inner Gretchen Wieners and telling King Felipe VI of Spain: “You can’t sit with us”. (If you had to google “Gretchen Wieners”, please leave. We don’t want your kind here.)

So here’s the thing: back in 1492, Columbus “discovered” America and some stuff happened. The tl;dr version is that 500 years later there are people who disagree with the official version of history and with the actions of the Spanish empire, including Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (aka AMLO).

• Back in March 2019, AMLO (who had only become president a few months earlier in a ceremony that King Felipe attended) sent the monarch a letter, urging him to “acknowledge the abuses that Mexican authorities believe were committed during the (Spanish) conquest” 500 years ago and to “apologize for them”.

• The King never responded to the letter and the Spanish government condemned the letter too, which led to the relations between the countries being a little icy ever since.

Six years later, president-elect Sheinbaum (who is Mexico’s first female president and AMLO’s political heir) has decided not to invite the King to her inauguration ceremony on Oct. 1, which has reignited the flames of discord between the countries.

• Sheinbaum confirmed on Twitter yesterday that the King wasn’t invited because the 2019 letter “did not receive a direct response, as would have been expected in the best diplomatic practice”.

• But… Sheinbaum mentioned, however, that “Mexico and Spain share a strong friendship.” She suggested, however, that “it would benefit from a renewed perspective.” Also, PM Sánchez was invited to attend.

Spain’s government announced Tuesday that it wouldn’t be sending any representation to the ceremony (because remember, in Spain, the King is the Head of State and the PM is the head of government).

Sánchez then offered a press conference in New York on Wednesday and, when asked about his thoughts on the conflict with Mexico, he said that “the Spanish government considers Mexico a kindred nation,” but said he was “sad” over what he considers to be the “exploitation” of King Felipe’s role in the inauguration.

• You can’t have anyone then. Sánchez added that his government had told the Mexican side there would be no representatives present “as a sign of protest over an exclusion we consider not only unacceptable but also inexplicable.”

The good news? Representatives from three small Spanish lefty parties desperate for attention—any attention!—will be there: Sumar, Podemos and Bildu.

2. 💰 SALF+SBF = You’ve got some ‘splaining to do!

To be a real populist politician you need the whiff of a crypto scandal. Just ask Donald Trump—when he needed to kick it up a notch (and—more importantly—raise money) he converted to Crypto Bro and launched a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial that was supposed to do…well, something in crypto, but no one’s quite sure. 

Why do we care in Spain? Because aspiring populist juggernaut Alvise Pérez, whose Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) party/movement/Telegram channel won three seats in the European Parliament in June, just got in hot water with his own crypto-adjacent scandal.

• Campaigns cost money. Back in the Spring, Alvise apparently asked new big buddy Álvaro Romillo—the founder of the Madeira Invest Club (MIC) who is better known (and we shit you not) as Luis CryptoSpain—for an online crypto wallet to accept donations that could be used in his campaign. In fact, Alvise said he “urgently” needed some €300,000-€360,000 in undeclared funds (outside the regulated electoral system) .

• But no 💲coming in. After a few days he started complaining to Luis CryptoSpain that he wasn’t getting it. So the crypto kingpin offered to give Alvise €100,000—in cash. (We love cash too, so if you’d like to donate, please do tell.)

• Small catch. All Alvise had to do was record a little video for the business “or something like that.” No prob! Alvise told Luis CryptoSpain that if SALF got seats, he’d set up talks for Luis in Brussels to lobby for crypto, and even push for pro-crypto laws in Spain once he became indispensable to a PP/Vox coalition government. That’s what friends are for, right?

This was not a problem. But then… MIC went belly-up last week and left behind some 3,000 angry investors whom his investment club had promised returns of up to 53% on NFTs (aka scammy digital art).

• Told ya so! Problem was, Spain’s security regulator, the CNMV, had already put out a warning—in May 2023!— that MIC was not authorized to run the investment schemes it was offering.

• 🔼 Scheme. Now, the peeved investors—many of whom had heard about MIC at an event sponsored by Alvise—were going to the courts and saying Romillo/CryptoSpain was running a pyramid scheme.

• Spilled beans. So Romillo did what any cornered investment scammer would do—he went to the authorities and spilled the beans. LOTS OF BEANS! 🫘🫘🫘

Romillo delivered lots of documentation to prosecutors—like tons of Signal and Telegram chats he had with Alvise about the money and what Alvise would do for him

• That’s illegal! Thing is, it’s against Spanish election laws to get more than €50,000 a year from one donor, and all donations over €25,000 have to be reported. So that unreported €100,000? Bad!

Care to cut a deal? Put yourself in CryptoSpain’s oily little shoes: If you offer the authorities the head of Alvise, and the change to claw back €100,000 for investors, that’s got to count  for something, right?

• Next step. As a member of the European Parliament, Alvise has immunity from prosecution—to a point. The case has been passed to the prosecutor’s office of Spain’s Tribunal Supremo, which can prosecute if it sees a crime.

3. 👩‍❤️‍👨 PM Pedro Sánchez admits Begoña Gómez is his wife

Remember when Judge Juan Carlos Peinado summoned Pedro Sánchez to testify in the (likely dubious) case of influence peddling that the far-right group Manos Limpias (yeah, homey, Clean Hands) filed against the PM’s wife Begoña Gómez? And lefty parties called the summons “lawfare” while Spain’s right-wing Freddie Mercury (aka Santiago Abascal) patted himself on the back for making the interview happen? And we said, after the interview happened, “a leak of the short video is now a very real possibility. Woohoo! 🎉”?

• Well guess what? Just minutes after Peinado released the video to the parties in the case, the audio of it was leaked to the press! Like, who woulda thunk it? 🤷

Big stuff in the audio, right? Ummmmmm. You’re gonna want to sit down for this one. 

• The judge said hello and asked Sánchez his name. The answer? Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón.

• Peinado says 3 people are being investigated. The first is Doña Begoña Gómez Fernández. Does Sánchez have a relationship of family, friendship, or enmity? 

  • Wait for it! “She is my wife.”

• Sánchez then denies he knows the other two. “No,” and, “Him neither.”

• After the judge informs the PM he doesn’t have to testify — because she’s one of those under investigation — Sánchez declines to answer various questions. 🙊 And that’s…it!

Two ways of dealing with this Nothing Burger of a declaration. The pro-PSOE/pro-Sánchez El País spent over 1,000 words tearing into the judge for forcing Sánchez to answer questions (a “non-declaration”) in this non-case. And on the right…the pro-PP El Mundo called it “The 111 toughest seconds in Sánchez’s life”. Really? Like, exaggerate much? 

• At least there’s love. 🥰 No sign that Sánchez is less “deeply in love” with Begoña than when he threatened to quit after the case was first filed. 

Fun fact: The video was probably not leaked because each party to the case received video with a unique watermark—and who wants to get caught?

4. 📺 Johnny Depp and Norman Reedus heat up Spain’s late night TV war

The fight to be crowned the 👑 King of Late Night television continues, and this week the gloves came off in a big way.

Not a day in the last three weeks has gone by without the local media running a story on who is winning the Late Night wars. As we explained recently, Pablo Motos’ El Hormiguero (Antena 3) and David Broncano’s La Revuelta (La 1) have been ruthlessly competing to see who manages to draw a larger audience. And yes, it’s safe to say that the two are head-to-head.

• Big guns! 💪 On Monday, both shows brought out high-caliber guests. Johnny Depp was a guest on El Hormiguero, while Norman Reedus (of The Walking Dead fame) appeared on La Revuelta. The winner? Pablo Motos, whose show featuring Depp drew a 18.1% share (or 2,373,000 viewers), while Reedus’ interview with Broncano drew 16.3% (some 200,000 fewer viewers).

Now, let’s talk about why this happened:

• First, Johnny Depp is, well, Johnny Depp. No disrespect to Reedus (who is a great actor and seemingly a cool guy) but Depp has been around for a lot longer and is a much more popular celebrity in Spain.

• Next, El Hormiguero provides non-Spanish speaking guests with simultaneous translation so there are no awkward silences and pauses. On La Revuelta, on the other hand, Broncano served as a translator, which slowed down the pacing of the interview and at times made Reedus giggle like a child because he had no idea what was going on.

• Lastly, while El Hormiguero announced Johnny Depp’s appearance a week in advance, Broncano did not reveal his surprise guest until he was seated on the show (as he always does). This may not have been the best move.

Look, we expect for the battle for the prime time slot to continue, but in the end both can be congratulated for having some damn good numbers.

• Olive branch 🫒. In fact, Broncano last week extended an olive branch to Motos by saying on his show that he hoped people “would be able to watch both programs, as they are both pretty good”.

(Oh, and side note: In case you don’t remember, Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard lives in Madrid and when she was asked about him being in town she was like “thank you, next”).

5. 🗣️ That polio survivor who was removed from parliament

(Originally we were going to use the fifth spot here to tell you this story about a fake Brad Pitt scamming two Spanish women—but like literally every publication in the world, including Mashable India, already has it. So without further ado…)

Because seemingly Parliament can’t get enough yelling and drama these days, this week featured an episode between Speaker Francina Armengol and a woman who started screaming from the gallery during yesterday’s plenary session.

• From the peanut gallery, literally. Yesterday around 10 a.m., the parliamentary debate was in full session and Transport Minister Oscar Puente was answering questions when a woman started screaming from the gallery. (The gallery, known as Tribuna del Público, is an area of Parliament where peasants like us members of the public, visitors, and sometimes invited guests can observe parliamentary sessions.)

• “We are dying!” the woman, who was using crutches, could be heard screaming. For a few uncomfortable moments, an usher struggled to remove her as she kept screaming and Armengol reminded her that public interruptions were not allowed. MPs looked up, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

The woman was later identified as Victoria Ibáñez, a member of “Polio Children”, a collective of polio survivors, who had decided to complain about the lack of attention (mainly from the Ministry of Health) towards polio victims in Spain.

• Wait. Is polio still a thing in Spain? No, but it affected thousands of people in the mid-20th century. During her brief protest, Ibáñez screamed that they had been fighting for their rights for 60 years.

After she was removed, Ibáñez continued to make demands from the street alongside other protestors from the organization.

• Ibáñez told TVE that polio survivors in Spain have “very limited access to rehabilitation, have trouble finding work and receive ‘pitiful’ pensions”.

• In her words: “We are victims of both the dictatorship and democracy … I’m very sorry for the commotion I caused in Congress, but there was no other way”.

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