The president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, this Saturday at the Viva22 event in Madrid. EUROPA PRESS (EUROPA PRESS)
This year Vox has dedicated its great party (Viva 22) to the history of Spain.
A history whose knowledge is hidden, according to Santiago Abascal, to the new generations.
In the Mad Cool space where the event is being held this weekend —62,000 square meters in the Madrid district of Villaverde—, Vox has installed 52 booths;
one per province, in addition to Ceuta and Melilla.
And he has chosen a historical character for each one: kings, monks, conquerors, politicians, artists and scientists who illustrate the history of Spain that Vox wants to display with pride.
However, the most universal Spanish painter and poet of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso and Federico García Lorca, were missing.
Vox has preferred the conservative politician Cánovas del Castillo and Admiral Álvaro de Bazán to represent Malaga and Granada.
Although Picasso was a communist and Lorca was shot by the rebels of 1936, thinkers who were not exactly on the left, such as José Ortega y Gasset and Miguel de Unamuno, were missing from the list.
Also to Antonio Machado, who warned the new generations that "one of the two Spains" would freeze their hearts.
Abascal has boasted of defending a history of Spain "complete, without black or pink legends", but in the Spain that Vox has presented at his party there are no Catalonia, the Basque Country or Andalusia,
The party has chosen to represent Barcelona Rafael Casanova, whom the Catalan nationalists honor every September 11, although in reality he did not fight for the independence of Catalonia, but for the House of Austria against the Bourbons.
To enter the Girona toll booth, you had to step on an
estelada
flag (pro-independence), with the inscription “Municipality of the Catalan Republic”.
Inside hung yellow ribbons, torn
senyeras
and banners for the freedom of imprisoned independentistas as "war trophies", according to a poster.
Although, according to Vox, almost 30,000 people had registered, as the morning progressed there were no queues, except at the table where a book was given to the first 4,000 attendees and at the booth that Abascal visited at that time, followed by a swarm of admirers to take a
selfie
with him.
Greetings were also distributed by the Castilian-Leonese vice president, Juan García Gallardo, or the MEP Jorge Buxadé, who encouraged "making Spain great again", paraphrasing Donald Trump.
Macarena Olona was missing, who last year was the undisputed star of the party dancing
Macarena
de Los del Río.
The food and drink tents shared space with stalls selling religious sculptures and those offering records and t-shirts by homophobic singers like Santaflow.
Together with the self-styled National Association for Helping Victims of Domestic Violence, another was promoted in defense of "the legitimate rights of gun users";
a Spanish version of the American Rifle Association.
And GETTR was also promoted, an “uncensored” social network – without a filter for fake news or hate messages – created by Jason Miller, former Trump spokesman.
Although the great political act will be this Sunday, Abascal has offered a speech with which he has tried to raise the spirits of his followers, accusing the media of being "corrupt" which, in his opinion, manipulate the polls that reflect the fall of Vox.
He has been full of praise for his “friend and compadre” Javier Ortega Smith, whom he surprisingly relieved as general secretary last Thursday, and has accused those who speak of a crisis in the party of “lying”.
Previously, the aforementioned had justified his dismissal by assuring that "no one is here to satisfy their personal needs or their individual selfishness" and that, "in this orchestra of politics, each one must play the instrument that is played at each moment."
In your case, obtain a good result in the next municipal elections in Madrid.
Two foreign partners of Vox participated in the rally: the leader of the Portuguese party Chega!, André Ventura, and the Argentine ultraliberal economist Javier Milei, who has described social justice and the collection of taxes as a "violent idea" because, according to him , implies “taking away from one to give to another”.
Abascal has ended up copying his language and sending his political opponents “to hell”.