Introduction & Updates in National Landscape

The agenda of the Spanish far-right is once again led by Vox, this time for proposing a motion of no confidence against President Pedro Sánchez proposing Ramón Tamames as an alternative president. Tamames is a well-known politician who, in his youth, participated in the movement against the Franco dictatorship and went to jail for it. Later, he represented the Communist Party after Franco’s death. The election of Tamames, who is currently 89 years old, by the president of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has drawn attention due to his age and for having been a political figure, the opposite of what the far-right party defends. https://twitter.com/Santi_ABASCAL/status/1623266618435375104 After conversations between the leader of Vox and Tamames for a good part of the month, on February 27, Vox presented its motion of no confidence in Congress, for which there is still no date for a vote.
Other far-right parties, such as Falange de las Jons, have described the initiative in a derogatory manner as “the latest occurrence of Vox.” https://twitter.com/NorbertoPico/status/1621229381589893123
The month has also been marked by the first pre-election events, specifically with a large Vox event in Murcia that, according to them, brought together 15,000 people in the city’s bullring on February 12 and another in Zaragoza on 24 of the same month in which the party returned to influence its program of thematic referendums. https://twitter.com/voxes/status/1624322581258985475 https://twitter.com/SantiABASCAL/status/1625552545631375377 It has been the starting signal for the electoral campaign, which brings together acts for the municipal elections of all of Spain and the autonomous ones of twelve of the 17 autonomous communities, in addition to the two autonomous cities —Ceuta and Melilla—.

Transnational Activities & Group Interactions

In February, Hitler fan Simon Lindberg, Swedish far-right leader of the Nordic Resistance Movement, visited Spain to participate in a semi-clandestine event organized by Devenir Europeo with the motto “Blood Day”, according to the newspaper Público. https://www.publico.es/politica/principales-dirigentes-neonazis-europa-encabezara-acto-semiclandestino-madrid.html Lindberg is ranked as one of the 20 most dangerous extremists in the world, according to the Counter Extremism Project, which notes that “his speeches are regularly viewed by thousands of people who then perpetrate violent actions against the Muslim and Jewish community.”
For their part, members of La Falange have traveled to Bulgaria to participate in a tribute to Hristo Lukov, an extreme right-wing Bulgarian soldier who died in February 1943 in an action attributed to Violera Yakoba, a Jewish partisan who was later tortured to death. https://twitter.com/lafalange/status/1629772391323693058
Outside the European borders, Vox has been very active as well. The MEP from the far-right party Hermann Tertsch and the Vox candidate for the government of Madrid, Rocío Monasterio, have come to Miami to be named ambassadors of the Cuban Exile in an act held at the House of the Cuban Diaspora in the US city. https://twitter.com/VOXEuropa/status/1628862287057457153 The event was attended by representatives of Fundación Disenso and Foro Madrid, organizations born under the protection of Vox to organize the international extreme right. https://twitter.com/Foro_MAD/status/1628875384937672705
This month Foro Madrid has focused on Peru with a letter addressed to the president of the Organization of American States in which they accuse Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and other countries of political interference in the government of Dina Boluarte for affirming that the elected president of Bolivia, Pedro Castillo, was the victim of a coup. 118 parliamentarians from 14 countries have signed the letter. https://twitter.com/Foro_MAD/status/1626193389245931523