Some Regional Elections for Spain

 

There are seventeen autonomous regions in Spain (plus the two autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta). Some of these regions are large: Andalucía comprises eight provinces, Castilla y León has nine, and others are small – such as Madrid, La Rioja, Murcia plus another four, which are all uni-provincial.

Each region has its own government and president.

Right now, we are in election mode in some of the autonomies (every four years unless called before). Extremadura with two provinces just had theirs in December – although the problem in the capital, Mérida, arises with the third party, Vox, insisting on various functions within the minority government of María Guadiola (PP) in exchange for their support.

The final outcome remains unclear – and Extremadura could soon be called to the polls again.

Abascal and Feijóo

Aragón is controlled by the PP and is currently in campaign mode for February 8th. It looks like Jorge Azcón will be returned, but as above, will need the support of a revitalised Vox. The Vox candidate Alejando Nolasco is a little extreme, describing the regional PP as ‘pro Islam’, according to one of the local news-sites.

Meanwhile, the candidacy of a PSOE government minister, Pilar Alegría, probably won’t be of much help for the party’s chances. The far-left once again refuses to join together (a bit like the Life of Brian’s joke of the antipathy between the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front). Thus: IU and Sumar on the one hand, la Chunta Aragonesista on the other and Podemos bringing up the rear.

Aragón is three provinces, with its capital in Zaragoza.

The next up – for March 15th – is another PP stronghold, with Alfonso Fernández Mañueco (PP) holding the keys to Castilla y León. His problem might be the disastrous summer fires throughout the region, badly mismanaged by Mañueco and his team. Nevertheless, he will likely win say the experts (with the support or otherwise of Vox). The capital of this, the largest region of Spain with nine provinces (although the three western provinces of León, Salamanca and Zamora all want to leave) is Valladolid.

Finally, we come to Andalucía – yet again held by the PP. The president is Juanma Moreno and is seen as one of the two leading candidates (along with Madrid’s Ayuso) to take over the party nationally when Feijóo throws in the towel. The PSOE candidate is the heavyweight María Jesus Montero, the current Minister for Hacienda and vice-president of Spain. The date is sometime in June.

There could be the chance of an early surprise general election on the same day as the Andalusian ballot – depending on events and Pedro Sánchez.

And Valencia? Despite the departure of Carlos Mazón, the region can legally continue with the current government if they so wish until late May 2027.

In all these upcoming elections – as indeed elsewhere – the key to the throne-room appears to be in the hands of Santiago Abascal’s Vox party. In an uncomfortable alliance with the PP (which must make allowances and exceptions), Spain is approaching a difficult time.  

The Donald Goes Rogue

No matter what is going on in Spain or around the world, it’s hard to not turn and look over one’s shoulder a couple of times each and every day at the terrifying antics of America’s leaders: Trump and his motley crew of whack-jobs.

Few of us here in Europe will identify themselves with his supporters. The left and centre certainly don’t, and Marine Le Pen, the French fascist leader, says she thinks he’s crazy. But of course, here in Spain we have Feijóo and Abascal, who appear to like anything that the Government doesn’t, and look for approval and support from wherever they can find it (and cue Venezuela).

The dream

This Latin American state has long been a topic for the right-wing in Spain. How not to run a country and so on – a short step for identifying the current Government here with the ghastly mess that comes from that unfortunate South American state, now under the firm control of the USA.

I think it started with the story – invented by the Spanish so-called ‘Patriotic Police’ – of how Podemos was financed by Caracas: a most successful smear which pretty much did for the party.

‘Right-wing Spanish politicians often bring up Venezuela to criticize the left for a mix of political strategy, symbolic comparison, and historical context. Indeed, analysts describe Venezuela as a sort of handy excuse for the Spanish right to attack any appropriate position on the left’ says Google.

Unfortunately – Trump decided, following his extraction of Nicolás Maduro – to leave the Chavista government in place rather than turning things over to the opposition (and the Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado). Who cares – he just wants the oil as he himself says. It also appears, to the dismay of Spanish conservatives, that Maduro’s membership of the fabled Cartel de los Soles was purely an American invention.

The PP and Vox, their noses rather out of joint, must now (with the rest of us) contemplate further possible Trumpian attacks on Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, the Panama Canal and Greenland. Hell, maybe Canada too: most of this malarkey, mind, devised in the last ten days as The Donald apparently goes rogue.

He’s only got until the mid-term elections next November (plus his ailing health) to lock everything into place. 

All of this would mean the irreparable break-down of Nato.

Then there’s Iran – which come to think of it also deserves a little tender American lovin’.

Back in Small Town USA, the same people who claim the woman killed in Minneapolis was a domestic terrorist are telling us that the people who stormed the Capitol are heroes. In fact, a Trumper friend writes and compares the killing to the shooting of a woman involved in the January 6th 2021 mob attack on the Capitol in Washington, following the Dear Leader’s complaint that the results of the 2020 election were rigged.

And thus we ‘live in interesting times’; and wonder guiltily how our children and grandchildren are going to manage in the next years and decades.

I think on balance, we oldies had it pretty good.

If Today is Saturday, This Must be Venezuela

A remarkable story on Saturday, as Donald Trump’s soldiers attacked several Venezuelan military bases while his Special Forces (in a breathtakingly professional operation) managed to bag the president of that country and his wife Cilia to take them to some location in the USA – later revealed as a detention centre in up-state New York. The Pentagon said that Maduro will be judged for criminal offences and that the attacks on the country would cease.

Maduro, on his way to Justice.

Give them their due – it was a slick operation.

The whole enterprise was a bit similar to Putin’s 2022 attack on Ukraine, the buildup of forces on the frontier and so on, but evidently turned out to be rather more successful. Will China feel that it’s their turn now with Taiwan? We shall see.

My son, who lives in the Midwest, can now expect cheaper petrol at the gas-station, and will thereby appreciate that at least one of the Presidential promises has been fulfilled.

Aljazeera has ‘Maduro joins Iraq’s Saddam, Panama’s Noriega as latest leader taken by US’. Reuters posted: The Russian Foreign Ministry called the U.S. strike on Venezuela "deeply concerning and condemnable", and from Argentina’s President Milei, "Freedom moves forward, hooray for freedom Goddammit’.

Spain’s reaction to this remarkable coup understandably varied from left to right. President Sánchez calls for a de-escalation – he says: “Both International law and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations must be respected”. Pedro Sánchez, in line with the EU, avoided expressly condemning the US operation, while Sumar denounced the attacks against Venezuela as “imperialist aggression.” Alberto Núñez Feijóo meanwhile was insisting on a quick transition led by Edmundo González (the doddery old fellow who lives in exile in Madrid).

The ex-Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias doesn't mince words after the attacks in Venezuela: "They're bombing to steal their oil and impose a puppet government."

Gabriel Rufián (ERC spokesperson) says "Bombing another country is not war, it's aggression, and detaining the President of that country is not an arrest, it's a kidnapping."

We read at El Mundo that Maduro will be tried for ‘narcoterrorism and possessing destructive arms against the USA’. (We are reminded that the ex-president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández was recently pardoned by Trump after being jailed for the export of 400 tons of cocaine to America).

The American vice-president JD Vance tweeted: “The president offered multiple off-ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States. Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says."  

Although Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to emphasize that the attack and extraction of Maduro and Flores were a law enforcement mission, Trump made it clear the goal was regime change in order to gain control of Venezuela’s oil. The administration acted unilaterally, without consulting Congress, and in apparent violation of international law.

Around 600,000 Venezuelans live in Spain, many in the smartest barrios in Madrid. No doubt, those wealthy expatriates having managed to get their money out of Caracas and safely invested in real-estate, they would be pleased by the events. Indeed, we see on the TV a large Venezuelan celebration being held in Madrid on Saturday afternoon ‘supported by both the PP and Vox’. "I thought that the Americans would solve this in a day at most, but if it's true that they captured Maduro in just three hours... that's a whole different ballgame", said one celebrant.

…

‘An assault not seen since World War II’ said Donald Trump in a live speech on Saturday afternoon (Spanish time) in a babbling monologue as he veered off topic more than once to discuss things like the National Guard presence in various US cities. Perhaps you saw it.

“They took our oil infrastructure. We never had a president who did anything about it”, he said, with a nudge against the former president.  

“We are going to run the country until the arrival of a proper turnover of power”, he said.

“The oil business – we’re going to have our large American companies fix the infrastructure, and we are ready for a second, much larger attack if necessary”. Mario Rubio standing beside him looked faintly embarrassed.

“National security, just like tariffs – make our country rich” said The Donald.

“A year ago, we were a dead country, no longer”, said Trump, unerringly alienating half of the American population once again.

Following his speech, we heard from his senior advisers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio: ‘Don’t play games with this president, because it won’t turn out well’.

‘We showed Guts, grit, gallantry and glory’, said Defence Secretary Hegseth in an alliterative moment.

‘A rather extraordinary press briefing’ said the BBC journalist following the event.

The Guardian covered the Mar-a-Lago speeches here.

…

The opposition leader (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Maria Corina Machado speaking from an undisclosed site (probably in Miami): “The time of freedom has arrived, and we are ready to take power”. Instead, Trump has chosen (Maduro’s vice-president) Delcy Rodríguez to take over.

However, 20Minutos reports that Trump has ruled out María Corina Machado to lead Venezuela: "She doesn't have the internal support or the respect of the country"

A few other reactions: The Venezuelan Attorney General condemned the "cowardly imperial attack" against civilians in Venezuela. He also demanded the release of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Brazil's president denounces the "unacceptable" US attack and the capture of Maduro. Lula da Silva warns that it paves the way for a world where "the law of the strongest" prevails.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Saturday said China is deeply shocked by and strongly condemns the U.S. blatant use of force against a sovereign state and action against its president.

The far-right French politician Marine Le Pen criticizes US attack on Venezuela.

The pundit Chris Hedges writes: ‘The kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife solidifies America’s role as a gangster state. Violence does not generate peace. It generates violence. The immolation of international and humanitarian law, as the U.S. and Israel have done in Gaza, and as took place in Caracas, generates a world without laws, a world of failed states, warlords, rouge imperial powers and perpetual violence and chaos…’

From The Other 98%, we read: ‘Let’s strip away the euphemisms: this is invasion, not enforcement. There was no imminent threat to American soil that justified the use of force under international law. Venezuela sits on some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its economic and geopolitical position has long made it a target of U.S. political and economic pressure’.

Finally, Trump issues a stark warning to Colombia's Gustavo Petro: he asserts that Petro will be the next US target after Maduro.