Alberto Núñez Feijóo has counterprogrammed this Saturday the presence of Pedro Sánchez in the XXVIII Ibero-American Summit in an act in which the popular leader has accused the President of the Government of "paying homage to autocratic rulers".
He has done so at an event held in Madrid under the slogan Europe is Hispanic, accompanied by the mayor of the capital, José Luís Martínez Almeida, the president of the community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the number two of the party, Esteban González Pons.
González Pons was the first to mark as the central message of the act the alleged lack of commitment of the President of the Government with the citizens of Latin America.
It has done so with a reference to another summit, that of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which will be held in July in Brussels despite the fact that by then Spain will have already assumed the rotating Presidency of the European Union. "Do you know what is the only event that will not be held in Spain? The summit of American governments with the EU. And do you know why? Because we here meet with our friends, lovers and children of freedom. If that summit is brought, we would see him with his friends, the enemies and pursuers of freedom."
In his subsequent speech, Feijóo has followed that line: "If they let us give our opinion, of course we would not have been satisfied with the diplomatic failure that the only summit between Europe and America that is going to take place is not held in Spain but is done in another European capital. Without a doubt, this is a missed opportunity for Hispanidad."
The president of the PP has argued that what Spain should seek in its six months of Spanish Presidency is "a greater integration of Latin America and Europe."
Then, Feijóo has raised the tone against Sánchez: "I am very proud to be here, to be with the Hispanic American people, not to pay homage to rulers apprentices of autocrats and really autocrats who use their people, not to improve and prosper, but to improve and prosper them. That is why I am proud to be with the Hispanic American people and I do not miss meeting with some leaders of the Spanish-American nations."
In his references to autocrats, Feijóo was probably thinking of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who had planned to attend the summit held in the Dominican Republic but who at the last moment delegated to his head of Foreign Affairs.
At the event, full of flags of Latin American countries and posters of "Hispanics with Feijóo / Ayuso / Almeida", the mayor and the regional president have presented Madrid as the refuge of those who seek "freedom", a word immediately wielded by Ayuso in his speech and chanted several times by the attendees.
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