đ·đș This Week in Spain: Vox and the Putin Question
Also: A controversial mummy, a former mayor's murder and debt forgiveness angers the PP.
February 27, 2025 | Madrid | Issue #91
đ Welcome to The Bubble, Spain's #1 English-language newsletter.
đ„ This Week in a Nutshell: Donald Trump and Elon Musk finally threw their support behind Vox leader Santiago Abascal this weekend. But where does the far-right party stand?
đ Remember that if this email gets truncated at the bottom because itâs too long, just click here to read the rest on Substack.
đ One more thing for new subscribers: we are offering paid subscriptions, and weâd be thrilled if you purchased one to help build this enterprise weâve had so much fun creating. (And to those of you who have already subscribed, thanks for the love đ„°.)
đșIf you havenât subscribed yet, please do so by clicking on the button below.
𫶠And if you already have, please send this newsletter around to your friends and family and help us keep growing.
Mr Abascal Goes to Washington
Far-right Vox Aligns with Trump as Europe Confronts Russia
How do you know youâre almost important? Maybe when DOGE Edgelord Elon Musk endorses your political party on Twitter/X/whatevs and U.S. President Donald Trump butchers the pronunciation of your name while praising you at a right-wing political conferenceâboth in the same week!.
Guess who we're talking about. Yup, far-right Vox boss Santiago Abascal, who was in Washington D.C. last weekend to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference, aka CPAC (you know, the one where Musk wielded a chainsaw like Leatherface) and deliver a speech that embraced Trump and criticized EU leaders.
(Sidenote: Itâs been a fervid few weeks for Europeâs far-right. You could excuse a little breathlessness among them, what with Trumpsâs inauguration, Muskâs endorsement of Germany's AfD, and the AfDâs subsequent record-setting 20% share of the parliamentary election vote [Most for the far-right since Hitler! Though tbh not more than they were polling before Elonâs endorsementâbut hey, whoâs counting]).
Anyway, letâs keep this local and dive into how Elon and Don dragged Spain into the MAGAsphere. It started with Abascalâs CPAC speech this weekend (see video above).
The Vox leader said all the things youâd expect him to say: he thanked Musk for ârestoring freedomâ to Twitter/X, attacked the âwoke agendaâ, praised JD Vanceâs controversial speech in Germany and aligned himself with Trump.
âEuropean politicians,â he said, âinsist on portraying Trump as an enemy of Europe because he puts the interests of Americans first.â However, he said that the âreal burdensâ on the European economy âare not the tariffs announced by the U.S.âwhich hopefully wonât materializeâbut rather the real tariffs on Europeans are the Green Deal, excessive taxes, and woke regulations.â
That wasnât all. He also criticized âEuropean conservatives and socialistsâ for âfinancing Putinâs warâ, blamed the EU for being responsible for the conflictâs outbreak and for âgiving Russia the opportunity to invade Ukraineâ.
Okay⊠âThe same people who have left Europe defenselessâdestroying its industry and its ability to generate energyâare now the ones pushing us into total war,â he said.
No comment. Abascal didnât comment, however, on Trumpâs decisions to call Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator or take Russiaâs side in negotiations (that would be inconvenient, as Vox has until now sided with Ukraine in the conflict).
Pronunciation matters. As Trump was delivering CPACâs closing speech this weekend, he thanked Abascal for âdoing a great jobâ, except he totally butchered his name and referred to him as âObescalâ and what sounds like âSan Diegoâ.
The Reconquista Bromance between San Diego Obescal and the Trump Muskateers threw Spanish politics into an immediate tizzy (as you might expect). You see, no one anywhere on the Spanish political spectrum really likes Vox nor wants to see the party get a bump from the White House. But they all dislike Vox in different manners. Let us count the waysâŠ
Prime Minister Pedro SĂĄnchez (aka Mr Handsome). He probably had the easiest reaction to the CPAC bromance, as his brand has long been Only I Can Save You From the Extreme Rightâą.
He called on PP leader Alberto Nuñez FeijĂło to definitely break with Vox (which had deals with the PP in five regional governments). ââYou can't be pro-European on even days and join forces with them on odd ones,â he said, which is not a bad line.
He also compared the PP to Nazi allies, saying, âHistory will once again be harsh with far-right-wing collaborators in the 21st century,â which is also not a bad line but might be a bit much.
Then, to make his pro-European bona fides totally clear, SĂĄnchez went to Kyiv, gave Zelenskyy a manly arm squeeze, and pledged Ukraine âŹ1bn in arms (something that his far-left government allies immediately rejected as âreinforcing the path of warâ, but anywayâŠ).
Alberto Nuñez Feijóo. The PP boss never looks like he quite knows what to do and, God bless, he stayed true to form. Realizing that hanging with Vox was a bad look, but he sorta needed them (or at least would like to attract their voters back to the PP), he aimed for the amorphous gray zone between any clear stand, having his party:
Demand that the EU âreactâ (Is that helpful?)
Say that the PPâs support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy was âunconditionalâ
Note that Putin caused the war (in a veiled diss of Abascal)
Muddy the waters by saying, âI don't need to say yes to everything from the U.S., and I'm not going to do that, but I also don't need to insult the US administration because that puts my country's economic interests at risk.â Clear, right?
JosĂ© MarĂa Aznar. The FAES, a think tank founded by the former PP PM and moustachioed alpha-male aspirant, came down much more forcefully than the PP against Vox for supporting Trump and Putin.
âIt does not seem very patriotic or right-wing to applaud retaliatory tariffs against Spanish products, nor to support â actively or passively â the victory of a former KGB colonel,â FAES wrote, dripping with contempt.
But it all came out in the end. By this week, Vox was calling Putin the âenemyâ and Russiaâs invasion of Ukraine âillegitimate and immoralâ, explaining that the party "does not agree" with Trump's reference to Zelenskyy as a "dictator." (Itâs called damage control.)
And SĂĄnchez and FeijĂło? They were back to their old tricks in Parliament yesterday, with FeijĂło referring to SĂĄnchezâs âseparatist, nationalist and communistâ allies, and SĂĄnchez saying that if the PP had done a little better in the last elections, San Diego Obescal would be deputy PM, defending Trumpâs tariffs on Spain. Ah, kids, do we have to fight?
So nothingâs changed. Right? Somehow doubt that.
More news below. đđ
đ But First, A Message From Our Sponsor
Bucólico Café is a project of connection that was born as a specialty coffee shop.
We value time and understand that it represents both a cycle and an instantâchronology and nostalgia. BucĂłlico is a space that connects oneâs soul with the purity, lightness and beauty of the countrysideâwhile being in the city. Via a cup of coffee, a piece of cake or a songâŠ
Located on Calle de Barbieri 4 â a few blocks from Plaza Chueca â BucĂłlico reassures the soul with a feeling of home.
Follow Bucólico Café on Instagram.
đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week
1. đ€ We will forgive your debtsâjust donât forget it when you vote
Spainâs finance ministry offered a big Carnaval gift to the countryâs autonomous communities (aka states or regions) this week: an âŹ83bn debt forgiveness package. And, like, who wouldnât like to have their debts forgiven? Well, maybe itâs not that easy. You see, this forgiveness is causing Big Fight. The devil is in the details. đż
The numbers. Finance Minister MarĂa JesĂșs Montero (of PM SĂĄnchezâs PSOE) proposed that the federalist government take over âŹ83.252bn in excess debt that the regions had taken on from 2010-2013, just after the financial crisis, when their incomes plunged. The idea? The state should have been there. Fine.
But, but, but⊠The forgiveness isnât being spread equally: 75% of it is determined by populationâi.e. They get âŹ1,369 of forgiveness per capita; the other 25% is discretionary and is aimed at the most heavily indebted regions, those who usually get less in state financing and those who charge higher income taxes.
This makes the losers angry đ€. There is no love (or trust) lost between the PSOE and the PP, and the PP noticed pretty much immediately that its regions werenât the big winners.
Catalonia. Because of the discretionary bits, the biggest chunk of changeââŹ17.1bn, or 21% of the totalâwould go to Catalonia, whose separatist parties basically determine whether PM SĂĄnchezâs government survives or falls. And indeed, debt forgiveness is one of the demands of the leftish Catalan separatists of ERC to the socialistsâand the âŹ17.1bn forgiveness was announced by their president.
AndalucĂa. For the same discretional reasons, AndalucĂa is getting an outsized amount (âŹ18.791bn). âBut,â you say, âAndalucĂa is run by the PP.â And that is true. But guess who just took over the PSOE in Andalucia and is expected to run as its candidate for governor in the 2026 elections? Yup. Finance Minister Montero.
Madrid, Galicia, Castilla y LeĂłn, La Rioja. These historically PP-dominated regions were all cut out of the discretionary funding. Indeed, Madridâwhich at 7.1m residents, is close to Catalonia (8.1m) and AndalucĂa (8.6m)âis only receiving âŹ8.644bn in cancelled debt, or about half what the other two will receive.
Weâre not huge conspiracy fans. So weâre not gonna say thereâs a nefarious plan afoot. But letâs just say that the SĂĄnchez government is not above using its power of the purse to (legally) curry support for its precarious coalition. And while there are arguments to be made for helping out the most deeply indebted, we also understand why PP boss Alberto Nuñez FeijĂło said (see video above), âThe independentists ask, and we Spanish pay⊠The PP regional governors will vote ânoâ to the inequality that offers a prize for bad management, to the privileges, to the purchase of the premiership using the money of all Spaniards.â (And indeed, PP reps walked out of a Wednesday meeting with Montero about the forgiveness.)
Counterpoint. While on Monday the right-leaning Junts separatists said they would withdraw their motion of (no) confidence in SĂĄnchez as they expect to get more powers over immigration (and the use of Catalan in the EU), they also complained that it wasnât enough and suggested they could vote against it (unlikely).
End of 2025. If the forgiveness passes parliamentary hurdles and votes, it should go into effect by the end of the year.
2. đł Madridâs very own High Line (sorta)
Madridâs M-30 beltway might as well be called the Maginot Line (obscure reference, we know) considering how effectively it split the city between those (rich) neighborhoods inside it and the (less rich) ones outside. It was the unbreakable barrier (and ugly as sin).
Sink that road. But then in the early 2000s, led by then-mayor Alberto Ruiz-GallardĂłn, the city and region sunk the highway on the west side into underground tunnels and placed a big park on topâMadrid RĂoâand voila suddenly the barrier was gone and everyone agreed the project wasnât actually a crazy idea and might actually be great.
The world has really come around to re-greening city spaces since thenâsee New Yorkâs High Lineâand now Madrid is coming back for its second helping.
Small, like the mayor. This week, Mayor JosĂ© Luis MartĂnez-Almeida has rolled out the design of his version on the east side of the city near the Ventas bullring. At 200 meters wide by about 80 meters long, Parque Ventas is tiny compared to Madrid RĂo, but it might serve as the first of a new trend. (We hope.)
Cap the highway. Instead of sinking the highway underground, Almeidaâs city government will build a cap over the highway, covered by parks, childrenâs playgrounds and the like, that will connect the neighborhoods of Salamanca (rich) with Ciudad Lineal (less rich) and in theory remove the psychological barrier along with the cement one.
Lots of green. As seen in the video above, the new Parque Ventas is meant to sport 591 new trees and more than 48,800 bushes. Set to begin construction in May or June and cost âŹ70.4m. Itâs scheduled to open in 2027 (but weâll believe that when we see it đ€).
Hereâs to crossing the M-30 among the trees. đ„
3. đš Massive sex trafficking bust and catching âThe Flyâ
Spainâs PolicĂa Nacional busted a sex trafficking ring in Alicante that over the past year had exploited about 1,000 womenâmostly from Venezuela and Colombiaâwho had been tricked into coming to Spain with fake offers of beauty and cleaning work.
You know Sky Rojo? Thatâs the Spanish Netflix series about prostitutes who escape their pimps and go on the lamâa mix of drama, comedy and caper. Well, donât think about that. This plot was not stylish and the leaders were not charismatic ne'er do wells with hearts of gold.
3 clubs. After being tricked into coming, the women were forcibly taken to three clubs de alterne (strip clubs) in Alicante, Elche and Orihuela that were disguised as hostels or pensiones.
Work/live space and crap PTO. The victims, who lived in the clubs and were forced to work at all hours, were monitored on video surveillance systems. They could only go out for two hours at a time and during the first week of work they had no rest; and from the second week they had only one day a week off.
Money split. The investigations revealed that the network took at least 40% of each âserviceâ provided by the women. The victims were moved between the clubs to attract more clients, avoid arrest and simulate legal business activity.
Those tip lines actually work. The investigation began with a complaint received on the police line 900 105 090. The police bust freed 48 women and led to 48 arrests in Alicante and Murcia, including those of the three leadersâtwo Colombian women and one Spanish man (who trekked home to Murcia to be with his family on weekend.
Weâll be taking this.. Besides closing the clubs, the police also seized more than âŹ150,000 in cash, blocked bank accounts holding âŹ938,000 and took control of 17 properties valued at âŹ1.3m. More than 100 police participated in the operation.
More crime: The Fly catchers. Last May, armed assailants freed a major drug trafficker known as âThe Flyâ at a toll booth in Normandy as he was being transported across France in a police convoy. These were bad dudes: In the assault, they killed two French police officers and severely injured three more.
Spanish police to the rescue. The Spanish police helped settle the score this week as they tracked one of the assailants, known as âAbeâ, to a luxurious villa in Mijas (MĂĄlaga) and arrested him. Not only that, but at the same time other police nabbed The Flyâin Romania! đ
4. đ Former GandĂa mayor dead in suspected murder
A former PP mayor of GandĂa (Valencia), was found near his car, dead from a gunshot wound to the chest, and authorities believe he was lured into a trap and forced to stop so he could be killed. His body, which also showed signs of strangulation, was found by his wife on the highway near the Valencian town of Xeresa.
Last words. Arturo TorrĂł, who was mayor of GandĂa from 2011 to 2015, was driving down the highway when he told a friend on the phone that he had a flat tire. That was the last time anyone heard from him.
Desperate search. After realizing he was missing, his wife went to find him. She discovered his lifeless body next to the car, which still had the engine running. The Guardia Civil is investigating his death as a suspected homicide; the theory is that he was killed by professionals who tampered with his vehicle.
A complicated past. So how could this happen? As it turns out, TorrĂł made the national headlines a few years ago after facing legal issues and financial struggles.
Jail sentence. In 2023, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for embezzlement during his time as mayor, when he shut down GandĂaâs local TV channel, GandĂa TV, and awarded the contract to a private company that, according to a court ruling, allowed him âto serve private rather than public interestsâ and âmisuse public fundsâ. The government ended up paying âŹ480,000 to the company.
Seizures. Because of the ruling, TorrĂłâs assets were seized and his businessesâcoffin manufacturing, water treatment and business ventures in South America and Africaâtook a severe hit, leaving him in a delicate financial situation.
Got threats. In fact, TorrĂł had gone to the police to say he was being threatened and authorities are now investigating whether thereâs a connection to the murder.
A regular victim. To make matters worse, it came out after his death that he was stabbed several months ago in Africa. TorrĂł was there on business, as he had oil import businesses in Kenya and Colombia (that also went south), and was stabbed several times in the chest. He survived, however, because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
No breakthrough in the investigation yet, but Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska said he expects authorities to quickly solve âwhat is very clearly a murder.â
5. đż The now homeless Guanche mummy
You may have seen the infamous Guanche mummy, which had been on display at Madridâs National Archaeological Museum (MAN) since 2015. If you did, consider yourself lucky, because it has now been removed from the exhibition, following a decision by the Ministry of Culture to avoid displaying human remains.
No mummies. This decision is based on an Ethical Commitment Charter that applies to all 16 state-run museums and says that human remains must be treated with dignity, while also respecting the interests and beliefs of the communities of origin. The charter is inspired by the International Council of Museumsâ Code of Ethics, a UNESCO-affiliated NGO.
History lesson. The mummy, that of a 1.62m adult male who was 35-40 years old when he died, had been on display for almost nine years in the Canary Islands section of the museumâs Protohistory areaâbut itâs been making the rounds for many, many years.
The remains are believed to date back to the 12th-13th centuries. They were discovered in 1763 in a cave in the Herques ravine, in southeastern Tenerife, along with over a thousand other mummies that had been wrapped in intricately sewn animal skins. The place had been used as a burial chamber by the Guanche people, who inhabited the Canary Islands before the Crown of Castile conquered them in the 15th century.
The best-preserved specimen was sent to Madrid in 1776 as a gift to Spanish King Carlos III. In 1895 it was transferred to the National Museum of Anthropology and finally, in 2015, it was installed in the MAN.
Not banned. The mummyâs removal comes after a technical report by the Ministry of Culture criticized the display, as it failed to comply with the Charterâs guidelines.
The Ministry however said that the charter doesnât impose bans but rather recommendations and that the mummy can be re-exhibited if additional explanatory materials (analytical results, its origins, descriptions of the Guanche mummification process, etc.) justify its inclusion.
The mummyâs return. Now, while some people are not happy with the fact that the mummy is no longer on display (the curator who looked after it for six years thinks this isnât the best idea) others are outragedâand not for the reasons you think.
Angry Canary Isles. People in the Canary Islands are angry at the central government because the mummy was taken from the archipelago centuries ago and never returned.
Bad culture stuff. The fact that itâs been exhibited for so many years outside of its original context has been described as âcultural colonialismâ by the spokesperson for the CoaliciĂłn Canaria party, Cristina Valido.
The Tenerife government has condemned the decision to put the mummy in storage instead of returning it to the islands. Representatives argue that the removal of human remains from museum exhibitions presents a âhistoric opportunityâ to facilitate the return of the Guanche mummy to Tenerife.
Ideal for mummies. Valido has also asked Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun to visit Tenerifeâs Museum of Nature and Archaeology so he can see that the facilities provide âoptimal conservation conditionsâ for Guanche mummies.
But, but, but⊠However (because no one is ever happy about anything, ever), the Tamaimos Foundation, created to âdefend and promote Canarian culture and identityâ, is demanding that the mummy not be displayed if itâs returned to the island.
The foundationâs president says this is a âgolden opportunityâ to return it, but everyone must commit to not exhibiting human remains in the islandâs museums: âIt is necessary to put an end to the current exhibition narrative that trivializes the human remains of the ancient Canarians while protecting and even glorifying those of any other human group, as often happens in all colonial narratives.â
This is why we canât have nice things see mummies.
đ Before you go, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information weâll be able to offer each week.