Leaders gather in Barcelona to protect democracy
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez led a gathering of international left-wing leaders in Barcelona on Saturday to “protect and strengthen” democracy. The meeting also signifies a warming of relations between Spain and Mexico.
The forum, titled “In Defense of Democracy,” the fourth of its kind, takes place on the same day as a gathering of right-wing European officials in Milan, northern Italy, and also includes the President of the European Council Antonio Costa and heads of state from South Africa, Colombia, Uruguay, and Ireland.
The presence of Claudia Sheinbaum, President of Mexico, in Catalonia holds symbolic significance, just weeks after King Felipe VI’s recognition, for the first time, of “numerous abuses” during the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 16th century, a source of tension between Madrid and Mexico for many months.
Upon her arrival for the meeting, Ms. Sheinbaum, in her first visit to Spain since taking office in October 2024, assured journalists that there was no “diplomatic crisis” between her country and Spain, and there never had been.
“I come from a people who recognize their origins in the great indigenous cultures, those that were silenced, enslaved, and plundered, but never defeated, because there are memories that cannot be conquered and roots that are never uprooted,” she declared during the opening of the meeting, also stating her intention to propose a statement “against military intervention in Cuba.”
United Nations reform
In opening the meeting, Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of Europe’s staunchest opponents of the ongoing war in the Middle East, expressed support for a reform of the United Nations.
“We believe that the time has come for the United Nations to be renewed, reformed, and, why not? led by a woman. This is not just a matter of justice, it is also a matter of credibility,” he said.
“The context is clear: democracy cannot be taken for granted,” he also stated, presenting the meeting as that of “a group of countries ready to do whatever is necessary to protect and strengthen the democratic system.”
Like in Beijing a few days ago, the Spanish Prime Minister had already called on Friday for the followers of Lula to “renew” and “improve” the international multilateral system, facing those “who, either actively or passively, consider it dead or work to undermine its foundations.”
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / blg / afp
