Spanish Vox party MPs have confirmed they will ask their country’s parliament to cancel an upcoming royal visit this month to Cuba by King Felipe VI. Vox party leader, Santiago Abascal, announced the initiative, describing the visit as “madness”. The request to the Spanish parliament was submitted in late October.
Speaking on Spanish radio Senor Abascal described the visit to Cuba as an attempt by the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party PSOE, to delegitimize the monarchy as Cuba is considered to be a dictatorship. King Felipe will, if nothing changes, visit the Republic of Cuba from 11 to 14 November this year. So far, the letter requiring the King’s visit to be cancelled has attracted 531 signatures.
Earlier this week, the issue of the royal visit to Cuba became a heated moment in a political TV debate for the upcoming Spanish general election. the ongoing Spanish election campaigns. Senor Abascal said during the debate on Monday that ”the government will send our King to Cuba and will force him to have a photo with the dictators Castro, Maduro and Ortega. That is something we must prevent”.
In 1999, former King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía travelled to Cuba on the occasion of the IX Ibero-American Summit of Presidents. In 2016, Juan Carlos, after abdicating, returned to Cuba at the head of the Spanish delegation attending the funeral of Fidel Castro. Finally, in 2018, Pedro Sánchez visited the island. It was the first visit a by a Spanish prime minister to Cuba in 32 years.
Santiago Abascal is a Spanish politician who has been the leader of far-right Vox party since September 2014. He became a member of the Congress of Deputies in representation of Madrid in 2019. He has several time marked himself as a strong royalist and has described himself and his party as “protectors of the monarchy”.
In February, this year Royal Central reported that king Felipe’s nephew allegedly was involved in the party Vox and their protests in Spain. Don Felipe de Marichalar y Borbón is the oldest child and only son of Infanta Elena of Spain and Don Jaime de Marichalar. Don Felipe is fourth in the line of succession to the Spanish throne.