The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is in its second day at the Gaylord Resort and Conference Center in Maryland. After a lineup of local speakers, which included Kristi Noem, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz, Spanish political leader Santiago Abascal took the podium at 2:30 p.m., focusing his speech on the dangers of modern socialism.
Abascal is one of the founders of Spanish conservative party Vox. Although it was founded in 2013, it rose to fame in 2019 when it surprisingly established itself as the third-strongest party in the country in the general elections.
The Spaniard took the stage immediately after Gaetz and was quick to remind those present where he came from. "In Spain we suffer from a government of socialists and communists, who protect Hamas terrorism and who consider themselves allies of the criminal regimes of Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba," he expressed, demanding freedom in Cuba.
#CPAC2024 | @Santi_ABASCAL, presidente del partido español @vox_es:
"La soberanía de las naciones y la libre colaboración entre ellas es lo que nos protegerá del globalismo socialista”. pic.twitter.com/arVgfFeXPj
— VOZ (@VozMediaUSA) February 23, 2024
Next, Abascal emphasized the dangers of modern socialism, which, according to his vision, endangers tradition, the family, individual freedoms and the sovereignty of states.
In his diagnosis, he spoke about how "they govern against the common good, against private initiative." He continued: "They promote illegal and massive immigration in collusion with human trafficking mafias, which create border crises," as well as dedicating a few minutes to the current state of universities.
"They have turned universities into machines of censorship, coercion, indoctrination and antisemitism." He went further: "We want universities that are temples of freedom of thought. ... If yesterday universities were a space of freedom against the authoritarianism of power, today, unfortunately, they are the spearhead of the totalitarianism that is coming." He says universities "have declared war on common sense, on truth, on language and on biology."
#CPAC2024 | @Santi_ABASCAL sobre la izquierda global:
"Han convertido a las universidades en máquinas de censura, de coacción, de adoctrinamiento y antisemitismo. Queremos universidades que sean templo de la libertad de pensamiento" pic.twitter.com/1SwERzOkZl
— VOZ (@VozMediaUSA) February 23, 2024
In turn, he spoke about how the West has begun recognize these tactics, so now socialists "try to prohibit dissent, deny democracy and destroy freedom of expression and even deny the statements of science such as biology."
Abascal says the solution is the "sovereignty of nations and free collaboration between them," which, he says, "will protect us from socialist globalism."
Finally, he spoke of joining forces to rescue the West and struggled with his English at the end of the speech. "We have a great battle ahead of us to make the West great again. ... I want to say today, from here, that you must be sure that the Spanish patriots are prepared to fight alongside the American patriots. May God bless America and all Hispanic nations," Abascal concluded.
Voz Media is in Maryland providing extensive coverage of CPAC, offering commentary from our experts and interviews with guest speakers.
