Santiago Abascal has done it again: opening his mouth and releasing a verbal vomit that smells of mothballs, hatred, and stale testosterone. This time it was the Open Arms' turn, a ship that has been saving lives in the Mediterranean for years and that, according to him, is little more than a "slave ship" that deserves to be sunk. Yes, sunk. As if we were in the middle of the 16th century and he was the captain of a pirate galleon with an eye patch and a xenophobia manual under his arm.
The difference is that pirates, at least, stole treasures. Abascal only steals humanity.
His is no longer politics, it is pure inhumanity. Because whoever dares to ask to sink a ship that rescues people is denying the most basic thing: the right to life. He is turning the Mediterranean into a verbal extermination camp. And the worst thing is that he says it with that cocky smile, as if cruelty were a valid political argument.
And then Fernando Clavijo, president of the Canary Islands, appears to respond with a forcefulness that sounds good on TV: that if "fascist", that if "xenophobe", that the best he can do is "put a dot on his mouth". Very nice. Very correct. Very televisual. But, dear Clavijo, let's not forget that Coalición Canaria was the one who opened the door to Vox in Lanzarote, agreeing with them in the Teguise city council. Selective memory? Or is it that being xenophobic is bad on national TV, but acceptable in municipal pacts?
Because here is the supreme irony: CC is outraged by Abascal while sitting at the table with his councilors. Clavijo wraps himself in the flag of humanitarian dignity while allowing local agreements with those who call the boats "invasion". It is like criticizing the butcher for killing cows while you eat a good steak in his restaurant.
The most serious thing is the contempt for memory. Because if someone like Abascal had been in the ports of America or Europe in the last century, he would have asked to sink the ships loaded with thousands of Canarians who emigrated without papers, in the way he would call "illegal". Half a million islanders crossed the Atlantic looking for bread, future and dignity. And, in my own family history, my maternal great-grandfather fled the Franco dictatorship —the same one that for Abascal would be a pleasure after dinner— to be able to survive. What would he have said then? That they also had to be sunk?
Abascal, with his far-right tavern speech, is predictable: he always finds a new enemy to sink, whether it is a ship, a migrant or common sense itself. But what is truly dangerous is the white and smiling hypocrisy of those who, like Clavijo, are outraged in prime time while legitimizing in the town halls the same discourse that they claim to condemn.
So yes, Abascal is a xenophobic and inhuman fascist. But Clavijo should add a footnote to his televised speech: "And thank you, Vox, for holding my seat in Teguise."