The vice president of the non-conformist, anti-globalist VOX party of Navarra, an autonomous community in northern Spain that borders Basque Country, has been viciously attacked by a band of masked militants in the town of Estella.
The politically-motivated assault, carried out against regional vice president María Estévez last week, took place in the Plaza de Los Fueros in the town’s central square and saw a group of extremists attack members of VOX Navarra who had been fundraising and handing out party leaflets at an information tent, the Madrid-based newspaper El Mundo reports.
Following several insults and glass bottles that were hurled in the direction of the VOX tent, one of the masked militants—who happened to be a man—further escalated the situation by taking hold of one of the tent’s legs before using it to strike Ms. Estévez. VOX noted that Ms. Estévez “fell to the ground as a result of the attack” and was subsequently transferred to the hospital for a medical examination.
The extremists are also said to have stolen money that VOX collected from donations earlier in the day. Upon being released from the hospital, Ms. Estévez took to social media to thank those who had her sent well wishes, writing: “Thank you very much comrades for the tokens of appreciation. Tomorrow when I feel better I will thank you [again], I’ve just left the Hospital of Navarra.”
Like other anti-globalist parties across Europe, VOX members and politicians have repeatedly been targeted with violent attacks by anti-pluralistic militants, especially in areas within and nearby the Basque Country. As is the case in Germany, where AfD members have been the main victims of political violence for three consecutive years, the liberal mainstream press in Spain also largely ignores violent attacks—usually carried out by far-left extremists—against VOX members.
VOX MP Iván Espinosa noted that between the autumns of 2018 and 2020, over one hundred party members received death threats, 42 physical attacks were carried out against VOX offices throughout Spain, and 93 members filed complaints over abuse and aggressive behavior.
In the summer of 2020, amid the run-up to the regional election in the Basque Country, Rocío De Meer, the National Deputy of VOX, was hit in the head with a stone thrown by a militant Basque nationalist during a campaign event in the industrial town of Sestao.
The following spring, MP Santiago Abascal, who serves as the president of VOX, also had rocks hurled at his head by left-wing extremists as he spoke at a campaign rally amid the run-up to Madrid’s regional elections.
Despite the death threats, physical attacks, and the perpetual reel of smear campaigns carried out against them by the country’s liberal mainstream press, VOX’s support base continues to grow. Earlier this month, a poll placed VOX at 24% of the national vote, just 3.5% behind the ruling Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, and well ahead of Partido Popular (PP), which stood at 16.9%.
Also earlier this month, on March 10th, following an excellent showing at regional elections in the autonomous community of Castile-Leon, VOX—for the first time in the party’s short history—entered into a coalition government alongside the liberal-conservative Partido Popular (PP).
