All the world leaders in Barcelona have spoken out in favor of peace and multilateralism, amending Donald Trump's policy. However, there are nuances. The heads of government from Latin America, from Sheinbaum in the Dominican Republic to Brazil, have tried to say when asked that this was not an "anti-Trump summit." Oh, geography... it really matters, as the classics say, since it's not the same to be the antithesis of Trump with the Atlantic in between, as it is to have him as a neighbor at your doorstep.
Pedro Sánchez, supreme leader of the global left... but does it matter?
MadridPedro Sánchez sought to proclaim himself the leader of the global left this weekend in Barcelona, and he has succeeded. To re-emphasize this in this piece would be to repeat an analysis that has already been done inside and out since the Spanish president intensified his joust with Donald Trump. Not only has this been written about in the Catalan and state media, but he has been recognized as the North American's "nemesis" by major international newspapers. Barcelona has been the culmination of this strategy, which is the only ace up Sánchez's sleeve to try to stay in Moncloa, along with the fear of PP and Vox governments that will begin to act after this regional electoral cycle.
With this strategy, the socialists' engine room does not intend to gain new followers, but to mobilize their own. They have the demographic data very well studied and know that someone who
hates Pedro Sánchez –because this is the level of animosity in other parts of the State, especially in Madrid– is unlikely to change their vote at this point in the film. However, with the framework of "Either Sánchez or Trump," they intend to discourage participation from right-wing and far-right voters and encourage left-wing participation.
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The reasoning is as follows: given the current international landscape, they want Vox and PP voters to think that, even if they don't like Sánchez, it is worse to have a government that appears to be an ally of the North American president with the action he is taking in Iran – with the precedent of the Iraq war and the subsequent terrorist attacks in Europe. In these terms, the result of the mid-term
elections in the United States in November is very relevant, because if the Democrats make a comeback, Sánchez will appear as the one who was right and Trump as the one who was wrong. This can be demoralizing for the right and can encourage the left, just a few months before the next Spanish elections.
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Therefore, from the PSOE's point of view, it not only matters that Sánchez appears as a leader of the global left and an opponent of Trump, but it is a condition sine qua non of his strategy. However, the question is whether this matters to the voter. That is, whether the PSOE's strategy for a comeback will work. To answer this, we will have to wait for the Spanish elections, because only there will voters truly scrutinize Pedro Sánchez and vote thinking of him as the president of the Spanish government. What the current polls tell us is that few people go to the polls thinking about international politics, but in a changing world like ours, nothing is set in stone. What we can confirm now is that it doesn't work for Andalusia: in the elections of May 17, the numbers remain bad for María Jesús Montero after having left the ministry, to the point that Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla is close to repeating an absolute majority despite the rise of Vox.
Oh, geography
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Where is the independence movement?
Since time immemorial, Catalanism had taken advantage of any international event happening in Barcelona to display signs of Catalan identity. The highest exponent of this was the Olympic Games. Later, the independence movement continued to do the same during the Process. The novelty of this progressive summit is the lack of action from the sovereignist movement (beyond some gestures from the CUP and Puigdemont's tweet) to claim anything. This is further evidence of the demobilization the movement is experiencing.