Sánchez denounces the attacks on the UN: "It is a planned demolition attempt"

WashingtonThe Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has taken to the podium at the United Nations General Assembly to defend multilateralism at a time when "different governments, present here, despise or intend to dismantle" the organization that hosts them. Without explicitly mentioning him, the socialist referred to Donald Trump, who had already returned to Washington yesterday. Before Sánchez spoke, the American president had received his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, who preferred the White House to the UN headquarters.

"I come to vindicate the principles and ambitions that inspired the creation of this organization 81 years ago," stated Sánchez, who lamented that since then "the world has not changed for the better, but for the worse." The socialist described the economic cuts by the Trump administration to the body as "a planned and coordinated attempt at demolition."

The Spanish president evoked the approval, in 2018, of the 2030 Agenda as a moment when the majority of countries saw sustainability and equality as an integral part of the future of humanity and not as "ideological positions." And these ideas, he said, are now "not only questioned: they are attacked" by some governments that "want to return us to a dark past."

As expected, the Spanish leader took advantage of the UN loudspeaker to stand up as one of the last champions of progressivism amidst the rise of the far-right. Sánchez highlighted how Spain is rowing against this reactionary current that wants to undo the international order established after the Second World War.

"We have refused to increase our military spending to 5% of GDP and we have done everything in our power to avoid acts of aggression contrary to the United Nations Charter, by sanctioning the Russian aggressors, imposing an arms embargo on Netanyahu's government in Israel, preventing our territory from being used to deploy aggression contrary to international law, and condemning without nuance the genocide that Netanyahu continues to perpetrate in Gaza," the Spanish president listed.

Sánchez has recounted each of these milestones as proof of his left-wing pedigree, while just yesterday in Madrid, Maricarmen, an 87-year-old neighbor with reduced mobility, was evicted from her home. The eviction was carried out after the property owner rejected an anonymous person's offer to pay the difference of the rent increase demanded from the woman. The investment fund Urbagestión proposed a hike up to 1,650 euros, compared to the 500 euros the woman had religiously paid until now. In the press conference prior to his speech at the UN, Pedro Sánchez blamed the city council and the Community of Madrid for the eviction, both of which are in the hands of the PP.

At the national level, Sánchez also mentioned the migration crisis in Ceuta, which he cited as an example of prioritizing human rights over fear. Although he acknowledged that the city is suffering "one of the most significant crises in recent years," he stated that Spain will not yield in the defense of its principles and will not fall into the temptation of "turning the migrant into an enemy."

The time for a woman to be at the head of the UN

To conclude his speech, which lasted just over fifteen minutes, Sánchez called for the next UN Secretary-General to be a Latin American woman. "The time has come," he stated, noting that in 80 years of history, the UN has never had a woman at its helm, an inconsistency for an institution that claims to represent all of humanity.

The Spanish president framed his proposal within a broader defense of feminism and as a further response to the reactionary wave. In making this call, Sánchez championed Costa Rican Rebeca Grynspan, one of the main names currently being mentioned to succeed António Guterres once his term ends in December.