Roberto Vaquero
Roberto Vaquero Arribas (born 1986) is a Spanish political activist. He is the secretary general of the Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction) (PML (RC)) and the president of the Workers' Front (FO).Vaquero supports Spanish republicanism, Spanish patriotism and socialism. He opposes mainstream left-wing parties such as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Podemos.[1][2][3][4]
Biography
[edit]Vaquero was born in Madrid and raised in the outskirt town of Pozuelo de Alarcón and the district of Moncloa-Aravaca. He was a childhood neighbour of politician Íñigo Errejón. Raised by conservative parents, he joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) at age 16.[1]
Vaquero graduated in political sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, where one of his lecturers was Pablo Iglesias Turrión, later founder of the left-wing party Podemos. Vaquero reflected in 2019 that he disliked Iglesias and labeled Iglesias as a "postmodernist" who he saw as no different to the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), alleging that Iglesias denied the existence of class war.[1]
Vaquero worked with luggage at an airport and as a cinema usher, as well as owning an exotic pet shop in Leganés. He denied accusations that he used party funds to establish the business.[1]
After moving to Barcelona, Vaquero returned to Madrid to work in private security at nighttime entertainment venues. He is one of Spain's leading practitioners of Krav Maga.[3]
In 2016, Vaquero was held in prison for 49 days before paying €6,000 in bail. He was accused of possession of explosives and membership of a criminal organisation collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is classed as a terrorist organisation in Spain.[5] In October 2018, the Audiencia Nacional acquitted him of membership of a criminal organisation and of explosives offences, while rejecting a request from the Prosecution Ministry to ban his party, which had been suspended from activities during the legal process. He was convicted in the first instance of membership of a criminal group and weapons offences, and sentenced to two years and three months.[6] In 2020, the Supreme Court of Spain reduced his sentence by one year, and as of December 2021 he was awaiting the result of his appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain.[2]
Political views
[edit]Vaquero's political heroes are Joseph Stalin and Enver Hoxha.[7][8] He proposes a one-party state with no private market or property. He believes that the mainstream left-wing focuses of feminism, queer theory and environmentalism are distractions from the class war.[3] Vaquero believes that parties such as Podemos encourage such policies, as well as open borders, to promote consumerism.[4]
Vaquero opposes Catalan independence, proposing that it is supported by right-wing parties in Catalonia and would not change the lives of the poor. Unlike more mainstream forces of the far left in Spain, he supports Spanish patriotism.[1]
Vaquero supports Spanish republicanism. He believes that it is impossible to achieve it without socialism and patriotism.[2]
Vaquero's followers have been involved in escraches, or public heckling, of politicians such as Errejón, Iglesias and Yolanda Díaz whom they accuse of betraying the working class.[2]
At a 2023 event on Spain's migration crisis, hosted by journalist Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Vaquero said that he would use forces of the state to fight crime in dangerous neighbourhoods. Referring to the time he was arrested for planning to fight the Islamic State in Syria, he said "if I was willing to do that over there, imagine what I would be willing to do here".[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Mucha, Martín (12 September 2019). "El alumno leninista de Pablo Iglesias que prepara a 250 jóvenes para el "combate"" [Pablo Iglesias's Leninist student who is preparing 250 youths for "combat"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ a b c d Bécares, Roberto (17 December 2021). "Este ex preso fan de Lenin sacude la guerra cultural a la izquierda de la izquierda: rojipardos versus posmodernos" [This ex-prisoner and fan of Lenin shakes the culture war to the left of the left: red-browns versus post-modernists]. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ a b c Olmo, José María (6 June 2021). "Vaquero, el marxista que odia a Podemos, ataca el feminismo y no deja de sumar fieles" [Vaquero, the Marxist who hates Podemos, attacks feminism and can't stop adding followers]. El Confidencial (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ a b c Perona Calvete, Carlos (25 March 2023). "Return of the Old Left: A Look at the Spanish Worker's Front". The European Conservative. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ Ibáñez, Isabel (31 March 2016). "'Cruzados' y comunistas, juntos contra el Daesh" ['Crusades' and communists, together against Daesh]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ Barber, Ferran (31 October 2018). "La Audiencia condena a dos años de cárcel al 'Camarada Martos' por luchar contra el ISIS en Rojava" [Audiencia sentences 'Comrade Martos' to two years in prison for fighting against ISIS in Rojava]. Público (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ Colmenero, Ricardo F. (31 August 2021). "Operación Stalin: la 'guerrilla' de Roberto y Fermín para implantar la "violencia revolucionaria"" [Operation Stalin: Roberto and Fermín's 'guerilla war' to bring about "revolutionary violence"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2024.
- ^ "Stalini dhe Enver Hoxha në qendër të Madridit, partia spanjolle tubim nderues (Video)" [Stalin and Enver Hoxha in the centre of Madrid, Spanish party honouring rally (Video)] (in Albanian). Vox Media. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2024.