On July 8, 2020, Vox organized a public event in the Plaza de la Estrella de Vigo, with Santiago Abascal and Iván Espinosa de los Monteros.
At the end of the rally, which was held just behind the Naval Command, Abascal left surrounded by a lot of people who wanted to take pictures with him. I didn't have the chance to talk to him (seeing the amount of people around him, I didn't even try). Iván stayed longer, forming a queue of people to take selfies with him. He patiently took photos with everyone, with that politeness and kindness that characterize him.
My mother and I waited for the queue to finish. I personally knew Iván and Rocío, his wife, for years ago, they have always treated me with great cordiality, and when we were finally able to greet each other that day, I asked for a selfie for my mother (I didn't I'm a fan of selfies), and we had a nice chat with him. Iván was as close as ever and managed to make my mother and I go home with a smile, despite the group of thugs from the far left who were waiting for us nearby, cordoned off by the Police.
This is the last time I had the opportunity to see Iván in person. We have continued reading on the net, and I say this because I have the honor of knowing that from time to time he reads what I write here, as he has shown me by sharing it from time to time on Twitter. For this reason, listening to this press conference in which he has announced that he is leaving politics left me (why deny it?) rather sad (the video is in Spanish, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):
Iván had an elegant farewell in which he cited personal and family reasons to renounce his deputy act and return to the world of private initiative, in which I wish him the best. Vox loses one of his best deputies, a man who knows how to combine seriousness and irony with great mastery, and who knows how to speak English and French as fluently as he speaks Spanish.
Iván has been a great politician, who has made many sacrifices for noble ideals, defending them with honor and gallantry. Iván is, moreover and above all, a good person, one of those who are sorely needed in the field of politics and who leave a huge gap when they leave. And for me, in addition, Iván is a friend, someone with whom I have had the honor of meeting and who knows that whenever he comes to Vigo, there will be someone here waiting to give him a hug.
Out of respect for the elegance and honor with which Iván said goodbye today, I will limit myself to saying that his departure from politics is very bad news in many respects, for Spain and for Vox. I like to write by sticking to logic and right now, emotionally, I'm not in a position to do so. In any case, I consider myself a predictable person and regular readers of Counting Stars will be able to guess my opinion without much effort. Finally: thanks for everything, Iván, and a big hug for you and your family.
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Photo: Vox Congreso.
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