The aides of Pedro Sánchez and what they reveal about his concept of democracy

The Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, continues to try to cover up his corruption scandals with an international campaign.

Pedro Sánchez doesn't call for human rights in China, but he proposes a measure that would weaken democracies at the UN
The government of Pedro Sánchez supports including Iran in an important UN committee that will define policies on women

This campaign basically consists of promoting an image of a political leader valued worldwide, so that the support he garners outside of Spain will help mitigate his growing unpopularity at home. In his search for foreign support, Sánchez is demonstrating alarming preferences. One doesn't have to go back very far to simply review these international inclinations.

Sánchez and his relationship with the dictatorships of Iran and China

Last week his government showed the extent to which it is seeking dangerous friendships when it supported including the Islamist dictatorship of Iran on an important UN committee that defines policies on women's rights and human rights. Perhaps it was a favor from Sánchez to Iran by putting his photo on the Iranian missiles launched against the civilian population of Israel, a shameful fact about which the Spanish socialist leader made no comment to disapprove.

This same week, Sánchez visited his biggest international ally, the Chinese communist dictatorship, and did so without saying a word about the serious human rights violations committed by that regime. At the same time, from Beijing, he proposed a measure that would weaken democracies at the UN and give more weight to authoritarian regimes like the one led by Xi Jinping.

A curious "defense of democracy" by those who are degrading it

Furthermore, yesterday Sánchez organized a meeting in Barcelona with political leaders from 21 countries. He did so under the slogan "In defense of democracy," something that would warrant a complaint for false advertising, considering who the well-known participants are. I say "known" because the official website of La Moncloa has mentioned very few of the international delegations. Was there something to hide or be ashamed of, perhaps?

We can get an idea from the delegations indicated by La Moncloa: Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, and Uruguay. To get an idea of ​​what is happening in those countries, we can consult The Economist's Democracy Index. According to this source, of those seven countries, only one is a full democracy: Uruguay, and not precisely thanks to the leftist Yamandú Orsi, who was at yesterday's event and who took office in 2025. In his first year in office, he has already promoted attacks on judicial independence and on press freedom, the same recipe that Sánchez is applying in Spain.

Something similar is happening with Barbados, a stable parliamentary democracy that is not on the aforementioned list. The Prime Minister, the leftist Mia Mottley (who accompanied Sánchez in Barcelona yesterday), has been criticized for her attacks on judicial independence and has openly supported the Nicolás Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela. A curious way to defend democracy.

Chile was once a full democracy, but the leftist Boric brought it down from that level. Since 2023, it has been a flawed democracy. Boric left the presidency on March 11, so he went to that meeting to represent himself, not his country.

Brazil, Colombia, and South Africa are flawed democracies. All three countries currently have far-left governments exhibiting authoritarian tendencies as, or even more, than those of Sánchez in Spain. Under Lula da Silva's presidency in Brazil, the country went so far as to block access to Twitter (as in Iran) in a campaign to persecute political opponents. South Africa's far-left president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is an ally of Russia and of Hamas terrorists. In Colombia, the communist Gustavo Petro, threatened two years ago to liquidate democracy in the style of Venezuela after his parliamentary partners abandoned him due to his corruption scandals and his links to drug trafficking.

Mexico: a hybrid regime with an increasingly authoritarian government

Mexico is listed in the index as a hybrid regime, meaning something even worse than a flawed democracy. That country was on the list of flawed democracies until 2021, when the far-left Andrés Manuel López Obrador managed to downgrade it even further. The far-left Claudia Sheinbaum is following in López Obrador's footsteps, with attacks on judicial independence, incessant attacks on press freedom, a desire to control what is published on social media and even an attempt to subject citizens to surveillance. It's normal that Sánchez feels very comfortable with her, because they both exhibit a clearly authoritarian style.

Sánchez seeks the help of experts in degrading and demolishing democracies

In the end, what becomes clear is that this "In Defense of Democracy" event is nothing more than a display of the true inclinations of Sánchez and his leftist government, which is not seeking closer ties with the world's leading democracies (some of which treat him like a pariah and are marginalizing him in important international forums).

What Sánchez is seeking is the help of true experts in degrading and demolishing democracies, and, in the case of China, of a one-party regime where communists have been governing without free elections since 1949, without the Spanish leftist leader offering even the slightest criticism. This speaks volumes about Sánchez's concept of democracy.

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Photo: La Moncloa.