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POLITICS

Wife of Spain’s PM sues TV host for suggesting she is transsexual

Begoña Gómez, wife of Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has taken legal action against a right-wing TV programme that has peddled a conspiracy that she is transgender and involved in a Moroccan drug trafficking network.

Published: 2 March 2023 10:54 CET
Wife of Spain's PM sues TV host for suggesting she is transsexual
Begoña Gómez and her husband, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Photo: JAVIER SORIANO/AFP

Spain’s First Lady Begoña Gómez is suing a Spanish TV talkshow host for claiming that she is transsexual and also that she is involved in a drug trafficking ring in Morocco.

Pilar Baselga, a well-known figure on the right-wing Distrito TV channel, made the claims on the network’s ‘Los Intocables‘ (The Untouchables) programme in November 2022, and it has since been revealed that Gómez made a legal complaint against her before a Spanish court. Baselga could now face possible charges for ‘insults and slander’.

Gómez’s legal representation has also filed a complaint against the programme’s director and presenter, Eurico Campano, and the programme itself.

Distrito TV has reported stories based on hoaxes and conspiracies before. This hoax, in which they refer to Gómez as ‘Begoño’, deliberately using the masculine ending of her name, has made waves in Spain’s conspiracy-laden right-wing social media networks.

Speaking in November, Baselga stated: “Our dear first lady, well second lady because the first is the Queen… I dare say that there are suspicions that in the beginning it was ‘Begoño’. This wife of the President comes from a family with a tradition of gay saunas, it has to be said.”

Criticising Gómez’s position at the prestigious Universidad Complutense de Madrid, which Baselga implied she was given through her husband, Baselga then went on to make some startling claims about Gómez’s supposed role in a Moroccan drug smuggling gang: “Then she started working for a business institute with an Africa programme… and they have involved her in a drug trafficking issue in Morocco.”

“And apparently,” Baselga added, “the Moroccan secret service has evidence that Begoña Gómez is involved… would be involved in drug trafficking issues in Morocco,” according to Spanish daily El Diario.

Campano has since described Baselga’s statements as “absolutely regrettable” and Distrito TV requested that she make a video to clarify her remarks.

She responded with a statement that it had been “a mistake on my part to interpret information that is being spread on various Spanish social media networks.” She also stated that her words were “misinterpreted” and that “it has never been my intention to offend anyone, as transsexuality has been present in my family circle for almost 20 years.

Baselga even claimed that the response to her comments was transphobic because “it considers transsexuality a negative thing.”

These evasive apologies, which were no doubt made in an effort to avoid the legal action, made no mention of the claim about Moroccan drug smuggling.

Though it seems the original video has been deleted by Distrito TV, the following tweet thread compares at length what was said in the original broadcast and the apologies made a few days later.

Gómez’s legal representation is requesting a conciliatory meeting with Baselga and Campano, who are asked to “agree to acknowledge clearly and forcefully the spurious nature of their statements, and the falsehood of these messages aimed solely at harming” not only Gómez but Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez himself.

Gómez’s lawyers demand that the two conspiracists  make an apology “publicly and prominently using the same media in which the statements were made, or if there is not, another of a similar nature.”

Gómez’s team is also claiming compensation of €100,000.

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POLITICS

Spain PM’s Socialists eye power grab in Catalan vote

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialists are hoping to show Catalonia has turned away from its independence fixation by winning Sunday's regional vote and defeating separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.

Published: 12 May 2024 08:49 CEST
Spain PM's Socialists eye power grab in Catalan vote

When the polls open at 9:00 am (0700 GMT), the wealthy northeastern region of some eight million people will vote for 135 deputies to the Catalan parliament.

Opinion polls suggest Sanchez’s Socialists are ahead of Puigdemont’s hardline separatist JxCat and its rival ERC, led by current regional leader Pere Aragones.

READ MORE: Catalan independence for beginners: Five key points

Polls close at 8:00 pm with results due out several hours later.

“We need a change on May 12, and only the Socialist Party and (its candidate) Salvador Illa can lead that… to move Catalonia forward in coexistence and social rights,” said Sanchez in Barcelona on wrapping up the campaign.

Since becoming premier in 2018, some nine months after a failed Catalan separatist bid of October 2017, Sanchez has sought to “heal the wounds” caused by the unprecedented political crisis.

In 2021, he pardoned the separatists jailed over the secession bid. In November he moved to promote an amnesty bill for those still wanted by the justice system in exchange for key separatist backing in parliament that let him secure a new four-year term in office.

The bill is in the Senate, due to pass into law in coming weeks. This will allow the return of Puigdemont, 61, the Catalan separatist leader who oversaw the botched independence bid then fled to Belgium to avoid prosecution.

The controversial measure has brought the right-wing and far-right opposition to the streets in huge protests, accusing Sanchez of letting himself be held “hostage” by the separatists to stay in power.

High stakes

For Sanchez, seizing Catalonia from the separatists — who have ruled the region for a decade — would be a major victory in his efforts to turn the page on the crisis sparked by the secession bid.

It would also allow him to press the restart button on his latest term in office, which began in November.

So far, it has been soured by bitter right-wing opposition and a corruption probe into his wife, which almost prompted his resignation last month.

Although the Socialists won the most votes during the last regional election in February 2021, their candidate Illa failed to piece together a governing majority. The separatist parties clubbed together to form a 74-seat coalition.

Despite lagging behind Illa in the polls, Puigdemont hopes for a strong showing in the vote so he can return home triumphantly as Catalan regional leader once the amnesty has become law.

“Let’s fill the ballot boxes with voting papers and start preparing for a new era,” said Puigdemont wrapping up his own campaign in the southern French town of Elne.

Unable to enter Spain, where he is subject to an arrest warrant, he has been campaigning in southern France near the border.

But the numbers do not look good for the JxCat leader who has vowed to retire from politics if he fails to win.

The Catalan separatist movement is deeply divided now however, with JxCat sharply at odds with its more moderate rival ERC.

The picture has been further complicated by the emergence in recent months of the ultranationalist Catalan Alliance which polls see winning several seats, although no other party would enter a pact with it.

Polls suggest the Socialists will win around 40 seats, meaning they would need support to reach the 68 required for a governing majority.

One possible alliance would involve the far left and ERC, in what would likely cause a damaging implosion within the independence movement.

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