Spain’s Far-Right Vox Party Faces Irony of Leaders With Foreign Roots
Madrid, Spain – Vox, Spain’s hard-right political party known for its staunch anti-immigration stance, is facing an uncomfortable spotlight as scrutiny grows over the foreign ancestry of several of its top leaders. The party, which has proposed policies ranging from mass deportations to the revocation of citizenship for naturalized foreigners, finds itself navigating a complex narrative as details emerge about the backgrounds of those championing these policies.
Founded in 2013, Vox has risen to prominence on a platform of national conservatism, tapping into anxieties about immigration and cultural identity. The party has consistently warned against an “invasion” of migrants and recently proposed “re-emigrating” up to 8 million foreigners residing in Spain, including those born in the country to immigrant parents. It has also criticized the left-wing government’s regularization of over 500,000 undocumented migrants.
However, the irony hasn’t gone unnoticed. Rocío de Meer, the Vox spokesperson who initially presented the controversial “re-emigration” proposal, quickly became the subject of ridicule when her Dutch and German surname – de Meer – was pointed out. The attention highlighted a pattern within the party’s leadership.
Ignacio Garriga Vaz da Conceição, Vox’s secretary general and vice president since 2022, is the son of a Belgian father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea. He has publicly called for the expulsion of “illegal immigrants, criminals and incompatible cultures.” Similarly, Javier Ortega-Smith, a former Secretary General and key figure in the party, advocates for strict immigration controls despite his mother being of Argentine and English descent.
Rocío Monasterio, a former Vox leader in the Madrid region, is the daughter of a Cuban father. Even Hermann Tertsch, a prominent Vox MEP, is the son of an Austrian diplomat who was a member of the Nazi Party.
The situation underscores a broader trend: research suggests that migrants themselves can embrace anti-immigration positions over time, and that second-generation migrants are often less favorable to immigration than their parents. Studies from the European University Institute (EUI) have found that attitudes toward immigration tend to become more negative with time spent in the host country. This phenomenon is also observed in other countries, such as the UK, where nearly 40 percent of British-Indians voted to leave the European Union.
In Spain, Vox has garnered support among some Latin American voters, particularly Cubans and Venezuelans, who often arrive with skepticism towards left-leaning politics.
While the party’s stance on immigration remains firm, the revelations about its leaders’ backgrounds raise questions about the complexities of identity, belonging, and the narratives that drive political discourse. The party has not commented directly on the apparent contradiction.
