Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz traveled to Barcelona, Spain, this past weekend to appear alongside a lineup of foreign leaders that includes a convicted money launderer, a former Marxist guerrilla, and a head of government who blocked the U.S. military from using American bases during the Iran conflict.
The event was billed as the “Global Progressive Mobilisation Forum” in defense of democracy. Murphy and Walz joined Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on stage at the summit.
Lula da Silva was convicted of corruption and money laundering by a Brazilian court in 2017. A Brazilian appellate court upheld the conviction and increased his sentence in 2018. He served approximately 580 days in prison before the convictions were annulled on procedural grounds. He was never acquitted on the merits. Since returning to power, his government has allied with a Supreme Court that censors social media and has imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro.
Petro is a former member of M-19, a Marxist guerrilla movement responsible for the 1985 seizure of Colombia’s Palace of Justice, during which 11 Supreme Court justices were killed. Testimony from Venezuela’s former military intelligence director has alleged that Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro financed Petro’s presidential campaigns.
Sanchez is himself at the center of Spain’s worst corruption crisis in decades. His wife faces formal charges of influence peddling and corruption. His brother is on trial in a separate case for accepting a government job he did not perform. His former chief of staff faces charges over alleged kickbacks on public contracts. Sanchez’s attorney general was convicted of leaking confidential information. Sanchez also prohibited the United States from using two American military bases in Spain during the conflict with Iran.
Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, pushed through a constitutional overhaul that ended judicial independence and introduced popular elections for all federal judges, including the Supreme Court. The referendum to implement the change drew 13 percent voter turnout.
While the Barcelona summit was underway, tens of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants gathered in Madrid to rally in support of democracy in Venezuela, which has seen momentum toward a political transition following Trump administration pressure and the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.
