Free Republic

Three far-right Facebook networks in Spain were removed earlier this week following a months-long investigation by Avaaz, a global activist NGO. Unidad Nacional Española (Spanish National Unity), Todos contra Podemos (Everyone against Podemos) and Lucha por España (Fight for Spain) had created multiple and duplicate accounts whose pages peddled messages against Muslims, the LGBTI community, immigrants, and women. Christoph Schott, Avaaz campaign director, told this website on Wednesday (24 April), that the exploitation of Facebook by individuals behind such networks is posing a threat to democracy. “The system is being gamed in a way where hate can go viral, like...

Following a major Spanish city’s vote to boycott Israel, the leader of Spain’s third-largest party called the Jewish state a “criminal country” during an interview aired by public television broadcaster. Pablo Iglesias Turrión, leader of the Podemos far-left party, said this in an interview earlier this week on RTVE. “We need to act more firmly on an illegal country like Israel,” said Iglesias Turrión, whose party in 2015 won 20 percent of the votes in the general election just one year after its creation. Last week, a motion promoted by a local fraction of Podemos on the city council of...

The leader of Spain's anti-austerity party Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, on Friday proposed forming a government with the Socialists, making a left-wing governing alliance more likely after last month's inconclusive election. Iglesias told a news conference he had informed King Felipe VI of "our desire to form a government of change with the Socialists and the United Left" and that he would seek the post of deputy prime minister. [...] Last month's general election produced a hung parliament in which a ruling majority cannot easily be formed. Acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservative Popular Party won the most seats, 119, but...

Spanish authorities are actively investigating rumors that Iran's regime heavily financed the activities of the country's Podemos political party, according to Spanish media sources. The Union of Economic and Fiscal Delinquency, La Unidad de Delincuencia Económica y Fiscal (UDEF), an investigative arm of the country's National Police has launched a detailed probe in determining whether the party accepted €5m Euros from Iran in exchange for influence in the country's political and economic arenas, El Confidencial, a Spanish newspaper said.

LA PAZ, Bolivia A vaguely worded military pact between President Evo Morales' government and Venezuela ran into resistance Thursday in the opposition-controlled Senate. The accord, presented May 26 during a visit by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, would bring armed forces under the two leftist administrations closer together and have Venezuela help Bolivia construct a military base in the northern city of Riberalta and a river port on its border with Brazil. "Disarm who? Control of what forces? It could mean anything — whatever you want is in there," Carlos Borth, senator from the conservative opposition party Podemos, told the...