Far-right Vox party recruits former generals for Spain elections

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>far-right party is making political waves in Spain by advocating looser gun control laws and recruiting retired military officers as candidates in a parliamentary election next month&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Vox party leader Santiago Abascal said Spaniards should be allowed to keep firearms at home and to use them in &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;real life-threatening situations” without fear of legal consequences&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Spain currently allows civilians to possess guns only for sporting purposes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our laws treat criminals like victims and honest citizens like criminals&comma;” Mr Abascal told armas&period;es&comma; a website specialising in weapons&comma; in an interview&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;128386" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-128386" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;03&sol;71A2920F-BED7-499D-B75A-5816A9242DB1&period;jpeg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-128386" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;03&sol;71A2920F-BED7-499D-B75A-5816A9242DB1&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"400" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-128386" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">General Franco’s tomb<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Mr Abascal&comma; 42&comma; has bragged about carrying a handgun himself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The politician was born and raised in the northern Basque region&comma; where his family was for years a target of separatist militant group Eta&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He has a special gun licence given on a case-by-case basis for professional or personal safety&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Public opinion polls are predicting Vox will win a significant number of seats in the House of Deputies&comma; the lower chamber in Spain’s parliament&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The party said this week it had enlisted at least five former army generals to run in the April 28 election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Two of the candidates signed a petition last year opposing moves by Spain’s Socialist government to remove the body of General Francisco Franco from a mausoleum where the 20th century dictator is honoured&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Those who fear the rise of the far right in Spain say Vox is trying to attract votes with fear-mongering and by reviving the ghosts of Franco’s 1939-1975 dictatorship&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The party’s campaign message is high on Spanish nationalism and what are regarded as traditional values&comma; while its positions include opposing unauthorised migration and the demands of feminists&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;128387" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-128387" style&equals;"width&colon; 600px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;03&sol;7556E3F4-B5C0-4B93-9069-5F8923D93639&period;jpeg"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-128387" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;03&sol;7556E3F4-B5C0-4B93-9069-5F8923D93639&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"1071" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-128387" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">General Franco<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>But Vox faces an uphill battle to stir the arms debate in a country with lower homicide and burglary rates than most of its European neighbours&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some Vox members have linked violence against women and other crimes to the arrival in Spain of large numbers of migrants&comma; though they have not offered statistical evidence to back the claims&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Laws in Spain are strict in requiring military staff to be politically neutral&comma; but they face no limitations once they retire&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"div-gpt-ad-incontent-1" data-google-query-id&equals;"CMmF-KzxkeECFdWwewod5j0JOA">&NewLine;<div id&equals;"google&lowbar;ads&lowbar;iframe&lowbar;&sol;2695176&sol;Breaking&lowbar;News&sol;ROS&lowbar;InContent&lowbar;0&lowbar;&lowbar;container&lowbar;&lowbar;">&NewLine;<p>The anti-austerity Podemos party had a former head of the armed forces&comma; Julio Rodriguez&comma; run for parliament in 2015&comma; but he was not elected&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One Vox candidate&comma; Alberto Asarta&comma; is a decorated general with a long career in international missions&comma; including a two-year stint leading the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last year&comma; Mr Asarta and another general who is now running under the Vox banner joined nearly 200 military reservists in signing a public petition defending Franco’s legacy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Their manifesto justified the dictator’s 1936 uprising&comma; which triggered a bloody three-year Civil War&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It also criticised Spain’s centre-left government for ordering Franco’s remains to be exhumed and relocated from the glorifying Valley of the Fallen mausoleum to a more discrete location&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government has ordered the exhumation to be carried out on June 10&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Spanish Supreme Court is considering appeals filed by Franco’s relatives and the abbot charged with guarding his tomb&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ecedb2448f9">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; 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