Il governo spagnolo risponde alla dichiarazione di UCI in merito a La Vuelta España.

TRANSLATION.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND SPORTS
The President of the Higher Sports Council

Dear Mr. David Lappartient,

We have received, with profound dismay and surprise, your statement regarding the 2025 Vuelta a España. In Spain, as in all democratic societies, the right to free and peaceful demonstration is a fundamental right, enshrined in our 1978 Constitution. And if, moreover, the cause is a just and noble one in defense of Human Rights, that free and peaceful expression acquires the condition of moral obligation. For this reason, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, from the Higher Sports Council (CSD) we are very proud of the greatness of the Spanish people and of their sensitivity in the face of profoundly unacceptable and intolerable situations.

With the deepest admiration and respect for our athletes and conveying, as we have always done, our rejection of any kind of violent attitude, we believe that sport cannot be an island indifferent to what is happening in the world, and even less remain oblivious to the serious violations of Human Rights.

There can be no peace without justice, and to “whitewash” through sport a genocide such as the one currently being committed in Gaza, with thousands of deaths, innocent boys and girls, and a famine already declared by the United Nations, is indeed a political stance that contravenes the Olympic Charter and the most basic values of sport.

In this sense, it is surprising to note that in your statement there is no explicit request to Mr. Netanyahu’s government urging it to stop the massacre and barbarity that the Palestinian people are suffering. A reality that should call for action with the same forcefulness as in 2022 in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

I also read in your public statement that you even question our organizational capacity as a country, when you know perfectly well that in Spain we do things properly, with success and security. The numerous international events that we have already hosted, and that we will continue organizing, provide more than sufficient proof of the good work of the Spanish people. The recent European downhill cycling championship in La Molina, the 2018 Copa Libertadores, the Grand Prix of motor racing and motorcycling, the Davis Cup elimination match against Denmark, and the upcoming 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Morocco, as well as many other examples of serious and effective management, demonstrate our enormous organizational capacity, recognized throughout Europe and the world.

Without a doubt, dialogue and understanding, sport as a bridge of communication between nations that fosters unity and not division, is a goal we share. But do not forget that, as Kant said, “peace without justice is the peace of cemeteries.”

Sincerely,

José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes
President of the Higher Sports Council
Secretary of State for Sport. Government of Spain

That is a dignified response from Spain to the UCI.

The uci are pretending that sport should be a political free zone as if that can unite people. But these divisions over the role of Israel premier tech didn’t start with the protesters seeing the name “Israel” on a jersey of an innocent sports team. The sports team was explicitly set up to help whitewash israel’s reputation.

“Israel-Premier Tech was founded in 2014 and is co-owned by Canadian-Israeli billionaire Sylvan Adams, who has referred to himself as “self-appointed ambassador at large for the State of Israel”. Adams has described Israel’s invasion of Palestine as “good vs. evil and civilization against barbarism”.

Ron Baron, the team’s other co-owner, has described Israel–Premier Tech as a form of “sports diplomacy”.

https://www.bikeradar.com/news/jakob-fuglsang-says-its-nicer-to-ride-without-an-israel-logo

On the 25th of September the UCI will be voting for a new president, the best thing Spain can do is lobby against the re-election of Lappartient, pretty sure some other countries might be willing to follow them. Only issue is that they would have to present a candidate since he is the only running candidate.

I wish every EU country was this based.

It is necessary that the rest of our neighbouring countries with whom we share the same values begin to speak out in the same terms.

Now.

Morals have not gone dark in all of Europe. Thanks Spain

Oh, the Spanish government seems to have another corruption scandal that it needs to distract attention from.

Based Spaniards

Spain using Palestine situation to hide the corruption inside of the government.

Defending the right to protest is nice, but don’t forget some “protesters” are just hooligans that want to injure people. Throwing things at the cyclists, causing them to crash (and injure themselves) is not protesting. You could call it a riot or any other word, but at the core of those actions is violence against people. That should not be allowed and should be punished extremely harshly, its not a democratic, free-speech expression of their opinions.

And they threw catalan separatists with a legitimate referendum to jail, fuck em

“With the deepest admiration and respect for our athletes …” Spain did not respect the riders in Vuelta at all. This Vuelta has been nothing more than a joke. UCI should revoke their license for next year since there is not a single line in the document expression some kind of apology for aborted races, crashed riders (and lack of safety for riders) because of protestors, and not giving riders and teams a podium ceremony in Madrid.

Please, do no mix Spanish Government with Spain.

Current Spanish government is under scrutiny due to corruption allegations. This government is always trying to find an escape goat to place people’s attention away from this corruption case.

people here thinking spain care about palestine or their situation, this is a smokescreen to distract the public of all the cases of corruption it actually has. They do not care, never have and never will. And when the situation at Gaza is not politically viable it will show.

I’m a Spaniard and a left-winger. I’m ashamed of the encouragement and the response of my government and the mistreatment of what should be a Spanish icon as is La Vuelta. I just for the sake of me can not picture the French government doing the same to Le Tour. Let’s see if the smoke and mirrors continue when they start stopping football games. And of course by no means do I endorse the actions of Israel in Gaza, I condemn them in the harshest way possible (I’m saying this preemptively ‘cause I see them coming).

Edit: Governments should be doing what they have to do: improving the life of the citizens they govern, creating the environment for better job opportunities, improving the access to house units, improving the transportation systems… There is a concerted international effort pushing the extreme right up. The best answer is being effective and they (I mean both the major parties in my country) aren’t being it. I don’t want the extreme right to ever touch power but if it does I’ll hate hypocrites saying “we don’t know how it happened”. If you don’t know you shouldn’t be in power, and if you know and you can’t do nothing you shouldn’t be in power. And if they are going to use the excuse that “we couldn’t do what we wanted for lack of majorities” because the equilibrium of powers is very fragile in my country, well, you’ve had time to redistribute that equilibrium by changing the Electoral Law that gives so much power to nationalist regional leeches. And I insist, I’m a leftist, that’s why I believe first every Spaniard should be treated the same. Sorry for the long edit.

Pedro Sanchez and his government are massive hypocrites.

Human rights? They don’t mind countries like UAE participating and Sanchez openly calls for closer relations with China.

Western values? Sanchez is friendly with a long list of openly anti-western socialist rulers, he actively sabotages NATO from the inside and broke ranks to pal around with South American leaders when EU was negotiating a trade deal with them.

Genocide, war crimes? Spain’s contributions to Ukraine’s war effort and the security on eastern flank of NATO are minimal. Sanchez barely ever speaks about those issues (that happen right here in Europe) but talks about Palestine (which is on another continent) seemingly daily.

Independence, self determination? Sure thing Pedro, does this apply to Catalonia, Basque Country? Will you allow them to secede if they want?

Sanchez is in the Corbyn, Varoufakis team of west-hating socialists. He will betray the alliance and side with anti-western block the first chance he gets. He sabotages NATO from the inside, he pushes for open borders at the time of massive migration crisis and it’s just the start.

Proud

Why ban Russia but not genocidal Israel?