Despite the heat and the intense sun that shone this Saturday in Madrid, Viva22 has become the closest thing to an oasis for Santiago Abascal, after a desert of "palace intrigues" –Ignacio Garriga 'dixit'– crowned last Thursday with the resignation of Javier Ortega Smith he was able to act as general secretary. With a verbena atmosphere from ounce in the morning and scheduled until midnight, Vox is giving a mass bath to heal the wound left by Macarena Olona with her abandonment of the party and her complaint of "lack of internal democracy" in her attempt frustrated to go back to training.
Parking was almost impossible in the vicinity of Mad Cool, the Valdebebas space chosen for the second edition of Viva, and the trickle of people has not stopped all morning. From the Cercanías station, you will be on your way to a series of supporters with people to pass while attending the patron saint festivities of their town. The common element of many of them - national masters in the form of a bracelet, flag, scarf or T-shirt.
Between the rojigualda and the proximity of the Real Madrid Sports City, some clueless neighbor could think that this weekend the national team had left. But no, there is Liga and Vox's Viva22, which is meeting the expectations of its national leadership. The Mad Cool space, very large, could have the habit of easily showing any puncture, but between one ounce in the morning and one in the afternoon, according to the organization, more than 8.000 people had already entered the premises. Eight millet in two hours and more than 30.000 are expected between this Saturday and this Sunday, according to web records.
"There are more policemen than in the days of ETA," a surprised woman told her husband at the gates of Mad Cool, as she quickened her pace to get into the access queue. “Ah, of course, we are the extreme right”, she added ironically, annoyed with her label. As soon as they entered, the registrants received a free high-quality photo book, 'Spain always, the alternative', with images of Vox from its beginnings to the present. They were also given a commemorative bracelet and the smell of bacon, barbecue and paella. A party.
A large Spanish flag presided over the entrance next to a Vox hot air balloon. Playground for children with bouncy castles, infirmary, two restaurant areas and another two for selling drinks, booths for private companies, tents representing the Spanish provinces and autonomous cities, and finally, in the background, the multipurpose stage used for concerts and on which this Sunday Abascal produced his program Spain Decide.
The deputies, one more
"We come from Murcia by car," commented an attendee who had traveled by road with a friend. "We came last year already, we are fixed," added his companion. Among those present were intermingled, like one more, national, European, regional deputies, councilors... There was the senior staff of Vox, and also strolling with a beer, communicating in a language that was neither English, nor Spanish nor Italian, which perhaps it was an intention of Esperanto, Marion Maréchal, niece of Marine Le Pen.
Abascal, an early riser, has simultaneously begun a tour of the provincial booths and each one of them, in which there was a historical figure, was a parade of fame for the leader of Vox, surrounded in all of them, like a rock star, by crowd of faithful wanted to immortalize the moment. The tents were arranged alphabetically, glued around the main stage, and only from Álava to the Balearic Islands took forty minutes; half than by plane.
At twelve noon the brass band started to play and by that time entire families were already intermingling with children, retirees, groups of young friends, couples... A cross-sectional audience on a relaxed day. A confused man was hanging around there wearing a T-shirt with the eagle flag used during the Franco regime. A jarring exception among thousands of people.
There was also Olona, an eagle who was baptized by a supporter last year, when Macarena performed the homonymous dance for the enjoyment of those attending Viva21. In this edition she is the great absentee, after her notorious divorce with Vox. To the beat of the brass band, the children enjoyed running a simulated children's confinement and after eating, at four in the afternoon, Green Velvet began the concerts with 'pop-rock' songs from the 80s and 90s. The party was only interrupted for the day's rallies, with Abascal closing before more than 15.000 people: "You are here again, as always, making the mobilization that no party in Spain is capable of doing." Shouts of "president", national anthem at full volume and continuation of the revelry with a show and more music.
