Samuel Vidal Flanagan, Grade 11
​UWC Dilijan

Spain was one of the first countries to be severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just under 300,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus, and almost 30,000 people have died as a result of it. It has been one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, ranking 6th in terms of cases and 7th in terms of deaths. Moreover, around 65% of Spanish people live in flats, which restricts access to outside space more than houses which often have a terrace or a garden. Despite all this, the Spanish government and people put aside their differences and fought through the pandemic together, because everyone knows that united we are stronger. Well, unfortunately, this wasn’t the case, not really. 

You would think that in a time of crisis, the government and the opposition would avoid big arguments, find common ground and join forces for the benefit of the country. Instead, the political opposition has spent the last four months blaming the government for anything and everything they could find. For example, the 8th of March was International Women’s Day, and the government allowed the marches that had been organised for that day to take place. This is a favourite point of criticism of the opposition, especially for the far-right party Vox, as it allows them to suggest that the marches were the reason for the rapid growth of the infections. However, if we take a look at the statistics, they show that 690 million people use the Madrid Metro a year.[3] With some simple maths, we can assume that on average, 1.85 million people use it every day*. By contrast, only 120,000 people went to the Women’s Day march in Madrid. So, although the marches may have had some influence in the spread, it was minimal. There is no reason to blame the Women’s Day marches. The reason the virus spread was because a generalised lockdown wasn’t enforced in time. This was a mistake the government made, but the opposition didn’t push for it either. 

There are many more examples of this, as a video on Vox’s Instagram account in which they claim that Pablo Iglesias, the current Vice President, is directly responsible for the deaths in nursing homes. When really, it is the responsibility of the local autonomous governments to provide the necessary support and equipment for the homes. The national government can do very little apart from grant money and ask the local government to act. The opposition has also been making a great effort to point out the delayed reaction the government had. However, Vox simultaneously called for the lockdown to end and organised protests in the thousands. At this point, Spain still had a large number of infections (1,500) and deaths (almost 100) per day. 

I do not mean to say by this that the government has acted as well as it could’ve, or that the opposition is some sort of right-wing demon. Both have done good things and have made mistakes as well. However, I think that instead of calling the vice president a killer, the opposition could collaborate with the government more. Political rivalries in Spain carry deep historical wounds with them, but this is a time to work together (sticking to the social distancing measures, of course) and look for a way forward. I quote both the government and the opposition, who have repeatedly said: “Spain will get through this”. Yes, but it will get through it better if less effort is put into arguing. 
Bibliography:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
https://www.statista.com/statistics/503282/share-of-population-living-in-flats-europe-eu/#:~:text=It%20can%20be%20seen%20that,of%20Ireland
%20(7.4%20percent)
https://www.metromadrid.es/es/nota-de-prensa/2020-02-11/metro-supero-en-2019-los-677-millones-de-viajeros-el-tercer-ano-con-mas-demanda-historica
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_nmen2JjJn/