The political proclamation “Let me vote for you Txapote!”, used by both the Popular Party and Vox in recent months of electoral turmoil to attack the PSOE for its agreements with EH Bildu in the Congress of Deputies, has slipped into the Conference Youth World Cup (WYD) in Lisbon, at the appointment of Pope Francis with young Catholics.
In recent days, videos have been shared on the networks of how a group of young Spaniards chanted that motto on a commuter train in Portugal; an attitude that has aroused some controversy.
It has also been heard live by a Portuguese reporter with a group of young people associated with the Hakuna Catholic youth movement. One of the girls asks for the microphone to say: “Txapote vote for you!”. To which others from the same group, who were cooling off next to a fountain, added “Long live Spain!” or “Long live Córdoba!”.
The fact that there is a certain banal nationalism and that young people carry the flags and emblems of their country at WYD, an appointment to which Catholics from all over the world are summoned, is not at all strange and serves as an identification of the groups. What is not usual is that there are political proclamations of that depth or so markedly partisan.
To make matters worse, the slogan “Let Txapote vote for you!” It has been clearly censored by the relatives of the victims of ETA terrorism in recent months.
Despite this, some leaders or ex-leaders of the PP, its youth –Nuevas Generaciones– and Vox have insisted on using it. Such is the case of the former Basque popular leader María San Gil, who without qualms pointed out that it was very effective, of Senator Rafael Hernando or of far-right leaders such as Santiago Abascal. All of them have legitimized that motto in recent months.
In fact, activists from the ultra-Catholic and ultra-right movement Hazte Oír, close to Vox and recurringly associated with the secret society of Mexican origin El Yunque, projected the night of the day of reflection on the facade of the Congress of Deputies, in the Carrera de San Jerónimo, the following words: “Sánchez, let Txapote vote for you.”
The circumstance occurs that from Vox, despite making a banner of the values ??of the Church or using some issues that concern it as a bait to fish for votes, the figure of Pope Francis has been openly questioned on repeated occasions and sedevacantist positions have been paid. Abascal has referred to the Supreme Pontiff several times as “citizen Bergoglio” and, at the same time, has accepted some postulates from one of the figures who has made the most opposition to the first Latin American Pope within the Church, such as Cardinal Robert Sarah. At the same time, there is the situation that among some young groups of the Spanish Church, Vox’s messages –especially through networks such as TikTok and Instagram– have reached more than in other areas.
‘Txapote’ is the code name of Francisco Javier García Gaztelu, a former ETA leader convicted of numerous murders, including that of the PP councilor in Ermua Miguel Ángel Blanco or the PP mayor of San Sebastián Gregorio Ordóñez.
The latter’s sister, Consuelo Ordóñez, president of the Collective of Victims of Terrorism (Covite), has been one of the people who has most questioned the strategy and words of the PP.
