Ortega Smith remained alone in the photo of the historical leaders who supported Abascal. They are not even anymore Sánchez del Real, Manso, Olona or Juan Luis Steegmann — He leaves last and denounces a “neo-phalangist” drift within the party. The departure of Rocío Monasterychronicle of a political death announced after the departure of her husband Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, leaves him alone in the spotlight. However, he has been cornered for a long time, with varied positions but without command in place, carrying errors of the past and present.
As sources close to what is happening in Bambú, the street where the party’s headquarters are located in Madrid, point out, if the lawyer continues in Vox, it is not because he enjoys too much sympathy in the direction – “the core of the Méndez monastery “He always despised him a lot,” we assure the newspaper. The reason is the personal relationship that has united him with Abascal for years.
In fact, just two weeks ago, in some Vox chats, a new “manifesto in favor of the refoundation of the Vox current” was published, similar in part to the one formulated in January of the same year. The objective of the criticisms, among others, of the party’s new drift is to try to modify the statutes to demand more internal democracy. “They were encouraged by Ortega”the aforementioned sources tell EL ESPAÑOL. However, the document appears to have slipped through the cracks. “This is the sign that Javier Ortega Smith is really condemned to the most absolute ostracism,” they insist to EL ESPAÑOL.
He sin of Ortega Smith It’s not about being a dissident, which he never was, but about the mistakes he’s made since 2019. “He served reasons on a platter to his enemies so that they stay in the drawer. forgotten dolls”, we tell this newspaper. Now, Abascal “has new toys”, says someone who is no longer faced with the rise of the party’s hardest wing.
Past and present mistakes
Voices critical of Javier Ortega Smith began to be heard after the 2019 local elections. On that occasion, before November arrived, Vox’s election results did not turn out as expected and doubts hovered over the lawyer due to the actions of the territorial delegates. that he commanded. The way of proceeding of those said “the men in black” became a source of problems for Bambú.
Then the pandemic arrived. Covid-19 and Ortega Smith He was infected by the first, but he remained silent. He was general secretary of Vox and participated in a large event in Vistalegre on March 8, just before the confinement. This is an episode that Macarena Olona recounts in her book (Me Macarena) and which, he said, was “the only time Ortega Smith’s head was really in danger.” An attempt at massive contagion that would write. Abascal’s entourage tried to get him fired, but without success.
Vox spokesperson at Madrid City Hall, Javier Ortega Smith, tours the city in a van against Almeida’s appeal against the court decision overturning the ZBE.
VOX
Later it would arrive the departure of Olona. Ortega Smith had no major disagreements with her, only a loud fight. However, sources close to Olona have previously told this newspaper that this has crippled his organic rise within the party. “Until his arrival, he was the legal face of the party. He is the origin of everything,” they said.
In fact, in Bambú’s environment, he was always considered someone who “it did not serve to create a party structure” and what’s more it was “a big mouth”.
Then came his dismissal from his position as general secretary in October 2022. It was shortly before the Viva 22 celebration when he was relieved Ignacio Garriga. The former Green Beret, worn down by the post, “nervous and angry”, fell down the organic ladder after not being able to manage the territorial problems that arose.
A year ago, in October 2023, Ortega Smith was already on set. He slipped it in himself in an interview with Europe Press in which he asked the party to show firmness so as not to “become a friend placement agency”something that Vox critics had already warned this newspaper about after the departure of Espinosa de los Monteros months before.
In the months to come, other types of problems would arise. During the Ferraz protests in November last year, Ortega Smith clashed with national police two nights in a row. All police unions have warned of the “disastrous example” he is setting with his actions.
Then December came and the problems multiplied. Ortega Smith confronted during a plenary session of the City Council Eduardo Rubiño, mayor of Más Madridand slammed the water bottle a classmate had on the table. The mayor of Madrid himself, José Luis Martinez Almeidacalled it an “unacceptable attack.” Meanwhile, the lawyer quipped: “May he recover from his serious injuries.”
January 2024 arrived and speculation swirled that Ortega Smith might run for party leader, in a move some never believed in and called a self-serving leak to finish undermining the former Green Beret. Finally, Abascal included it Ortega Smith as Executive Committee Memberdegrading him, but closing all debate on confrontation.
Smith is now back in the firing line. The modification of the Organic Law 7/2014on the exchange of information on criminal records and the examination of criminal judicial resolutions in the European Union, carried out last September at the Congress, underlined this again, since he is the spokesperson for the Justice Commission .
If it is true that the three Vox speakers within the committee abstained on the proposal, it is no less true that on this occasion they did not see the consequences: the reform will benefit many members of the ETA terrorist group.
Abascal, in his place
That of Rocío Monasterio is the last, but not the only one. Until this Wednesday president of Vox in Madrid She handed over her certificate as a deputy to the Assembly after the end of Santiago Abascal’s training.
In reality, “Rocío’s case was a death foretold,” says a source close to Vox. Her own husband, Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, resigned in August last year due to disagreements with the party leadership, which also wanted to force Monasterio to make decisions he refused to make.
Anger against Santiago Abascal of critical sectors grows in proportion to the rise in power of the entourage of the leader Vox of the group of Kiko Méndez Monasterymore and more proud, according to his friends.
There have been leaks in Vox since its creation, this is nothing to worry about in any party. Espinosa de los Monteros himself said it after the resignation of Macarena Olona: “Why a crisis? There is only one person left among all the people we have; it is not a crisis.”
But they are no longer one, nor two, nor three. Those who made Vox strong in 2019 have left or are ostracized. There is like Steegmannwho left after feeling that a line was necessary “illiberal” and “anti-scientific” and it gets closer to “neophalangism”which according to him represents the MEP Jorge Buxade.
Others are waiting to rebuild a party which, they warn, has produced “only three more MEPs than a guy with a computer, social networks and no party structure. No matter where you look at it: failure and obvious regression.
