Spanish Deputy PM Embraces Polisario Front, Straining Morocco Relations

Yolanda Diaz’s gesture of sympathy towards the Polisario representative in Spain was not appreciated in Morocco. Invited to a PCE congress on the theme "Democratizing the economy to advance equality", the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister welcomed Arabi with applause and hugged him at the end of the event, reports El Confidencial.

It was after Enrique Santiago, deputy and general secretary of the PCE, had made a parenthesis in his speech to "greet the representative of the Sahrawi people in Spain, a people who are constantly fighting for their right to self-determination and for peace, to put an end to a conflict in respect of their rights". Two weeks earlier, in an interview with La Sexta, Diaz had described Morocco as a "dictatorship" and stated that she would "review Spain’s position on the Sahara" if she became president of the Spanish government.

"Any lasting solution to the [Sahara