Listen: Train accident in Spain as a testing ground for political exploitation

Train accidents, floods in Valencia - every disaster in Spain strongly reignites political battles. Using tragedy for political gain is widely condemned. Is this a typical Spanish thing, or is the taboo weakening?

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Train accidents, floods in Valencia - every disaster in Spain strongly reignites political battles.

Using tragedy for political gain is widely condemned. Is this a typical Spanish thing, or is the taboo weakening?

Spain is mourning dozens of victims after three consecutive train accidents. The first one in Adamuz on January 18 was the most tragic, with 43 lives lost. The second crash killed the train driver, while the third caused only minor injuries.

The Adamuz crash, which has traumatised the country, is under investigation. Some point to the high speed of the train at the moment of the accident. While others denounce poor maintenance of the railway infrastructure. 

After these tragic events, the country has declared three days of national mourning. All political parties paused their activities, except one. The far right party Vox maintained its agenda, continuing to participate in meetings and public events.

Members of Vox have in fact been building on these kinds of events to gain traction in the public sphere. Only hours after the first accident, party leader Santiago Abascal, pointed to a corrupt government, on social media. 

Party members have also been spreading false information about government actions on public transport, as analysed by Spanish outlet El Diario.

Such a move is reminiscent of Donald Trump’s political style, which far-right parties often draw inspiration from.

As for Spain’s main conservative party, the PP, it did not go as far in accusing the current socialist government, and observed a period of respect for the victims. However it is now formally asking the government for explanations.

Blaming the opposing political side after tragic events has become increasingly common in Spain.

There were major political clashes over the disastrous floods that hit the city of Valencia in 2024, killing more than two hundred twenty people. 

Regional authorities were accused of wrongdoing during the crisis, which even led to a judicial investigation. 

For months after the floods, the governing left accused the right of negligence at regional level, and in response, the right accused the left of poor management of extreme weather events.

One key difference in that case is that politicians initially observed some time for respect and solidarity before clashing, given the scale of the tragedy. The extreme right does not do that anymore.

And in fact, it has become an actual consistent strategy for the party Vox to react quickly with strong accusations to any kind of dramatic event, as the Spanish politics and journalism expert Anna Lopez Ortega, explained in the Spanish media El Diario. 

In most European countries, using tragedies for political purposes is considered deeply disrespectful to victims.

Take the example of the terrorist attacks in France between 2015 and 2016. There was a strong display of national unity. Political debates around security only came later and did not focus on mutual blame. The only political exploitation came from the far-right party then led by Marine Le Pen.

But the reality is that political exploitation by extremist parties has been increasing.

In the summer of 2021, devastating floods killed more than 200 people in Germany and Belgium.

Looking at reactions in Berlin, you can already see a shift. Opposition parties accused the government led by Angela Merkel of failing to sufficiently warn the population about the risks.

These clashes were however less prominent in the public debate and did not last as long as those seen in Spain.

At the far end of the political spectrum, the German far-right party AfD did not hesitate to use the tragedy to discredit mainstream parties. Some AfD members even accused the major parties of using climate change to mislead the public.

The pattern is clear: while restraint remains the norm, political exploitation of tragedy is no longer the exception.