Overview
- The former Spanish prime minister delivered the message at the IX CEAPI congress in Mexico City, addressing business leaders from Spain and Ibero-America.
- Aznar said populism on the right and the left poses a serious risk to democracy and individual liberties and called it “detestable.”
- He urged citizens to speak up and act, arguing that the survival of liberal democracies depends on responsible public participation.
- Aznar warned that populist leaders seek to entrench themselves and pressed for respect for parliaments and for judicial independence as safeguards.
- His speech echoed a recent video he published that press linked to an investigation into ex‑PM Zapatero, and he said external conflicts could amplify pressures on democratic systems.