Scandal turned into a strike in Spain as the mother of the nation’s soccer federation president holed herself in a church, refusing to eat until the “bloodthirsty witch hunt” ended.
The spectacle that should have been a celebration for Spain after La Roja became the nation’s first-ever Women’s World Cup champions continued into a second week after Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President Luis Rubiales had kissed striker Jennifer Hermoso.
On Friday, FIFA had announced that the controversial kiss was cause for a 90-day suspension for Rubiales from all soccer-related activities, and on Monday his mother, Ángeles Béjar, sequestered herself in Motril, Andalucía’s Church of the Divine Shepherdess.
According to Spain’s EFE, Béjar insisted that the strike would continue, “indefinitely, day and night” until the “bloodthirsty witch hunt” against Rubiales ended.
The mother of suspended Spanish Football Fed Pres Luis #Rubiales, says she’s gone on hunger strike & has locked herself in a church
Ángeles #Béjar told reporters at a church in #Motril, she’ll strike until the end of the “inhuman & bloody hunt of my son,which he doesn’t deserve” pic.twitter.com/IBooYxDydD
— Gavin Lee (@GavinLeeNews) August 28, 2023
“There is no sexual abuse since there is consent on both sides, as the image proves…My son is incapable of hurting anyone,” she added.
As previously reported, in addition to a graphic gesture from the stands when La Roja won, the RFEF president was seen embracing the players on the field with a kiss on the cheek until Hermoso’s turn where she was met with a lip-lock.
Spain wins Women’s World Cup, celebration marred when soccer federation leader locks lips with player https://t.co/4mHLs5wgAl pic.twitter.com/lCiGT4lYcD
— BizPac Review (@BIZPACReview) August 25, 2023
Luis Rubiales kissing spanish soccer player Jennifer Hermoso.#LuisRubiales #JenniHermoso #kissing pic.twitter.com/6AhWeuX5PV
— Old Man Edwin (@OldMan_Edwin) August 21, 2023
Following the incident, while the player had offered mixed statements on the incident, at once saying, “Yeah, I did not enjoy that,” and later referring to it as “a mutual, totally spontaneous gesture because of the huge joy of winning a World Cup,” Rubiales had issued an apology.
“I made a mistake, for sure,” one translation of his comments detailed. “I have to accept it. In a moment of such emotion, without any bad intention or bad faith, what happened, happened, in a very spontaneous way. [There was] no bad faith from either side.”
The president added, “So, I want to apologize to those people…I’m also saddened, because this is the biggest success in our history in women’s football, the second World Cup that we’ve won, and this has affected the celebration.”
In addition to the suspension from FIFA and a Monday meeting of the presidents of Spain’s soccer federation leaders, ESPN reported that prosecutors had begun a preliminary sex abuse investigation of the incident.
At the same time, influencer Ada Lluch criticized “Once again, socialists are proving their hypocrisy in Spain. This Monday, a sexual aggressor who went out of jail sooner than expected thanks to the new socialist law ‘sólo sí es sí’ tried to rape a woman in Dos Hermanas. Meanwhile, they wanted the Spanish Soccer Chief, Luis Rubiales, to resign after his kiss with a player while celebrating Spain’s victory this past Sunday. He refused to resign, and now they opened a file to investigate him for the alleged crime of sexual assault. This is the ‘controversial’ picture. Ridiculous.”
Once again, socialists are proving their hypocrisy in Spain.
This Monday, a sexual aggressor who went out of jail sooner than expected thanks to the new socialist law “sólo sí es sí” tried to rape a woman in Dos Hermanas.
Meanwhile, they wanted the Spanish Soccer Chief, Luis… pic.twitter.com/uKSxVH10Rc
— Ada Lluch (@ada_lluch) August 25, 2023
Speaking from outside the church to the press, Rubiales’ cousin Vanessa Ruiz Béjar had said, “He has been judged ahead of time and he should be left in peace. We want Jenni to tell the truth. Why has she changed her story three times? Our family has been harassed. This woman should tell the truth. Jenni, you should tell the truth. We want Jenni to tell the truth.”
“The way they are treating him, the aggression, the feminists, the television, it seems to me shameful,” a translation of her comments read. “All the people who are taking advantage of the situation, it is shameful.”
Meanwhile, La Roja head coach Jorge Vilda, who himself had faced controversy after 15 players had signed a letter in protest to his treatment of them, told EFE, “The events that have taken place since Spain won the Women’s World Cup for the first time in its history and to this day have been a real nonsense and have generated an unprecedented situation, tarnishing a well-deserved victory for our players and our country.”
“I regret deeply that the victory of Spanish women’s football has been harmed by the inappropriate behavior that our until now top leader, Luis Rubiales, has carried out and that he himself has recognized,” added Vilda.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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