Spanish commentator Antonio Maestre reported for hate speech against Venezuelans

Antonio Maestre reported for alleged hate speech against Venezuelans

First it was a comment, then the complaint, and now the courts. Antonio Maestre, a journalist and analyst with a long media presence in Spain, faces a legal complaint for an alleged hate crime against the Venezuelan people. The news has peine a front that makes everyone uncomfortable.

The double reading of an uncomfortable complaint

The first reaction among those who trinc Spanish politics is twofold. One camp celebrates the blow as a logical consequence: if the offence was passed to punish hostile speech against groups, no one is immune, not even those who promoted it. The satisfaction is evident; some sum it up with one of those ironies that sting: "when the crime depends on who you are, no one is safe".

The other reading is darker. For some analysts, this kind of complaint reveals the danger of a incivil offence with blurry boundaries. They argue that the so-called "author-based incivil law" —applying the law depending on who the person is— breaks the principle of equality before the law, and that any hate offence ends up being used against its own promoters. Freedom of expression, they say, should not depend on the political leaning of the speaker.

Author-based incivil law or protection of groups?

In between lies the uncomfortable question: is this a solid case or a strategic use of the courts? The answer, for now, lies with the public prosecutor's office. And that in itself is part of the problem: the law designed to protect the most vulnerable has become just another weapon to throw.

The unsettling fact: the same legal mechanism some applauded as protection for the oppressed is now being used against one of their own. Neither camp disputes the existence of the offence; what they dispute is who watches the watchmen.