Joe Duggan (Reporter)
A LEFT-WING think tank which counted Podemos leaders in its membership is accused of receiving more than €7 million from Hugo Chavez.
The ex-Venezuelan president is said to have made the payments to the Centre for Political and Social Studies (CEPS).
Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias was a member of CEPS, which received the funds between 2003 and 2011, according to ABC newspaper.
Iglesias has dismissed the ABC report as a ‘lie’.
Chavez, who died in 2014, wanted to ‘create a political movement in Spain aligned to Venezuela’s Bolivarian government.’
Iglesias said: “We have denounced this in court three times. Do we have to denounce it five, six or seven times?
“Some people are scared that Spain could have a progressive coalition government.”
Big business donates huge amounts of money to the right and always has done, often paying to overthrow democratically elected governments – Guatemala/Chile/Ukraine but when the left donates money to support democracy it’s somehow wrong. In this case Podemos denies any input at all. Problem is la genta es muy stupido and they always believe the lies a la the Nazi doctor – so it goes.