| Roberto Vaquero | |
| Birth Date: | 21 May 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Madrid, Spain |
| Office1: | Leader of the Workers' Front |
| Term Start1: | June 14, 2022 |
| Predecessor1: | position established |
| Office2: | Secretary General of the Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction) |
| Term Start2: | October 7, 2021 |
| Party: | Workers' Front (2018–) Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction) (2009–) Communist Party of Spain (2002–?) |
| Alma Mater: | Complutense University of Madrid National University of Distance Education |
Roberto Vaquero Arribas (born 1986) is a Spanish political activist. He is the secretary general of the Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction) (PML (RC)) and the president of the Workers' Front (FO).Vaquero supports Spanish republicanism, Spanish patriotism and socialism. He opposes mainstream left-wing parties such as the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and Podemos.
Vaquero was born in Madrid and raised in the outskirt town of Pozuelo de Alarcón and the district of Moncloa-Aravaca. He was a childhood neighbour of politician Íñigo Errejón. Raised by conservative parents, he joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) at age 16.[1]
Vaquero graduated in political sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid, where one of his lecturers was Pablo Iglesias Turrión, later founder of the left-wing party Podemos. Vaquero reflected in 2019 that he disliked Iglesias and labeled Iglesias as a "postmodernist" who he saw as no different to the centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), alleging that Iglesias denied the existence of class war.[1]
Vaquero worked with luggage at an airport and as a cinema usher, as well as owning an exotic pet shop in Leganés. He denied accusations that he used party funds to establish the business.[1]
After moving to Barcelona, Vaquero returned to Madrid to work in private security at nighttime entertainment venues. He is one of Spain's leading practitioners of Krav Maga.[2]
In 2016, Vaquero was held in prison for 49 days before paying €6,000 in bail. He was accused of possession of explosives and membership of a criminal organisation collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is classed as a terrorist organisation in Spain.[3] In October 2018, the Audiencia Nacional acquitted him of membership of a criminal organisation and of explosives offences, while rejecting a request from the Prosecution Ministry to ban his party, which had been suspended from activities during the legal process. He was convicted in the first instance of membership of a criminal group and weapons offences, and sentenced to two years and three months.[4] In 2020, the Supreme Court of Spain reduced his sentence by one year, and as of December 2021 he was awaiting the result of his appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain.
Vaquero's political heroes are Joseph Stalin and Enver Hoxha.[5] [6] He proposes a one-party state with no private market or property. He believes that the mainstream left-wing focuses of feminism, queer theory and environmentalism are distractions from the class war.[2] Vaquero believes that parties such as Podemos encourage such policies, as well as open borders, to promote consumerism.[7]
Vaquero opposes Catalan independence, proposing that it is supported by right-wing parties in Catalonia and would not change the lives of the poor. Unlike more mainstream forces of the far left in Spain, he supports Spanish patriotism.[1]
Vaquero supports Spanish republicanism. He believes that it is impossible to achieve it without socialism and patriotism.[8]
Vaquero's followers have been involved in escraches, or public heckling, of politicians such as Errejón, Iglesias and Yolanda Díaz whom they accuse of betraying the working class.[8]
At a 2023 event on Spain's migration crisis, hosted by journalist Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Vaquero said that he would use forces of the state to fight crime in dangerous neighbourhoods. Referring to the time he was arrested for planning to fight the Islamic State in Syria, he said "if I was willing to do that over there, imagine what I would be willing to do here".[7]