Ayuso awards Madrid’s International Medal to the US for being the “beacon of the free world”

Eduardo González The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced this Wednesday the awarding of the Community of Madrid's International Medal to the United States for being the “leading beacon of the free world.” The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) asked her if “the next” recipient will be the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. During her video address at The Hispanic Prosperity Gala, held at the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida (the city where US President Donald Trump has his residence), the regional leader announced the award on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of US independence, a country that the region has always viewed “with admiration” for being the “leading beacon of the free world,” according to a press release from the Community. “Madrid is their home on the other side of the Atlantic,” because the history of Spain and the United States “cannot be understood without each other,” she continued. “We have built them together, through missions, adventures, and a legacy that is passed down in the names of streets, cities, and surnames,” she added. According to the Community of Madrid, the Madrid government will present the award to a representative of the U.S. administration who is on an official visit to Spain. This same recognition has been awarded in recent years to the presidents of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas (2021); Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky (2022); Ecuador, Daniel Noboa (2023); and Argentina, Javier Milei (2024). In response to this announcement, the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Administration and Secretary General of the Madrid branch of the PSOE, Óscar López, wrote on social media that “Ayuso has participated in the select club of the world's far right at Mar-a-Lago to say that Mexico is a dictatorship and that she is awarding a medal to the US precisely in the year of ICE, the threats against Denmark, the support for Netanyahu, and the trade wars.” “She shames Madrid,” he added. “She gave one to Milei recently, now to Trump, and next will be Netanyahu,” he later declared in the halls of the Congress of Deputies.

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