Members of the Spanish far-left environmentalist organization Futuro Vegetal (Vegetable Future) vandalized a home in Ibiza on Tuesday that belongs to Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi.
The far-left group, which defines itself on its website as “a civil disobedience and direct action collective that fights against the climate crisis by adopting a plant-based food system,” sprayed red and black paint on Messi’s “illegal” Ibiza residence reportedly to denounce the “responsibility of the rich” in the climate crisis.
“We are taught that the powerful are untouchable. It is true that policies are written and interpreted to serve those who have the most, directly infringing on the rights of the rest of the population. But they are only 1 percent,” the group said in a statement on its Instagram account.
“Today 3 activists have decorated Messi’s illegal mansion. What could we do if we organize the remaining 99 percent?”
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The far-left activists, after vandalizing the residence, took pictures of themselves holding a banner that read, “Help the planet, eat the rich, abolish the police.”
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“While the extreme right blames the crisis on migrants and demonstrates extreme violence against them, those of us who fight for a better world are clear that the problem is social inequality. Let’s attack the root problems,” the group said. “We need a radical system change to face the Climate Crisis.”
Lionel Messi is widely considered to be one of the best soccer players in the world and, as of July, became the “most decorated” soccer player of all time after Argentina won the latest edition of Copa America, the world’s oldest soccer tournament. Messi also led Argentina to triumph in the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar, where the South American nation won its third world cup title.
Messi, who reportedly bought the Ibiza mansion from a Swiss businessman for roughly 11 million euros ($12 million) in 2022, has been residing in the United States since 2023 and presently plays for Florida’s Inter Miami soccer team. Messi has not publicly commented on the attack on his Ibiza residence at press time.
The far-left Vegetable Future group was reportedly founded in 2022. The group demands that the Spanish government “end subsidies to livestock farming and use them to promote socially and ecologically responsible plant-based alternatives to address the necessary change in the food system.”
Among their “actions,” — which have been likened to those of other extremist climate activist groups such as Just Stop Oil — members of Vegetal Future glued themselves in November 2022 to The Clothed Maja and The Naked Maja, two of Spanish painter Francisco Goya’s most emblematic works of art, which reside in Madrid’s Prado Museum, to “denounce climate change.” Members of the group also glued themselves to the lectern of the Spanish Congress in January 2023.
In June, the group claimed to have sabotaged bathrooms belonging to the McDonald’s and Burger King fast food chain franchises located in Donostia-San Sebastian in reponse to the corporations’ “support” of Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza. Last week, members of the far-left group protested outside a hotel in Ibiza that belongs to an Israeli hotel chain.
Argentine President Javier Milei condemned the attack on Messi’s residence on his social media accounts, expressing his support to Messi and his family amidst “this cowardly and delusional event.” Milei also called on Spain’s socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to guarantee the safety of Argentine citizens living in the European country.
En España, los comunistas que quieren "asesinar a los ricos y abolir la policía para terminar con el cambio climático" vandalizaron una casa de Lionel Messi y su familia.
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) August 6, 2024
Me solidarizo con la familia Messi por este cobarde y delirante suceso y le solicito al gobierno de Pedro…
“Communism is an ideology fostered by envy, hatred and resentment towards the successful. It has no place in the free and civilized world,” Milei said before concluding his message with his famous catchphrase “Long live liberty, damn it!”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
