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Isabel Peralta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Medina and the second or maternal family name is Peralta.
Peralta in 2024

María Isabel Medina Peralta[1] (born 2002) is a Spanish neo-Nazi. She came to public attention at age 18 in February 2021, after making a speech against Jews at an event in honour of the Blue Division.[2] Three months later, she made threats of violence at an unauthorised demonstration at the Moroccan embassy, for which she was convicted of hate speech and sentenced to a year in prison in April 2025.[3] She was invited in 2021 for a ten-month scholarship with the Third Way in Germany, but was deported for possession of Nazi symbols and later banned for life from the country.[4]

Biography

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Peralta is the daughter of Juan Manuel Medina, a pundit on Ana Rosa Quintana's El programa de Ana Rosa [es]. Medina was elected to the town council in Seseña in the Province of Toledo in 2008 in representation of the People's Party (PP). In 2011, it was revealed that in the 1990s he had been a member of the Alianza por la Unidad Nacional [es], a far-right party.[5]

Peralta said that she first identified with the extreme right at age 13.[6] According to Peralta, she was expelled from her father's house in 2019 to live with her mother, a practicing Buddhist who did not support Peralta's ideology but could tolerate it. The following year, Medina expelled Peralta again, when she went to the Valley of the Fallen to pay tribute to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Falangism.[5]

In February 2021, 18-year-old Peralta made international headlines at an authorised event in Madrid, in which she wore the blue shirt of the Falange and made a speech in tribute to the Blue Division, Spanish volunteers in the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. She said "The enemy is always going to be the same one, albeit with different masks: the Jew".[2] An investigation was opened into her actions, but it was closed by a judge.[4]

Peralta attended an unauthorised protest in May 2021 at the Moroccan embassy in Madrid, in which she called for "death to the invader". In April 2025, she was convicted of provoking discrimination and hatred, and given a prison sentence of one year and a fine of €1,080.[3] Peralta argued in court that she was not the leader of the neo-Nazi group Bastión Frontal and that she believed the event to be legitimate as it had allegedly been organised by social media personality and later Member of the European Parliament Alvise Pérez.[7] Bastión Frontal, which had around fifty members, chose to dissolve in September 2022 due to financial issues and criminal investigations concerning Peralta and co-leader Rodrigo Miguélez.[8]

In September 2021, Peralta was invited to a ten-month course by German far-right party the Third Way in Düsseldorf.[9] The following March, after arriving at Frankfurt Airport with a Nazi flag and a copy of Mein Kampf, she was detained and deported.[10] In January 2023, Germany banned Peralta for life from entering the country, citing security reasons.[4]

Spanish television channel LaSexta featured an interview with Peralta for a documentary on far-right extremism in November 2021. The broadcast was condemned by Israel's embassy in Spain.[11]

In September 2023, Peralta was invited to an event by British far-right group Heritage and Destiny in Preston, Lancashire. According to Heritage and Destiny, Peralta was questioned by police at Manchester Airport under terror legislation before being allowed into the country.[12]

Political views

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In a February 2021 interview with El Mundo, Peralta self-identified as a Falangist, a fascist, a "national socialist" (while criticising the more common term "Nazi"), a Holocaust denier, an admirer of Adolf Hitler, and an opponent of democracy.[6] In the same interview, she condemned Spain's main far-right party Vox for not being extreme enough, saying "they disgust me more than [far-left] Podemos".[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Condenada un año Isabel Peralta, la líder de Bastión Frontal, por clamar 'muerte al invasor'" [Isabel Peralta, leader of Bastión Frontal, sentenced to one year in prison for shouting 'death to the invader']. El Periódico de Catalunya (in Spanish). 11 April 2025. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b Badcock, James (21 February 2021). "'Fascist influencer' and Left-wing rapper plunge Spain into free speech row". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b Moreno Mena, Miguel (11 April 2025). "La líder neonazi Isabel Peralta, condenada a un año de cárcel por un delito de odio contra los migrantes" [Neo-Nazi leader Isabel Peralta, sentenced to one year in prison for hate crime against migrants] (in Spanish). Infobae. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Ramajo, Malena (6 January 2023). "Alemania prohíbe la entrada de por vida a la joven nazi Isabel Peralta" [Germany bans young Nazi Isabel Peralta from entry for life]. El Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b Zuazo, Eñaut (19 November 2021). "La tensa relación entre la falangista Isabel Peralta y su padre, colaborador de Ana Rosa Quintana" [The tense relationship between the Falangist Isabel Peralta and her father, collaborator with Ana Rosa Quintana]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Terrasa, Rodrigo (17 February 2021). "Isabel Peralta, el nuevo rostro del fascismo español: "Mis padres no me dirigen la palabra"" [Isabel Peralta, the new face of Spanish fascism: "My parents do not direct my words"]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  7. ^ "Isabel Peralta, neonazi juzgada por delito de odio, fue a la protesta porque convocó Alvise" [Isabel Peralta, neo-Nazi on trial for hate crime, went to the protest because Alvise called for it] (in Spanish). EFE. 3 April 2025. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  8. ^ Hidalgo, Carlos (5 October 2022). "La presión policial y la falta de dinero acaban con Bastión Frontal, el mayor grupo neonazi de Madrid" [Police pressure and lack of money finish off Bastión Frontal, Madrid's biggest neo-Nazi group]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 May 2025.
  9. ^ Rendueles, Luis (21 October 2021). "Isabel Peralta, la líder falangista española, se va a Alemania becada por un partido nazi" [Isabel Peralta, Spanish Falangist leader, goes to Germany on a scholarship from a Nazi party]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  10. ^ "Ultraderechista española detenida al entrar a Alemania con una bandera nazi" [Spanish far-right activist detained upon entering Germany with a Nazi flag] (in Spanish). SWI swissinfo. EFE. 17 March 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  11. ^ Bou, Lluís (18 November 2021). "La Sexta entrevista a la nazi de Madrid y provoca un conflicto diplomático con Israel" [La Sexta interviews Nazi woman from Madrid and provokes a diplomatic conflict with Israel]. El Nacional (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 April 2025.
  12. ^ Faulkner, Paul (22 September 2023). "Far-right event at East Lancs hotel 'shocked boss'". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 26 April 2025.
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