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The Republican Congresswoman from Florida María Elvira Salazar welcomed the Spanish member of parliament from the Partido Popular Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo this Wednesday in Washington, during a meeting held in the vicinity of the United States Capitol.
"How nice to welcome Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo in Washington. On both sides of the Atlantic, we are fighting the same battle: defending freedom and democracy against socialism, authoritarianism, and the dictatorships that have caused so much harm," wrote Salazar on her X account while sharing the photographs from the meeting.
The images show both politicians walking and conversing in sunny outdoor settings, with what appears to be the Capitol building in the background.
Salazar seized the opportunity of the publication to praise her Spanish counterpart and launch a direct criticism at the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez.
"Spain has in Cayetana a courageous voice against tyrants and a true thorn in the side of Pedro Sánchez, one of the major accomplices of the dictatorships in our hemisphere," the congresswoman stated.
The visit of Álvarez de Toledo to Washington comes days after her participation in a forum in Mexico regarding sovereignty and organized crime, organized by Grupo Salinas, where she criticized the government of Claudia Sheinbaum.
Álvarez de Toledo is a historian educated at Oxford and one of the most combative Spanish parliamentarians against the PSOE's agreements with independence forces and against Sánchez's government's ties with authoritarian regimes.
In April 2026, the deputy participated alongside the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in a meeting with the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the party's headquarters in Madrid.
In July 2024, Álvarez de Toledo described the expulsion of a PP delegation from Caracas by Maduro's regime as "an absolutely grotesque and fourth-rate dictatorship scene".
For his part, Salazar has been one of the most active voices in the U.S. Congress regarding Cuba and Venezuela during 2026, supporting the maximum pressure policy of the Trump administration.
In May, the congresswoman stated that there is "a real hope for a free Cuba" while supporting Washington's strategy towards the island, and in March, she referred to the Cuban regime as a "Cuban terrorist dictatorship" in direct response to statements made by Sánchez.
The meeting between both political leaders reflects a growing trend of coordination between European and American conservatives in response to the socialist and authoritarian regimes in Latin America, with Pedro Sánchez serving as a focal point for criticism from both sides of the Atlantic.
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