The mother of embattled Spanish soccer president Luis Rubiales announced a hunger strike Monday in response to “inhumane” treatment of her son.
Ángeles Béjar said she would refuse to eat while speaking from a church in the southern Spanish town of Motril.
Rubiales, 46, has faced relentless calls to resign since he kissed Jenni Hermoso immediately after she helped power the women’s national team to victory in the World Cup final.
The entire team said it would not play another match while Rubiales was in charge, and the assistant coaching staff quit in protest of his actions. FIFA suspended him for 90 days and launched an investigation.
But that isn’t the most serious probe Rubiales is facing. Spain’s national prosecutor office announced Monday it was investigating his actions as possible sexual aggression and invited Hermoso to file a formal complaint.
While the entire Spanish women’s team stood by Hermoso, the Spanish soccer federation has closed ranks around Rubiales. Earlier on Monday, the federation asked UEFA to suspend it from international competition, in what many saw as a naked leverage ploy.
If UEFA had agreed to the suspension, Spanish clubs including Barcelona and Real Madrid would have been prevented from competing in the Champions League, and the men’s national team would’ve forfeited European Championship qualifying matches against Georgia and Cyprus.
Such a ban would’ve riled up massive fanbases, with the federation likely hoping they would rise to Rubiales’ defense. UEFA had no plans to take the bait, sources told the Associated Press.
Rubiales has claimed the kiss was consensual, while Hermoso has insisted it was not and accused the Spanish soccer federation of trying to pressure her into defending Rubiales.
“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part,” she said Saturday in a defiant statement. “Simply put, I was not respected.”
With News Wire Services
