Afra Blanco accused Jon Echeverría of spreading a false claim about access to Spain’s minimum vital income. The 22-year-old PP politician said YouTube tutorials explain how to claim the benefit.
The dispute on ‘laSexta Xplica’ centred on whether online guides show that migrants can obtain Spain’s minimum vital income. Afra Blanco said the videos do not prove the benefit is granted and accused Jon Echeverría of spreading misinformation. In a separate television appearance reported by laSexta on 20 October 2026, Echeverría said migration should be controlled to serve Spain’s economic interests. He advocated qualified immigration and criticised people he said came to rely on benefits.
Echeverría argued that Spain should prioritise qualified immigrants who contribute to the economy. He also claimed that content creators from Morocco publish YouTube tutorials on reaching Spain and registering at an address, then explain regularising their status and claiming the benefit.
Blanco challenged the leap from the existence of tutorials to the conclusion that viewers receive public assistance. She addressed the evidence Echeverría cited: videos alone do not establish that a person qualifies or is awarded the payment.
Echeverría is 22 and is due to head the Partido Popular’s list for Guipúzcoa to the Congreso de los Diputados in the general election scheduled for 29 November 2026. The PP announced his candidacy on 19 October as part of leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s choices for key provinces. Born in San Sebastián in 2004, Echeverría ran for mayor of Zumarraga in 2023, aged 18, and later became the party’s national deputy secretary for political ideology. His profile has grown through appearances on ‘laSexta Xplica’ and ‘Espejo Público’.
The candidacy comes as the PP seeks to regain a seat in Guipúzcoa, where it has not won a congressional seat since 2011. The province allocates six seats. In the 2023 general election, the PP won none and EH Bildu took two; Echeverría has said the PP was about 2,000 votes short of challenging for Bildu’s second seat. The party held representation in the province from 1993 to 2011 and won two seats there in 2000. Blanco, a trade unionist, reminded him that he would now have to debate candidates from other parties.
The PP has also been reported negotiating joint Senate lists with Vox, a separate electoral development covered in an earlier report.
The exchange left the central disagreement unresolved: Echeverría presented the videos as evidence of benefit-seeking, while Blanco said they do not prove that the income support is awarded.
