Secession Speakeasy #192: Liberland and Annobón Talk Mutual Support in Barcelona

Released July 28, 2026.

Professor Wall (Grant M. Dahl) and the Reporter take up the March 28, 2026 meeting in Barcelona between two self-declared states: Liberland, which claims Danube land that neither Croatia nor Serbia claims, and Annobón, an island of Equatorial Guinea whose independence movement declared independence in 2022. Thomas Walls, foreign minister in Liberland’s government, met Orlando Cartagena Lagar and Reginaldo Piño Huesca, who hold the titles of prime minister and foreign minister for Annobón. By both sides’ accounts, they discussed closer bilateral relations, support for each other with other governments and international bodies, possible mutual recognition and an exchange of ambassadors, and joint diplomatic work for Annobón’s cause. A memorandum of understanding was presented and discussed. Annobón already belongs to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization; Liberland was applying.

Wall calls the talks a model for other independence movements. As with the alliance talk between the Quebec and Alberta independence campaigns, which the press mocked as a mismatch, he argues the two are not uniting under one government; each backs the other’s right to govern itself. Liberland’s libertarians will not tell Annobón how to run its affairs, and Annobón will not tell Liberland. As Wall put it, “the wave of the future is you rule yourself.” The Reporter looked for something to object to and found nothing: “where’s the disagreement here.” He cautions that a networking body like UNPO is a start, not a guarantee, and Wall wonders what it does beyond giving members a place to meet.

Also in this episode

• Wall’s argument, drawn from Thomas Aquinas’s On Kingship, that a recognized right of self-determination checks a bad ruler better than overthrowing him
• The Reporter’s case from subsidiarity, citing section 79 of Pope Pius XI’s Quadragesimo Anno, against ruling Annobón from a distant capital
• Islanders’ complaints that quarry blasting has damaged their farmland, and Wall’s view that Equatorial Guinea’s hold on Annobón rests on oil revenue that may not last
• Wall’s answer to the objection that both are too small to stand alone, from Monaco to Switzerland

Secession Speakeasy is an independent program produced by Grant M. Dahl. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the Texian Partisan, Texas Nationalist Enterprises, or the Texas Nationalist Movement. Featuring an episode is not an endorsement.