The most used word these days is “shock”. “Shock” from the leaders of Más Madrid and Sumar. “Shock” of activists from both groups. “Shock” of his voters. “Shock” by Manuela Carmena, who joined forces with Íñigo Errejón to continue as town hall. “Shock” of the socialists who lack the fingers to announce the bad news from the government. Errejón’s shadow hangs over everyone. It is already history. The political consequences of their actions, far from it.
“We have been in shock for days,” Minister Mónica García said on Monday during the press conference she gave with Manuela Bergerot and Rita Maestre. The main leaders of Más Madrid could no longer wait without coming forward to try to explain how a party that defends feminist values could have in its ranks someone like Errejón, who on the other hand was the founder of the party. He was no longer the political reference of the party in Madrid and leaders like García or Bergerot did not pay much attention to him. This is still not an excuse and the three were unusual in not pointing it out to journalists.
In addition to declaring themselves “devastated” by events that García called “absolutely disgusting cases,” García, Bergerot and Maestre had to explain what they did when they learned of an incident involving Errejón at a concert in Castellón in June 2023. Or rather, what they didn’t do. They didn’t bring much more than what we already know. There, they directly targeted Loreto Arenillas, deputy of the Madrid Assembly, who, according to them, had intervened “behind the party’s back” by contacting the woman who had filed an anonymous complaint on Twitter. They then ordered him to inform the complainant that the party could support him, but they received no further information about the matter.
“We couldn’t or didn’t know how to do anything else and now we see that it was a mistake,” García said. They justified it with the argument that “both (Errejón and Arenillas) minimized the aggression,” in Bergerot’s words.
Arenillas responded shortly after denying the accusation. He said in a statement that he never covered up any cases of abuse and that he brought everything related to the Castellón case “to the attention” of Bergerot and another leader. “The party leadership did not consider the relevant facts to bring them to higher authorities, nor make them public, nor activate the procedures established in our statutes and our internal regulations,” asserts the deputy.
All three showed integrity – on the other hand, it’s the least they could do – especially Rita Maestre, who had a romantic relationship with Errejón years ago. He now learns that two of the complaints refer to a time when the two men were dating. The feeling of personal betrayal must be immense. Más Madrid’s spokesperson at Madrid City Hall denied that she could be accused of any type of cover-up: “Now the expression ‘everyone knew’ or everyone hid it is spreads frivolously on the networks. I didn’t know it. Nobody knew it. Mónica García said the same thing, emphasizing the word “person”.
Is it enough to apologize and pretend that we knew nothing about the worst examples of Errejón’s behavior, now visible to the whole world? This will depend on the credibility of each of the party spokespersons. His rivals on the left and right will frequently remind him of this.
There was something they knew. “We thought Errejón had personal problems of a different nature,” García said without specifying what he was talking about. Shortly after, he insisted: “If we had known he was an abuser, we would not have recommended professional help. “We would have gone to the police station.” In his farewell statement, Errejón said he was receiving “psychological support.” This is not one of the worst euphemisms that appears in the text.
The political relevance of this data implicates Sumar. If by mid-2023 Errejón was in therapy for his sex or other addiction, or any other mental health-related issue, the decision to appoint him six months later as spokesperson for Sumar’s group in Congress was so unwise let it be considered an incomprehensible error. This is in the case that Más Madrid’s recommendation to seek “professional help” took place on these dates, since the party did not want to specify when this happened. In times of emergency, transparency always has limits.
The call had a funereal air with an optimistic aside. Maestre highlighted the value of the quick response that ended Errejón’s career, implying that this would not have happened years ago: “Feminism managed to bring down a leading politician by 48 hours without anyone trying to hide it.” If that’s true, it’s surprising that so many people on the left seem depressed.
This is exactly the same thing that Yolanda Díaz said in the afternoon in Congress. He stressed that never before had there been such a rapid response to an event of this nature as last week and that it had been demonstrated “that there is no impunity” for sexist behavior . “If I had known about such serious events before, I would have reacted in the same way,” he said at a press conference. In other words, I would not have included him in the July 2023 candidates and he would not have been a deputy or spokesperson for Sumar.
What I knew before was confirmation that Errejón was in serious trouble. “What I know about Íñigo Errejón is that he was undergoing therapy and I know that last year he was better,” he explained, but without specifying what type of therapy he was receiving. he acted. It must be deduced from the aforementioned deadlines that he was included in Sumar’s lists in 2023 and appointed spokesperson for the parliamentary group knowing that he suffered from the psychological problems mentioned.
Regarding the anonymous 2023 complaint, Díaz said he spoke about the issue with Ione Belarra, leader of Podemos, and the leaders of Más Madrid. Apparently not with Errejón, from what he said, as he did a few days ago. “My team was informed by Más Madrid that the investigation was closed and that the complainant had deleted the tweet.” And that’s supposed to be where it all ended. Removing Errejón from the lists – Podemos said on Monday that this was what it demanded – would have helped prevent the scandal from breaking out a year later in the most damaging way for Sumar.
Díaz repeated an idea used by Mónica García in the morning. “I would like to tell you that we have found the magic formula. “We don’t have it,” the vice president said. Therefore, no resignations or high-impact initiatives are expected. They must absorb the blow and accept the discredit that a “predator”, as Rita Maestre called him, has spent so much time enjoying a privileged position in the new left that he boasts that he can only be a feminist . Díaz admitted that this crisis “breaks the confidence of many people”, but that the only way out is to try to recover it “day by day”.
The only thing that is clear is that no one on the left is emerging stronger from this crisis. It will no doubt be used by those who have always discredited left-wing feminism and by those on the right who hope it will bring about the end of the new left-wing parties that have weakened two-party politics.
This is what happens when you fail to live up to your ideals by action or omission. And everyone knows that it is much easier and quicker to lose credibility than to regain it. That is if the latter is achieved.
