The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, assured on Tuesday that she “would never use the media of the Community of Madrid to attack journalists”, after having supported her chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, in March after he threatened to force elDiario.es to close and “shred” its professionals. He also assured that the problems of his partner with the Treasury – Alberto González Amador has already admitted to having committed tax fraud and is now waiting to sign a pact with the prosecutor’s office – do not affect him politically. “It is completely foreign to me”, he defended himself.
Ayuso made these statements in an interview with Telecinco while answering a question about the musician Nacho Cano, who is being prosecuted for irregularly hiring foreign workers for his musical. Ayuso continues to insist on defending the artist and reiterates that he is being investigated because he is his friend, and now says that “the world of culture must rebel against these things.” “The culture sector, like journalism… I’m a journalist too, [los periodistas] or the judges defended themselves… The world of culture must rebel against these things […] “The relations between the government and the Community of Madrid and some communities of the PP are horrible, but I would not use the media of the Community of Madrid to attack journalists,” he said. This statement did not deserve a response from the interviewer.
Ayuso mixed Cano’s investigation with the announcement of the so-called action plan for democracy promoted by the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, against “disinformation campaigns, pressure on journalists and corruption.” The leader of the Madrid PP already specifically mentioned this issue moments later: “Those who have given the most signs of control over the media and institutions are now presenting us with a law.” […] to stay in power with this inversion of the truth, with his own example of audacity. They turn it around to make it seem like you.
Ayuso downplayed the seriousness of her chief of staff’s messages against elDiario.es last March: “These are two people with a relationship of trust who argue on WhatsApp, let’s see if now we can’t get angry with people we trust, now everything is out there,” he later sent, signing Rodríguez’s version of threats. Since then, she has occasionally repeated that the government persecutes media it considers incompatible, but that it does not bother those it considers uncomfortable.
“There must be some normality” in the relationship with Sánchez
Regarding the tax fraud of his partner, Alberto González Amador, Ayuso insisted that it did not concern him because the case did not concern him, but he did not give details on why he initially claimed that it was the Treasury that owed him money, nor did he explain who is behind the company that owns the second floor from which they both benefit, or how it was financed.
On the other hand, Ayuso has opened up to the possibility of finally meeting Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa if he calls her. In that case, it would be necessary to have an “agenda” on the topics to be discussed. “I’m not going to Moncloa to have a coffee,” he said, but he acknowledged that “there has to be some normality and that not all bridges are broken.”
