The spokesperson for Más Madrid at Madrid City Hall, Rita Maestre, assures “one hundred percent” that neither she nor the leaders of Más Madrid, “of the political space of Sumar or of the progressive coalition” knew that ‘Íñigo Errejón was “a” misogynist, predator, pathological manipulator. This is one of the statements that Maestre makes in the interview, the first that politics grants since the resignation of Errejón, who broadcasts this Sunday the program ‘Salvados’ on La Sexta. Next Tuesday, Errejón will testify as a defendant in the sexual assault complaint filed by actress and presenter Elisa Mouliaá, who will also testify the same day. Mouliaá’s lawyer is also coordinating the complaint of more women against the former MP.
Rita Maestre is punchy and emphasizes that electoral results have never been ahead of principles. “I can guarantee one hundred percent that neither I nor the people on whose behalf I can speak, which is Manuela [Carmena]Monique [García]the leaders of Más Madrid, the activists… I am sure that no one from the political space of Sumar, from the progressive coalition, from those who had a professional or personal relationship, long or short, with Íñigo Errejón knew that “he was a misogynist, a predator, a pathological manipulator, like what we knew,” he said. The politician, who was Errejón’s partner and who has already made public a declaration in which he denied having any knowledge of the behavior of his former partner, he insists in the interview: “How was I going to hide under the cover of politics what I did not know as a couple.”
The spokesperson for Más Madrid reports that after the publication of the testimony of a woman on the Instagram profile of the journalist Cristina Fallarás and the identification by many people of Íñigo Errejón as the protagonist of these events, both Mónica García, Minister of Health, that she herself, they had conversations with the former MP to ask him for explanations. He, she continues, recognized what happened “immediately” and “without hesitation”, which left her “in shock”: “He did not recognize a specific fact, he had sexist attitudes like those described.” This recognition was accompanied by the fact that he “accepted” that he had to leave.
The way in which he said his farewell was, however, severely criticized by Maestre, who considered the statement made public by Errejón to be “offensive”. In this text, the former Sumar leader in Congress said that on the political and media front “we survive and are more effective with behavior often emancipated from the attention, empathy and needs of others.” this generates “a toxic subjectivity which, in the case of men, patriarchy multiplies, with work colleagues, with colleagues in the organization, with emotional relationships and even with oneself”. His letter, widely criticized for its euphemisms, contained no form of apology.
“It is an insult to our intelligence, to that of all those who have to read it. The indecent mixture of victimization, throwing balls, taking responsibility for nothing and not asking for forgiveness, which he still hasn’t done, shocks me. It is a crime to include neoliberalism in a letter which can only consist of taking responsibility and apologizing,” Rita Maestre now responds. Errejón alluded to neoliberalism when he said he had reached the limit “of the contradiction between character and person.” “Between a neoliberal way of life and being the spokesperson for a group that defends a new, fairer and more humane world,” he said. This phrase, Maestre points out, transformed “a story of manipulation and duplicity” into a meme.
One of the most controversial points was the actions of Más Madrid and Sumar after learning, in the summer of 2023, that a music festival in Castellón had expelled Íñigo Errejón after touching a woman’s ass, which he said in a Twitter thread. which ended up disappearing. The leader of Más Madrid and Minister of Health, Mónica García, assured during a press conference that no one in the party was aware of the “very serious episodes” that were published, but the party recognized the error of not having gone “further”. » in his investigation into what happened in Castellón. “In view of events, it is a mistake that at the time we did not feel we were making, it was a mistake not to have gone further,” Maestre also insists today.
“I wish we had known this sooner and I would have liked to leave Spanish politics sooner, no contribution to politics is worth as much as all the parallel damage it has created,” added the spokesperson for Más Madrid to the capital’s town hall, in response. like this to those who regretted this end for one of the most eminent politicians of the last decade. Rita Maestre says that her level of “anger and disappointment” now does not allow her to have empathy with Íñigo Errejón: “My empathy at the moment is with the women who say terrifying things about their lives. »
