The leader of Más Madrid, Monique Garciaaccompanied by the two other co-spokespersons Manuela Bergerot and Rita Maestre, categorically denied that the party was aware of the “accusations of mistreatment and sexual violence” against Íñigo Errejón. Until this week, they did not even know – in García’s words – his “friends” and the other organizations in which the former politician was active. There was only one exception: the Castellón episode reported on social networks by a woman in 2023. Más Madrid admits that he did not do “enough” and that it was a “ error” to give credibility to the explanations they then received from a mediator. .
The three leaders of Más Madrid gave explanations during a press conference held in the center of the capital. All this after several eventful days that began with the appearance of the first anonymous complaints against Errejón. García assured that during the training they thought that “he had other personal problems” and they tried to make him seek “professional help.” “If we had known it was an attacker, believe me, we would not have recommended professional help, we would have gone to a police station.”
After condemning the “repugnant” acts of “sexual and gender-based violence” reported by the media, the leader, current Minister of Health, stressed that Más Madrid “has not received any complaints or specific testimonies” against Errejón.
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The pressure on More from Madrid This is due, on the one hand, to the fact that the former politician was the founder and electoral representative of the formation. And, on the other hand, due to the case publicly reported in 2023 and in which a regional representative of the party, Loreto Arenillasnegotiated with the victim “on a personal basis”. The events – as reported in a discussion thread on X, formerly Twitter – allegedly occurred during a feminist evening in Castellón. There, the version broadcast on the social network reported that Errejón had touched a woman’s ass.
Madrid fired Arenillas, who was previously Errejón’s chief of staff, on Friday afternoon. According to García, the organization obtained information through social networks and requested explanations from the two names mentioned on Twitter: Errejón and Arenillas, who “allegedly acted on their own.” “We asked them both for explanations, they minimized the aggression and We invite you to inform the party concerned of your willingness to know their version. and activate our protocols,” he said.
“From that point on, we were not given access to any further information and the thread was removed from social media. We didn’t know how to do anything else, which, in light of what we’re beginning to know these days, This was an error and we consider it to have been insufficient performance. Today, we know that the context was different,” he added.
Friday, in a press release, the fired woman denied the major and explained that reported the situation to “the secretary of the organization at the time” (Manuela Bergerot) and the “feminism manager”“information that they considered not to submit to party authorities”. This differs from what Más Madrid said, which settled the case without having received a response from the complainant through official channels.
But Madrid will not further rid itself of responsibility in the “Errejón case”. There will be no more cuts and “no magic solution” will be implemented because they consider that “any measure” is “insufficient” to “deal with a problem of this magnitude”. “Our commitment will remain intact: we will continue to work so that none of this happens again,” promised Mónica García.
“There was no further investigation”
Asked about Arenillas’ accusation, Bergerot insisted that the former deputy and Errejón “they minimized the aggression”. Then, Arenillas was asked to inform the complainant that the party “I was available to hear his version and act if necessary”.
“From that point on, we had no further information and the thread was immediately deleted. No further investigation was conducted. nor was this interpreted, on our part, as an alarm, as behavior by Errejón, which was an error. and insufficient action”, declared the spokesperson for Más Madrid in the Assembly, in line with what García said.
Rita Maestre, head of Más Madrid at the capital’s City Hall, added that the “indications” they had did not lead them to believe that they were facing a situation of greater “dimensions”. Concerning the “only episode” that reached them, that of Castellón, he regretted that the version he proposed to them was considered “good”.
that we knew before was that of Castellón, in which the explanations we obtained were not sufficient and we should not have considered them closed there”, he indicated. In this sense, he also stated that They should not have considered the version that Arenillas transferred to them in 2023 as “good”.
Master, assigned
Maestre’s case is special: he was Errejón’s partner for years. “They were a normal couple, who shared a normal life and who separated normally, even with affection,” she declared, after publishing a letter on Sunday in which she admitted feeling “cheated” by her ex- boyfriend.
More specifically, Maestre recalled that, out of five testimonies from women who say they feel “humiliated” and “mistreated,” two took place while they were still in a relationship. First, he defended his party’s reaction this week, calling for Errejón to be held accountable and lambasting Arenillas for his position.
Arenillas, for his part, published a new letter in which he again denies having covered Errejón and accuses the management of Más Madrid of not considering the events of 2023 as “relevant”.
He also announced that he would present a formal complaint for “serious violation” of the statutes before the Guarantees Commission from Mas Madrid. “I hope it will be activated quickly and work independently,” asked Arenillas, who does not rule out taking legal action.
