đ This Week in Spain: Hot Times in the City
Also: Older mothers, fighting footballers and zombie pueblos.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | March 30, 2023 | Madrid
đ Welcome to the seventh issue of The Tapa (or The Brief, depending on what you voted last week), an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!
We hope you enjoyed our Friday edition last week. Donât forget youâll be getting it again tomorrow.
đ„ The Week in a Nutshell: A cabinet shake up, forest fires and the controversy about surrogate pregnancies. Also, Prime Minister Pedro SĂĄnchez is off to a two-day official visit to China and is meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, while second VP Yolanda DĂaz is expected to announce sheâs running for the premiership this Sunday (weâll cover those two stories next week).
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Revolving cabinet doors
â»ïž The 5th Government âCrisisâ
What happened? Prime Minister Pedro Sånchez officially announced that he was replacing his Health and Industry ministers. The outgoing ministers, Carolina Darias (Health) and Reyes Maroto (Industry), are leaving to run in the regional elections on May 28 and will be replaced by José Manuel Miñones and Héctor Gómez respectively.
No one was surprised, for the simple reason that the plans have been making the rounds for several months now (at least since November).
First things first: While you may have heard reporters refer to this as a âgovernment crisisâ, itâs actually not a crisis, per se. Thatâs just how the media in Spain refer to a cabinet change that doesnât take place at the beginning of an administration. So when headlines refer to this as the prime ministerâs âfifth government crisisâ, what they mean is that this is the fifth time heâs making cabinet changes since the forming of the coalition government three years ago.
Neither minister is leaving office in scandal or shame. Quite the opposite, as they abandon their posts to run in elections that at least one is expected to win.
SĂĄnchez praised ministers on the way out, as he obvs would like both to win. He said Maroto, whoâd been Industry, Trade and Tourism minister since 2018, was key in helping âboost trade and modernize tourismâ after the pandemic.
SĂĄnchez also called Carolina Darias work as Health minister âfundamentalâ to finally leaving the pandemic behind, and highlighted the âexemplaryâ roll out of the Covid-19 vaccine under her watch, which helped Spain become one of Europeâs vaccination champions.
Darias is following in the footsteps of her predecessor, Salvador Illa, who resigned from his post in 2021 to run in the Catalonia electionsâand led the socialists to be the biggest group in the regional parliament, although not by enough to govern.
OK, but why is this relevant? Honestly, itâs not that exciting. But while itâs common in politics to see cabinet officials abandon their posts to run for office, there are a few things to take into consideration to understand why they are doing it this time:
PSOEâs Reyes Maroto is running for mayor in the city of Madrid, hoping to oust the PPâs JosĂ© Luis Martinez Almeida. This will prove to be challenging as the PSOE hasnât been elected in the city since 1999. Many voters on the left have abandoned the socialists for other parties like MĂĄs Madrid.
Polls show a strong lead for the PP-Vox coalition. However, PSOE is hoping to form a coalition with MĂĄs Madrid and other leftist parties to oust Almeida.
Carolina Darias is running for mayor of the city of Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands. The PSOE is already in power there, so her political future looks much brighter.
Darias is first in the polls and, just like Illa in 2021, she leaves office a popular political figure.
OK, so who are Miñones and GĂłmez? Honestly, thereâs no reason you would know.
JosĂ© Manuel Miñones is a pharmacist and former mayor of Ames (pop. 20,000), a town near Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia. Heâs unknown on the national political scene, but heâs been a SĂĄnchez loyalist since the two met almost 10 years ago. He was named the governmentâs spokesperson in Galicia two years ago.
His appointment as Health Minister is strategic, as it could help elevate his profile nationally, and specifically in Galicia, which is holding regional elections in 2024. The Galicia socialist party has no contender for next yearâs race and since both Illa and Darias have left the health ministry with high approval ratings, it makes sense for Miñones to try to follow suit. Third timeâs a charm?
Galicia is home of the Partido Popularâs prime minister hopeful Alberto NĂșñez FeijĂło. And now that the conservative leader is in Madrid focused on the national race, Miñones is a tool to invade the PP leaderâs former fiefdom. Â
HĂ©ctor GĂłmez is more used to the national stage, as heâs been at the helm of Turespaña, the governmentâs tourism instituteâand as such was already part of Marotoâs team.
Originally from Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, heâs also the former PSOE caucusâ spokesperson in parliament and loyal to SĂĄnchez. He was booted after a year as spokesperson, so his appointment rehabilitates him on the national stage.
This is an election year, so both Miñones and Gómez are expected to serve as ministers for only nine months.
Gender balance: While two women have been replaced by two men, the cabinet reaches parity. There are now 11 men and 12 women in it.
Bonus: Hello Sumar, or the end of Podemos. SĂĄnchezâs minor Cabinet reshuffle prepares him for his big move in the elections at the end of 2023âbigging up Sumar, the new Yolanda DĂaz-led left-wing party, to take the coalition spot now held by the troublesome Podemos.
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire
đ„ Hot Enough for You?
Spain is hot, dry and on fire. The current forest fires on the AragĂłn/Valencia border have âonlyâ destroyed about 5,000 hectares of land, but the sense of foreboding created by such an early burnâbarely into Springâis immense.Â
Memories of the massive 2017 wildfires in Portugalâwhich killed more than 60 people in a weekendâand the âAutumn from hellâ in Galicia the same year are still fresh. Check out this map of historic forest fires.
PM Pedro SĂĄnchez said, with justifiable worry, âWe are just coming out of winter and we are facing fires typical of the summer months.â
So is 2023 set to be as tragic? Predicting the weather more than a few days out is obviously a fool's errand, but there is obviously reason to worry. Spain recorded its hottest year ever in 2022, and also its driest (save for 2005 andâŠ2017). In fact, in 2022 Spain and Portugal suffered their driest climate in 1,200 years đ±.
Spainâs reservoirs have also been at historic lows. Indeed, a church tower recently emerged from a rapidly-depleting reservoir in Catalonia, where boats were catching tons of fish that would struggle to survive in the low-oxygen water âin order to protect drinking water.â
Meteorologists at Spainâs AEMET weather service note that right now we are expecting temperatures that are âvery inappropriate for the end of Marchââ10-15ÂșC above the norm. đ
Thatâs only anecdotal evidence, you say. And youâre right. According to the oddly captivating Embalses.net, Spainâs reservoirs are 51.7% full, which while below the 10-year average of 65.3%, is still a nice bit above last yearâs 46.9%.
But the proof is in the puddingâŠer, oil. Drought is expected to cut Spain's olive oil output this year in half compared to last year, Which wouldnât be a big deal if Spain didnât produceâŠ40% of the worldâs olive oil. Last year, olive oil prices rose 60% in Spain. Be prepared for more.Â
For now, itâs about the short term. Spanish police are telling âfire touristsâ to fuck off stay away from the forest fires, while local residents are talking about how they would have stayed to save their animals.Â
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đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week:
1. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away
The PP has been using its alliance with Colombia-born evangelical priest Yadira Mestre to court the latino vote since at least 2017. It worked well for both without much drama: The PP got access to a big pool of voters with or on the path to citizenship, and Mestre got access to power. But then PP held the âEuropa es hispanaâ event last Saturday. And things got weird.
PP boss Alberto NĂșñez FeijĂło said at the event that he was "very proud" of "not paying homage to apprentice autocrats and real autocrats". This was taken by the PSOE (and many others) as a reference to PM SĂĄnchez, who was at the Cumbre Iberoamericana in the Dominican Republic, alongside less-than-democratic Cuban President Miguel DĂaz-Canel and Venezuelan Vice President Delcy RodrĂguez.
SĂĄnchez got ticked off and said that these diplomatic events had been going on for three decades and were very important. He was, he said, surprised by the âinsolvency and bad faithâ of FeijĂło. The PSOE also noted that King Felipe VI was also at the eventâand one thing the PP does not do is criticize the monarchy.
FeijĂło climbed down from his comment. Sort of. He accused the PSOE of âmanipulatingâ his words and said they were meant as a criticism of former PSOE PM Zapatero, who recently met with Argentinaâs populist VP Cristina FernĂĄndez, and other PSOE and Podemos politicians who cozy up to populista and authoritariana in Latin America.
But the damage was already done. The press began to focus closely on the evangelical pastor at the event, Yadira Mestre, and her right-wing take on Christianity. With its emphasis on miracles, âcuresâ for homosexuality, and mixture of church and state, it works in Brazil and the U.S., but not so much in Spain.
Worse perhaps was the mockery. Not only did Mestre call upon God to help PP attendees FeijĂło, Madrid regional head Isabel DĂaz Ayuso, and Mayor JosĂ© Luis MartĂnez-Almeida, the event got them all to âdanceâ (a liberal interpretation of the word in FeijĂłoâs case) to the reggaeton rhythms of Henry MĂ©ndezâs âEl tiburĂłnâ.
2. 68-year-old mamĂĄ
Actress Ana ObregĂłnâs new bundle of joy is causing a fussâboth for how she had her daughter (via a surrogate) and for her age (68).
Surrogacy of all kinds is banned in Spain, as it is in Germany, France and Italy. ObregĂłn had her daughter in the U.S, however, where it is legal and about 750 children are born via surrogacy annually. (Before Russiaâs invasion, Ukraine was a major surrogacy destination, with about 2,000 babies born via surrogates each year.)
Surrogacy can be of several types. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate carries a pregnancy that was created with another womanâs egg and sperm from the intended father. Traditional surrogacy uses the surrogateâs egg. Also, in terms of economics, altruistic surrogacy pays the surrogate nothing beyond her bills and medical needs, while the commercial version is for profit.
Reaction came in fast and loud, largely defined by where the speaker originated on the political spectrum.Â
On the left, Equality Minister Irene Montero of the far-left Podemos slammed ObregĂłn, calling surrogacy âa form of violence against womenâ that exploits poor surrogates, while the PSOE finance minister MarĂa JesĂșs Montero (no relation) called it âexploitation of a womanâs body.Â
The right was more ambivalent. The center-right PPâs parliamentary spokeswoman, Cuca Gamarra, called it "a complex subject that deserves deep and serene debatesâ because it involves âmoral, ethical, and religious issues.â PP sources told El PaĂs that the party was open to debate the legality of âaltruisticâ surrogacy.
Many criticized ObregĂłn for having a baby she would likely not see to adulthood. One commentator on ObregĂłnâs Instagram announcement wrote, âI can't understand such irresponsibility and so much selfishness. Is that why you have a daughter? To not be alone?â University of Barcelona bioethics professor Begoña RomĂĄn was less dismissive, but still pointed: âWithout making a moral judgment, [ObregĂłn] is pouring a lot of hope into a creature that comes to fill too many gaps "
And those gaps? ObregĂłnâs only other child, Ălex Lequio, died from cancer in 2020 at age 27. On her birth announcement, ObregĂłn wrote, âI will never be alone again. I HAVE COME BACK TO LIFE.â
3. Population boom in empty Spain
Local election season is upon us so itâs time toâŠpack the voter rolls. In the lead-up to Spainâs quadrennial regional and municipal electionsâdue to be held on May 28 this yearâthe Instituto Nacional de EstadĂstica (INE) publishes a list of municipalities with âunjustifiedâ jumps in registered voters. This year, there are 53 towns on the list.
The population leaps are sometimes eye-catching. In one PP-run town in Galicia with a population of 1,300, 58 new residents arrived between November and January, and the PSOE spokeswoman told El PaĂs that in the days before the rolls closed seven unrelated people declared residency in a house belonging to the mayor that had been âclosed and emptyâ for years.
In Hinojares in the andaluz province of JaĂ©n, the census grew from 335 in January 2022 to around 400 a year later. The PSOE mayorâs excuse? âThere are people who want to return to their pueblo.ââsomething that doesnât jibe with the direction of travel for a town that has steadily lost population since hitting a peak of 1,200 in 1950. Also: The Hinojares population took a similar jump in 2019âjust in time for the last municipal election.
A handful of votes can swing an election in many of the pueblos in the España vaciada, which explains why the fight over legitimate voter registration can be so bitter in the smallest of places (see also: Sayreâs law). There is a less nefarious explanation in at least some cases, however: in a tiny town of 100 people or so, the arrival of one or two families is enough to set off the statistical alarms (here are the criteria).
The 53 towns on this yearâs list include 44 in Castilla y LeĂłn, five in Castilla-La Mancha, two in Galicia, one in AragĂłn and one in AndalucĂa. This compares to some 30 listed in 2019, though doing its own investigation, El Confidential found more than 120 that year.
4. Burly brawls!
Madrid was fistfight central this week after two major brawls broke out in the city, making national (and international!) headlines. The first one took place in the subway Sunday morning, and it ended with 16 people arrested and two injured.
(Warning: there is some blood in the video).
The fight broke at approximately 6:45 a.m. as the subway was entering the BatĂĄn station in the Latina district (not the La Latina area) in southwest Madrid. The police says it wasnât a gang fight, but rather two groups of people who ended up clashing with each other on the subway, leaving one person stabbed in the back and another with a concussion.
The incident terrorized commuters who can be heard in the video above screaming for help and trying to open the trainâs doors as it enters the station. It also caused for the Line 10 service to be suspended while first responders arrived at the scene.
But that wasnât the only fight to made the news this week! Hereâs the Peru football national team clashing with the police outside their hotel in Madrid.
The Peruvian team, in Madrid this week for a friendly match against Morocco (??), got in trouble with the local police after players tried to greet fans waiting outside their hotel on Monday night.
Some 300 people had gathered to wait for them to get back from practice and, despite recommendations against it by the police, the Peruvian footballers decided to approach the crowd before entering the hotel.
The masses went wild â and it all escalated quickly. According to the police, team captain Pedro Gallese punched one of the officers in the eye, and all hell broke loose. While Gallese was arrested, he was eventually released without charges.
5. PonsatĂâs arrest â and release â in Barcelona
Former Catalonian education minister and separatist Clara PonsatĂ, who for five years evaded an arrest warrant issued by the Supreme Court over her role in the Catalan governmentâs illegal 2017 independence referendum, was arrested this Tuesday in Barcelona â in front of press cameras (as presumably was the idea).
PonsatĂ has been a member of the European parliament since 2020 and has been living in Belgium along with other separatist leaders. She faced charges for her participation in the organization of the â1Oâ referendum.
After crossing over from France for a lecture at the Catalonia College of Journalists (in which she called her persecution by the Spanish authorities âpathetic but persistentâ), she was walking through the Born district with supporters and her lawyer when a police officer in plain clothes showed her his badge.
PonsatĂ immediately claimed immunity by showing her MEP badge, but the mosso dâEsquadra (a.k.a. Catalan police) was not impressed. After a few words, she agreed to walk to his car and be taken to court. She was released a few hours later and asked to present herself in court on April 24 (her lawyer said she has âno intentionâ of showing up).
The Supreme Court withdrew the charges of âseditionâ against her, but she still stands accused of âdisobedienceâ (which doesnât carry a jail sentence).
The drama doesnât end there: PonsatĂ asked EU Parliament president Roberta Metsola to defend her immunity to prosecution as an MEP. While a parliament spokesperson said they were examining âall the legal issues surrounding the caseâ, at the time of writing no action had been taken by Metsola. The lack of response was âregrettableâ, PonsatĂ said: âIt leaves the European Parliament in a really bad place.â
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