Telva 10 hours with Martínez-Almeida, mayor of Madrid: "Nobody goes from being a villain to a hero in such a short time"

Good afternoon. What is the reason you are traveling by car through Madrid?" I have fallen into one of the police checkpoints that have sprung up these days throughout the city to guarantee that the confinement decreed by the Government is complied with. Confident, I show the agent my safe-conduct but, after taking a look at it, it tells me that it does not meet all the necessary requirements: "You need to detail the hours of your working day. Or have you been working all day?" It's seven in the evening, I look at him fixedly and say: "Yes, I've been following the mayor since nine in the morning for a report for TELVA." He stays confused, I'm sure no one has defended themselves against a fine with such a response and, to my relief, he lets me go: "I'll have to believe him," he says. , the streets of an empty Madrid together with the politician of the moment, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.A ghost city through which only many of the heroes that the mayor wanted to accompany today circulate.

"Do you think people want perfect politicians or normal guys? Isn't it better to see someone leave their house with half their hair done because they are in a hurry? Politicians are no different from the rest"

This report has a previous story that I must tell. A week before the declaration of the state of alarm due to the pandemic, the mayor of Madrid let us follow him, during a sunny Saturday in March, on a day off. Those were the happy times of the pre-coronavirus, when his detractors still called him a face. I witnessed Almeida's golf match with a group of firefighters, I accompanied him for lunch with friends before attending the last game of the season at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, and I toured the streets of Madrid, packed, on his Yamaha Scooter . His serene and little conceited demeanor caught my attention. Because what politician recognizes that "if you ask me for a French omelette I'll do it but, from there, it's complicated?" or ask, "do you see me dressing very classic? Do you think I should add a touch of modernity"? Five weeks later we meet again, when the COVID-19 tsunami has devastated Madrid, one of the hardest hit cities on the planet. His closest environment warns me that Almeida is a different person from the one I met. Today, when we greet each other in his office in the Cibeles palace, I see that he has lost weight and that he has more dark circles under his eyes, "and, in addition, some gray hair has come out," he comments flirtatiously. He also says it because Joaquín Vidal, coordinator of the City Council press office, is always worried about the appearance of the mayor's hair.

But what has really changed in this brief period of time is the perception that people have of him. Now he is showered with praise for his management of this crisis. Felipe González, for example, acknowledges that he has been surprised by his humility and ability to be at the foot of the canyon, Ramoncín assures that politicians should take note of his behavior because he is doing it superbly, Carlos Sainz likes his forcefulness and leadership and Rita Maestre, spokesperson for Más Madrid in the City Council, has promised her full support for being committed to reducing the pain of the pandemic. Ordinary people also compliment you on your Twitter account: I am a left-wing person but I take my hat off to you, you represent what we want a politician to be, the best mayor in Spain and I wish he were in government right now. .. And so. A true wave of fervor. Although the de-escalation plans have already given him the first upset, with the collection of more than 11,000 signatures that demand the opening of green areas and municipal parks for walking and playing sports.

"Am I acting right? I'm simply doing my duty, like many other people. Because, to what extent is it worthwhile in politics to continue caricaturing and stigmatizing the adversary at any cost instead of engaging in a rational debate?"< /h2>

But mayor, what has happened since we last met?

I'm the same person as a few weeks ago, you don't go from villain to hero in such a short time. People say: this is not Almeida, they have changed it. But maybe you didn't bother to meet me and you let yourself be carried away by what they said about me. Maybe you thought: this is silly. People think I'm acting well, but I couldn't do it if I wasn't supported by values ​​and principles that have accompanied me all my life. It is impossible to act well in a crisis of these characteristics if you do not have prior baggage. This does not come from March 7, but from a previous formation and trajectory. I am simply fulfilling my duty and responsibility, like many other people. But I think this requires reflection: to what extent does it pay off in politics to continue caricaturing and stigmatizing the adversary at any price instead of engaging in a rational debate? The same thing happens to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid, who has suffered an even worse process than I have suffered.

Don't you think it's dangerous to suddenly receive so many compliments?

Yes, it is dangerous, because as a famous phrase says, flattery weakens. But it is appreciated, it is better to receive praise than criticism, which was more what I was used to. Although it does not scare me, because we are living in an extraordinary situation and when we return to normal life, I am sure that I will not have so many compliments.

Have you cried during these gloomy days?

I have to admit that I don't because I'm not a person who tears easily. But I have lived emotionally hard moments, like when I visited the Ice Palace turned into a morgue. Upon entering and seeing those more than 400 coffins, I felt that I was cracking inside. I wanted to dwell on each one, because large numbers can distract us from reality. There were 400 people with their history, their family, their career and their projects. And the immense sadness that his family had not even been able to watch over them.

And after such days, what goes through your head when you get home and find yourself alone?

3/ Here's the actual quite spartan write-up I took by phone years ago. Judging by her other versions of her, you can act… https://t.co/uyDYJ9uOop

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 Mon Jan 18 22:41:59 +0000 2021

The sensation is of collapse, of pressure, of being overwhelmed by the experiences of that day, by those of all the days that you already carry behind your back, and by what still lies ahead. Although there are also many good things. I must remain firm and standing because I have the responsibility to keep the morale of the people of Madrid high. The problem is that I can't disconnect, I can't put my phone in airplane mode for half an hour because I'm waiting for what might come. Usually I sleep little, but now I sleep especially little and especially badly. The flow of information that you handle and the decisions that you have to make is such that when you go to bed it is hard for you to disconnect because you keep thinking about what else you can do, what you should improve on, how to continue lending a hand.

"I have experienced extremely hard emotional moments, like when I visited the Ice Palace morgue. When I saw those 400 coffins I felt that something was cracking inside. There were 400 people there with their history, their family..."

The house of the mayor, who has just turned 45, is in Tetuán, his lifelong neighborhood. "I don't think you know anyone who has gone directly from the hospital where they were born to a house from which they have never moved," he told me sarcastically in our pre-coronavirus interview, some of whose snippets I collect below. "When my five brothers left home, I decided to buy the top floor from my father, because we had two houses connected on the inside. And I'm still there." I remember that the doubt assailed me if he would still keep the geyperman from his childhood in a closet, and I asked him. "Well, not so much! But there are the collections of books I read as a child: The Hollisters, The Five, The Secret Seven and The Three Investigators." The truth is that the mayor's personality was forged in that house. "My childhood was very happy. I am the youngest of six siblings and I recommend a large family, although I am not exactly an example... My parents had a great sense of humor and they were a happy couple, although I also remember monumental anger. Physically I I look like my mother, and from her I have inherited being from Atleti and the desire to fight. She was a feisty fighter, with a lot of character, she never gave anything up for lost and always won fights due to the exhaustion of others. politics bug because he collaborated with the PP in bringing proxies and auditors to the polling stations that we were his children, nephews, friends... Who was going to deny him! From my father I have common sense, moderation and prudence He always saw matters from different perspectives and tried to reconcile interests. We were educated in freedom and that is why there is everything among the brothers, I am not sure that one of them voted for me".

Her grandparents were also prominent in her life. José Luis Navascués, father of his mother, was the owner of Estudios Chamartín. In addition to distributing a large part of the North American films of the 50s, 60s and 70s in Spain, in 1955 he obtained, as a producer, the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for Marcelino pan y vino. "He was a delight as a grandfather. We spent the summers together at the family home in Cercedilla, in the mountains of Madrid, where we watched his films. I remember watching Marcelino pan y vino and Tarde de toros with him. I like movies but, even if I can give a strange image of the mayor, I prefer to enjoy it alone. Now I have little time and I watch movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime." The other grandfather, Pablo Martínez-Almeida, "I did not know him, but my grandmother always told with pride that he had belonged to the Privy Council of Don Juan de Borbón. He was the youngest State lawyer in history."

Did they pressure you to follow in their footsteps as an opponent?

Not especially, although one day my father brought a friend home to explain to me the benefits of taking the opposition, in the last attempt for one of his sons to become a state attorney. He convinced me and I was not bad at it. I adapted to a demanding and self-sacrificing life during which it was better not to ask too many questions: why can't I have a drink with my friends? Why can't I go on a weekend trip? On Wednesday football is there for the European Cup? Why am I still living on the pay my parents give me? But here I am.

Certain hobbies have remained from his opposition stage. Having lived glued to a stopwatch makes him always punctual, although he doesn't care too much that others are not. "Another very silly hobby is that when I get to a table I have to replace the plates, glasses and cutlery, because that was what I did every morning when I got to my study table, place the paper and pencils correctly." What he does keep at home, twenty years later, is the jar with all the pencils to underline that he used during the opposition. "And I also always leave the clothes I'm going to wear the next day ready at night because if I doubted in the morning, I would start studying later."

"In the environment of women in my family I have felt so comfortable that perhaps I have not needed to look for another"

Today we have a busy schedule with Almeida that begins in his office at the City Hall, with a videoconference with the C-7 group, the mayors of the country's main cities. While chatting with her colleagues, I notice that she is wearing his usual uniform: chino pants, an Oxford shirt and a jacket, which in other versions she replaces with V-neck sweaters. Nothing fancy in his clothing: recurring pieces that he himself buys in pairs in Las Rozas Village and the men's section of El Corte Inglés in Castellana.

Before leaving for the first visit of the day, Almeida grabs her prevention kit: gloves, mask and a disinfectant solution with aloe vera that Matilde García Duarte, general coordinator of the mayor's office, keeps in her bag like a treasure . The mayor explains to me that he has discovered the way to put on the mask so that the lenses of his glasses do not fog up. We went to CISEM, the Integrated Center for Security and Emergencies in Madrid. The mayor waits at the entrance for Pablo Casado, his leader of the PP, whom he has invited to visit the center. When the president of his party arrives, Almeida approaches the door of his car and receives him with the protocolized elbow bump. Throughout the visit, the mayor will remain in an elegant background, probably aware, although of course he does not tell me, that Pablo Casado is in need of a more serene media presence these days, away from the angry appearances in Congress. It is exciting to access the CISEM crisis room: here are the high command who for weeks have been coordinating the most difficult emergencies in Madrid's recent history. Huge screens provide a complete vision, and in real time, of all the available resources that the managers of the Samur, municipal police and firefighters analyze. It seems that today, finally, the city is calmer.

It is curious how Almeida breaks the ice, whatever the group he visits. No prefabricated political speeches. He throws his hands into his pants pockets and snaps at them with a: what do you tell me? He has just done it with the forty Samur workers who have returned from collaborating with the Soria and Segovia toilets. "Well, you see, mayor, you don't know how we have been received, it has been exciting. We have done everything. One day we met a woman who had had an operation on her mouth the day before the state of alarm, and the good lady was still there! with more than thirty points!" You took them off, right?, asks Almeida. "Of course! And, by the way, we have brought you a French toast from Soria." Hours later, when we visit the IFEMA Covid-19 Hospital, the mayor will once again give clues as to how he manages among the people. I propose to a group of toilets to take a photo with Almeida and, when I have them ready, the mayor approaches with some caution and asks them if they really want to take the photo with him. I take note and I wonder if this is the case because of the beatings he has received or because he really cultivates a different spirit with which he has won over the staff. He doesn't seem like a social animal, he doesn't pretend to be liked, but he listens and retains. He transmits decency and his speech always seems solvent. He tells me that hundreds of donations from civil society have rained down on the City Council these days: from one and a half million euros for masks and respirators from a prominent businessman, to tons of fish and fruit, including the two thousand French toast from the pastry shop. La Mallorquina, part of which he allocated to the clergy of Madrid "because the social work of the Church in this city is extraordinary. I have seen it first-hand when I have been unloading food in some churches. In addition, I want to highlight the spiritual work of the priests with the families who have lost their loved ones, consoling them and praying tributes". To such an extent, anonymous solidarity has overwhelmed the consistory that it created the dona.madrid.es platform to channel COVID-19 donations.

"Do you see me dressing too classic? Do you think I should add a touch of modernity?"

It is likely that part of the mayor's success during this pandemic is also due to his way of communicating the reality in all its harshness. He himself confirms it to me: "I think that one thing that is valued in the City Council is that we have always been very clear in our communication. We have not walked with hot cloths, we have said at all times what we understood to be saying, whether it seemed harsh or less hard. Society is mature enough to accept all messages and, therefore, it is not convenient to manipulate them. If they don't understand you, the problem is yours".

In less than two months the municipal team has had to rush to implement a multitude of palliative measures for a terribly punished Madrid. The purchase of sanitary material worth 19 million euros, the reduction of more than 65 million in taxes for companies and businesses, deferrals and installments of municipal tax payments, the improvement of material for the Emergency and Security services, the realization of thousands of PCR tests to essential municipal services, the delivery of prepaid cards (together with CaixaBank) to feed more than 2,000 vulnerable families, free bus lines to take health workers from hotels to hospitals, the donation of harvests from urban orchards for vulnerable groups or emergency accommodation (in the Eurobuilding 2 complex) for older people without symptoms of COVID-19 who have lost their caregivers or who do not have other help, are just some of them.

I wonder if you personally have learned anything from these terrible days we've lived through.

They have helped me raise my head a bit and have more perspective. I have spent more time thinking and understanding that we are fragile and much more vulnerable than we thought.

Definitely, if we can talk about the Almeida effect, we should clarify that it is the triumph of a normal guy. I'll let you know. nod. "Do you think people want perfect politicians or normal guys? Isn't it better to see someone leave their house with half their hair done because they're in a hurry? Or that one day you don't wear the luckiest combination of tie and shirt? Politicians are no different from the rest." Rewinding my two meetings with him, I remember how much a photo I saw in his office caught my attention. Almeida was seen hugging a blonde girl. Joaquín Vidal, who was keeping an eye on me, confirmed that she was one of the mayor's nieces. The photo is brought up by the answer he gave me when I asked him about his bachelorhood: "In the environment of women in my family I have felt so comfortable that perhaps I have not needed to look for another." Answer from a normal guy. Zero prefab. He only needed to put his hands in his pants pockets.