The pulse between the Government and Madrid: intrahistory of a pact that ended in open war

Nothing new under Puerta del Sol. The day after the health pre-agreement between the Community of Madrid and the Government of Pedro Sánchez, everything was blown up.

The symphony between the two parties that make up the first coalition government in the history of the region works like an accordion.

At times it tends to clump together — never quite — and sometimes it tends to break down — most of the time.

But at the last moment, the music starts again.

Not this time.

The regional vice president, Ignacio Aguado, from Ciudadanos, scored a goal at his headquarters.

He signed the health pre-agreement between Puerta del Sol and La Moncloa.

It ended a week of media wars between both administrations.

But the team of the president of the Community, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, was not satisfied.

The accordion was immediately silenced.

• Health imposes the perimeter confinement to Madrid and other nine municipalities of the community

Ayuso didn't say a peep for almost 24 hours.

The cry of silence publicly exposed his vice president and spokesman.

Aguado, meanwhile, has not stopped.

Interview on a television set in the morning, press conference after the Governing Council at noon and messages on social networks.

In case there were doubts about who had reached that first agreement, he even spoke in the first person: "Satisfied for having reached an agreement in principle with the Government of Spain to jointly address the battle against the virus," he told the within minutes of the draft being made public.

He made no mention of the president.

Nor to the popular ones.

He was speaking on behalf of the Community of Madrid.

La Puerta del Sol and La Moncloa reached a pact after seven hellish days with press conferences and underhanded interviews.

Citizens were looking happily at the white flag.

They did not see the approaching storm coming.

The Madrid health minister, Enrique Ruiz Escudero.

On video, Escudero assures that the Ministry of Health has not made a collegiate decision.KIKO HUESCA |

EFE (VIDEO: ATLAS)

Immediately after Aguado's message, sources from Puerta del Sol qualified that joy.

"Well, well, there is still a lot to negotiate."

They were preparing a storm.

At 9:32 p.m., the regional communication team released its own version of events.

It's not the first time.

It happens almost always.

And it publicly evidences what various members of the Executive say in private.

The Community of Madrid has two governments in one.

Sol's statement was straight to the point.

"The regional government considers that the preliminary agreement has served to strengthen its position [...] The Community of Madrid will transfer its proposal this Wednesday."

Aguado's white flag began to turn black.

No sign of the pre-agreement.

At the signing of that document on Tuesday by Aguado, the Minister of Health, Enrique Escudero, was also present, but preferred to adhere to Ayuso's position and remain silent.

The draft of the agreement had a key inside: confine the capital of Spain.

The Ministry of Health, with the pre-agreed measures, suddenly proposed to intervene in Madrid.

It was practically a tailored suit.

This meant crossing a red line for the popular ones.

"Madrid is not going to close" is a slogan that they have been proclaiming for weeks from around the president.

"We must not apply the measures proposed by Illa because ours, for the moment, work," they insisted just a few days ago.

• Health reports 11,016 new cases of covid-19 and 177 deaths, with the worst data in Madrid in the last two weeks

Ayuso's team fully trusts his measurements.

They do not want to confine the city by neighborhoods.

They want, for the moment, to continue with their model of restrictions through basic health zones.

And they argue, twisting the data a lot, that they are right.

Thus it came to Wednesday morning.

Early in the morning, regional sources already pointed to the turn of events.

"Yesterday [Tuesday] there was no paper or firm proposal in writing, so it is not possible to speak of a principle of agreement."

Ayuso marked the line again.

Aguado's agreement with the government had just been thrown away.

And the final fireworks were missing.

Close the fringes

Ayuso and Aguado saw each other in the Governing Council for the first time after the agreement with Moncloa.

The advice was brief.

The vice president and spokesperson appeared later to announce the latest news from the ministries.

The people of Madrid, meanwhile, awaited confirmation of the news.

Does the Community of Madrid assume the confinement of the capital?

"The technicians have to close the fringes," replied Aguado.

"I understand the informational need to advance events, but the most prudent thing is to wait for the meeting this afternoon."

But, in the middle of the appearance, the communication team of the president released a bomb in the form of a message: “In 30 minutes, the Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid will make public a statement on the position that it will express in the this afternoon's meeting at the Interterritorial Health Commission ”.

That is, Ayuso had just dynamited what was agreed live and during the press conference of his spokesman and vice president.

Did you know that the Ministry was going to announce that message?

"I do not.

I do not know.

And what the council is agreeing with the Government right now I do not know either, "he replied, realizing the media uproar.

He had just faced another public disavowal of Ayuso.

To top it all, the counseling message did not go out after 30 minutes, but was delayed for almost an hour.

In it, the Community, by order of Ayuso, put obstacles to the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Ministry of Health.

If the Government wants to close Madrid, they warned in the text, “it must be taken into account that the city is a set of 21 districts, of which 18 exceed 100,000 inhabitants, and therefore, the indexes cannot be applied, in their together, to the whole city ”.

Citizen sources acknowledged that they knew nothing of all this.

Who also attended astonished.

They also did not know what the Ministry of Health was going to vote in the end in the Interterritorial Council.

At 6.30 pm the results were known.

Madrid voted against the agreement, along with Catalonia, Galicia and Andalusia.

That is, she rejected the measures that she herself had agreed on Wednesday with Vice President Aguado.

"It is a scandal that the socialist communities intend to close Madrid," insisted sources from the regional government after knowing the agreement.

And they pointed out where the shots are going to go: "And we'll see if it is legally viable."

The farce is not over.

The Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, appeared to knock on the table.

He assured that the measures will be published "in the next few days" in the

as a ministerial order.

And all communities must abide by them, because they were agreed by a majority.

Madrid does not intend to bury the hatchet: the Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, assured that since there is no consensus on the part of all the autonomous communities, this agreement lacks legal validity.

A day before a tune melody was heard between Executives, they spoke in principle of agreement.

It was all a mirage.

Only drums of war resounded on Wednesday night.

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