In Tabarnia, Ayuso compares himself to Isabel La Católica

Isabel Díaz Ayuso ends Tuesday morning shaking her hips to the rhythm of David Civera.

The president of the Community of Madrid is in a central Madrid restaurant to which the promoters of Tabarnia have summoned her, a platform that uses irony, absurdity and exaggeration against the Catalan independence movement.

“Off-roader”, the assistants tell him.

"Castiza", they compliment him.

And so uninhibited is the environment, that she gets carried away.

She first makes promises: “I'll lower your taxes”, she tells a new neighbor from Pozuelo.

Then, she lashes out at the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez: "It hurts us that he treats the President of the Generalitat as the head of a foreign government when he strips us of our rights contained in the Constitution."

And as a finishing touch, taking advantage of the fact that the day is prone to hyperboles,

proposes a deep historical parallelism.

"Once again, an Isabel has once again unified two kingdoms," she jokes, ironically saying that she unites Tabarnia (the sum of Tarragona and Barcelona) and Tabernia (the Madrid of her voters), just as Isabel La Católica united Aragón and Castilla.

It is clear that Ayuso has come to play.

This is how it all begins.

“You only kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, damn it”, says one of the organizers when another proposes “a genuflection” to receive the president of the Community of Madrid, who arrives surrounded by cameras and unanswered questions.

This is the only act that appears this Tuesday on the conservative leader's agenda.

While Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the national leader of the PP, rushes the last minutes to prepare for the debate in the Senate with the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, the conservative baroness opts for a day of fun, which she arrives knowing exactly where she is getting into.

Isabel Diaz Ayuso appoints Ortega Cano as ambassador. Víctor Sainz

―“I proclaim my enthusiasm for the new star signing of the most excellent president to accompany us on the arduous, and horny, road to Tabarnia”, advanced the playwright Albert Boadella, proclaimed president in exile of Tabarnia.

“At the same time I invite her to join us at the new negotiation table, from Ikea, of course, negotiation at the lowest level with Junts per Cat

with Cat

with Esquerra

with Republicans de la

with Convergència i Unió

and with Catalans

, list.

“Dear and admired president, together with her proven political genius, victory is certain.

and

―“It is an honor”, ​​Isabel Díaz Ayuso replied on Twitter, as if all those disqualifying comments about political rivals were not with her.

President, friends: It's an honor 🇪🇸

– Isabel Díaz Ayuso (@IdiazAyuso) September 5, 2022

A day later, this Tuesday, that is the tone of the meeting that awaits Ayuso.

Between casual and lazy.

She shows up more than half an hour late on schedule and is met with a picturesque scene.

At the door there is a sign that encourages anyone to join the platform who is "facha, nordo, tavern, Spanish...".

The flags of Spain and the Community, placed with effort as a background for his intervention in a precarious setting, contrast with the caricatures of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont or with the waiters in their thirties dressed as sailors in the restaurant where the event is being held.

Attendees are offered the "Hero of Tabarnia" card for the modest price of 60 euros.

And the deputies present (from Cs and UPN) mix with former colleagues from politics (such as Juan Carlos Girauta,

ex-parliamentary spokesperson for CS;

Alejo Vidal Quadras, ex of the Catalan PP and founder of Vox;

or Fran Hervías, ex of Cs and PP).

At 40 euros covered, the bustle is remarkable.

Those who do not look spellbound at Ayuso turn their gazes to the famous faces who are going to be appointed ambassadors of Tabarnia: among others, the bullfighter Ortega Cano;

Ramón Arcusa, one of the members of the Dynamic Duo;

the presenter Javier Cárdenas;

or the actress Monica Pont.

"You are our woman of value", summarizes the praises to Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the participants who go up on stage.

The organizers play to force the speeches, the scenery and the symbols, in an exercise of exaggeration that tries to highlight what they consider as contradictions of the Catalan independence movement.

That, they explain, is the founding spirit of Tabarnia: opposing the possibility of Catalonia becoming independent from Spain against the option of Tarragona and Barcelona becoming independent from Catalonia.

By the time the members of the platform go out into the street to offer a bouquet of flowers to a cardboard figure of Colón, it is clear that Ayuso is not coming to just any act that he stars in every week.

And the president of Madrid acts accordingly.

Group photo of the Tabarnesa executive. Víctor Sainz

"In Madrid, no one is going to meet their ex, but neither will

with bows," the president laughs, referring to the demonstrations by independentistas with tractors and yellow bows.

“Catalonia is Spain”, she underlines.

And so, Ayuso says goodbye with a joke, his first decree at the head of Tabarnia: "By the powers granted to me by this court, and as president of Tabarnia, I make the decision to unite the kingdoms of Tabarnia and Tabernia for the greater glory of Spain ( ...).

"Those present here are appointed knights and ladies of the order of Tabarnia and Tabernia with loyalty to his majesty, King Felipe VI."

Then, a guitar sounds, the loudspeakers thunder, and a David Civera song is played, altered to turn it into a Tabarnia anthem.

Díaz Ayuso accompanies the music.

Because this Tuesday so far from the rigors and labels of the institutions, before being president of Madrid, she acts as president of Tabarnia.

Subscribe here

50% off

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber