It's time for Ayuso to take a stand for the management of the pandemic.

It took five years, but a judge has finally admitted a complaint from the relatives of COVID-19 victims who died during the pandemic in Madrid nursing homes due to a protocol that stipulated they should not be transferred to the hospital, and has charged the two responsible parties. Remember, this represents 7,291 people, a figure that has become sadly popular and one that Isabel Díaz Ayuso's government has tried to minimize on more than one occasion. The judge has summoned Carlos Mur and Francisco Javier Martínez Peromingo to testify next Monday. The former was Director of Social and Health Coordination for the Madrid government when the health crisis began and signed the so-called "protocol of shame." The latter—according to victims' organizations—coordinated the technical protocol that complemented the former and replaced Mur in the position starting in May 2020.

Beyond any criminal liability that may arise from the case, it seems that the relatives are simply seeking answers they have so far eluded. For example, what health criteria were used to decide not to transfer patients with any type of dependency from nursing homes to hospitals? Or why the same criteria were not applied to elderly people living at home. The relatives' goal is the same as that of the DANA victims: they want justice to clarify and resolve responsibilities; ultimately, they want to understand what happened.

Because, like Carlos Mazón, she has yet to meet with the DANA victims' associations, Ayuso has not met with the organizations of relatives of those who died in the nursing homes. In fact, she lowered the figure from 7,291, which she considers a "fabrication," to 4,100. And she has come to say that they were not transferred because they would have died anyway. She has said that the victims' organizations are politicized, and when the opposition has demanded an investigation, she has responded that "they are always with the same crap."

Those around Ayuso and her media entourage are now trying to discredit the judge with the argument that she is a member of Judges for Democracy and held a position in Zapatero's governments. It is the PP's usual tactic. When someone, for example the separatists, criticizes the judges, they are attacking the rule of law, but when they do it, it is in defense of democracy.

We hope they let the judge work so she can conduct a thorough investigation. Relatives have the right to know why their loved ones had to die in chilling conditions, without assistance and isolated from everyone. And Ayuso must come forward once and for all and assume responsibility, because the management of healthcare is a regional responsibility, as is civil protection. Enough with always blaming other administrations and disrespecting the victims. Because it is one thing to profess a certain ideology, and quite another to flaunt infinite moral misery.