'Abc' loses subscriber Florentino Pérez

There is something moving about Florentino Pérez's disastrous press conference announcing the call for elections. The matxuril·lades he let slip may even have a certain anthropological interest, but the announcement that he is canceling his subscription to Abc is a rather pathetic gesture, a misstep that exposes him to the public. It is evident that Florentino Pérez intervenes much more decisively in the media than by canceling his contribution of 400 euros. Within a few hours, the Vocento group – Precisely the publisher of the newspaper – announced that its president, Ignacio Ybarra Aznar, had resigned. The juxtaposition does not indicate cause and effect, but it can be seen as a suspicion that when Florentino cools down, you never know who will end up sneezing.

In fact, the Madrid president has always had a weakness for the media. As when in the 70s he founded La Guía del Ocio and, according to critic Carlos Boyero, he forced editors to speak well of the films of the multinationals that watered down the magazine. Later his ambitions escalated to the point where his web embraces and hooks the two television stations of the duopoly that add up to 50% of the television audience in Spain and, more importantly, 85% of the advertising in this sector. El Confidencial, in a piece from 2021, quoted a former Mediaset screenwriter who made it clear who was in charge in the house: “Here you can laugh at everyone except Ana Rosa Quintana, Florentino Pérez and the Church”. We could also cite the audios where he boasted of having placed his vassal Eduardo Inda as director of Marca. Or the lustful relationship with García Ferreras. Or with Pedrerol. Etc. The subscription stunt is a misstep by someone who has lost perspective and is too accustomed to impunity. If only there had been a VAR reviewing the press conference.