The left-wing fashion analyst who is at war with Vito Quiles

MadridIn recent months, one name has frequently appeared on television: Sarah Santaolalla (Salamanca, 1998). With a progressive temperament and a law degree, she often appears as a political analyst on various programs, has moderated important events –such as the Spanish government's commemoration of March 8th or the talk between Gabriel Rufián and Emilio Delgado– and has had heated verbal confrontations with the PP. Four months ago, in an interview with El País, she recalled that her childhood dream was to be the president of the Spanish government and has explained several times that she does not rule out eventually entering politics, although not in the short term.

For now, she lives in the trenches, both on and off television: the far-right leaked her phone number and overloaded her WhatsApp. She admits that she finds it difficult to be with people who do not understand her positions –"it's not sectarianism, it's solidarity," she says–, although her "closest" friends are right-wing.

This week's clash with the ultra agitator Vito Quiles has once again put her in the media spotlight. Leaving an event organized by the PSOE in the Senate, Quiles approached her and her accompanying group, and scenes of tension, with shoves, blows, and shouts, ended up in court. Sarah Santaolalla went to the emergency room – she has to wear a neck brace for three weeks – and reported the ultra agitator. And he has filed a counter-lawsuit with a claim for false denunciation.

When she was younger, Santaolalla was involved in the Socialist Youth of Salamanca. During the November 10, 2019 election campaign, for example, she was putting up posters. Furthermore, she was responsible for Jóvenes Vecinos de Salamanca, an association that during the pandemic wove a "solidarity network" of volunteers to help the most vulnerable people, doing their shopping or taking out their trash.

“You have to be very stupid”

"You have to be very stupid or very ill-informed to continue believing the PP and Vox," she stated four months ago on TVE. These statements led the popular party to demand that she be removed from public television. Recently, there have been two more episodes in this saga. "For simplicity, your photos showing your cleavage up to here," a PP deputy told her in the Madrid Assembly. And on El hormiguero, Rosa Belmonte referred to her in this way: "Is she the one who is half silly and half boobs?"