A poorly informed passerby wondered at five in the afternoon if the hundreds of Venezuelans gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol were celebrating a football triumph. Seeing children with Venezuela's colors painted on their faces, the sea of flags that flooded the square, and the festive atmosphere that hovered over the event could have suggested it. But no. "It's living what we always wanted there, freedom," summarizes Francisco, who has been living in Madrid for eight years and introduces María Corina Machado as a "bulwark of the fight for freedom." For Clara, who has also been in Spain for eight years, it is "the great hope for achieving a democratic country forever." They are two of the thousands of Venezuelans waiting for the leader of the Venezuelan opposition on the day she has been distinguished by Isabel Díaz Ayuso with the Gold Medal of the Community of Madrid. "She is our future president, the one who has liberated us and the one who has taken away the dictator," thanks Mariel, who left Venezuela 26 years ago and now lives in Seville. "Donald Trump is not the ideal president, but he has given us the encouragement and hope that we can indeed get out of this," acknowledges Frai, who has been living in Valencia for three years.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso has used an advisor of hers in the Community of Madrid to search for and buy a new apartment in the Spanish capital, according to what Eldiario.es publishes this Thursday. The information from the digital outlet, which the popular leader's team has not denied, indicates that the head of office of the Madrid presidency secretariat, Álvaro Sanz, has been in charge of the arrangements for the search for Ayuso's new home: he has made contacts with representatives of at least one property, arranged visits to the property, and even participated in the negotiation of the purchase price.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso has used an advisor of hers in the Community of Madrid to look for and buy a new apartment in the Spanish capital, according to what Eldiario.es publishes this Thursday. The information from the digital outlet, which the popular leader's team has not denied, indicates that the head of office of the Madrid presidency's secretariat, Álvaro Sanz, has been in charge of the arrangements for Ayuso's new home search: he has handled everything from contacts with representatives of at least one property to arranging visits to the property and even participated in the negotiation of the purchase price.

Although Ayuso is understood when she speaks, this time her new creation –“the culture is universal”– does need translation. What she is saying is that only Madrid is universal and, therefore, the Guernica cannot be lent for nine months to the Basque Country, as requested by the Basque government to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the bombing of civilian populations by Hitler's aviation, an ally of Franco. With the full sentence it becomes clearer: “I think it's provincial, and I think that culture is universal”.

This 2026 one of the most iconic buildings in the center of Madrid celebrates its centenary. It is the headquarters of the Círculo de Bellas Artes (CBA), a private, non-profit cultural institution that claims to be a "reference of freedom and independence" in the capital of the State. In recent years, it has focused on "opening up to citizens" with initiatives such as the climate shelter —they have set up a green and free space that last summer was used by 60,000 people to protect themselves from the heat; the Festival of Ideas, which brings philosophy to the streets, or the City and Science Biennial, organized in collaboration with the Barcelona City Council.

The cultural battle is a concept that in the last decade has been inherent to the rise of the global far-right. In Spain, Vox has been fighting it for years to try to change the debate framework on issues such as feminism, environmentalism or LGTBI rights and to normalize discourses that were not previously acceptable. An example of this is the media coverage that the euthanasia process of Noelia Castillo has had this week and, in this context, the statements of the Madrid Minister of Health, Fátima Matute, talking about the importance of institutions also focusing on "healing the soul" are striking. As the elections in the Community of Madrid, scheduled for 2027, approach, its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and her executive are increasingly adopting elements of the cultural war against progressivism. Ayuso has recently asked her supporters to exercise extreme vigilance to avoid losing the absolute majority, with an eye on Vox.

When the euthanasia law was approved in June 2021, support for the initiative was very broad in Spanish society, which had experienced emblematic cases such as that of Ramon Sampedro (died in 1998), played by Javier Bardem in Alejandro Amenábar's film Mar adentro, or that of Ángel Hernández, the man who helped his wife, María José Carrasco, to die in 2019 and who was acquitted of the crime of aiding suicide once the law came into force. According to a CIS barometer from January 2021, 72% were in favor of the law and only 15% against.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Santiago Abascal sitting on a powerful motorcycle painted with the Spanish flag. It is not a real image – nor AI – but a Fallas puppet exhibited this week in Valencia. Although there is no alliance between them in real life – rather a dispute over the same electoral space in Madrid – their radical speeches and the sympathies shared by the Madrid president and the Vox leader in the international arena make the vision of this tandem not particularly jarring to the spectators of the Fallas monuments. Abascal's ties with the far-right world leaders are official and organic – through alliances in the Eurochamber or with foundations of this ideological space – while Ayuso has them from a more symbolic perspective. This is what happens with Donald Trump.

King Felipe VI's gesture toward Mexico—in which he acknowledged the "abuses" committed during the conquest of the Americas—has had an initial, palpable effect on thawing relations. According to the Royal Household, the monarch has received an invitation from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to attend the World Cup, which her country will host from July 11 to 19. In a letter, Sheinbaum expresses that this sporting event "provides the perfect opportunity to highlight the depth and unique character of the ties between Mexico and Spain, forged by a historical brotherhood." The invitation was welcomed at the Zarzuela Palace "within the framework of the fraternal relationship of friendship between the two countries." At a press conference this Tuesday, Sheinbaum indicated her willingness to accept the monarch's invitation and welcomed his remarks earlier in the week during a conversation with the Mexican ambassador to Spain while visiting the exhibition.Half the world. Women in indigenous Mexico. The Mexican government had been demanding for years an apology to Spainbecause of its colonial past. Although Felipe VI did not apologize, the Mexican president interpreted his words—in which he admitted that there are behaviors that, viewed through the lens of current values, are not something to be "proud of"—as "a gesture of rapprochement" within the framework of a process that "must continue to be worked on."

How much should presidents be paid? In Catalonia, it has historically been decided that the salary of the President of the Generalitat should be among the highest in the State. In fact, for years the President of the Generalitat has occupied the first position in the ranking. Carles Ramió, a professor of political science at Pompeu Fabra University, warns that the debate about politicians' salaries tends to be full of demagoguery and points to the need to have well-paid public servants to attract talent and avoid pernicious dynamics. Furthermore, he recalls that all figures are gross, meaning that tax withholdings make the net figure substantially lower.The draft budget for 2026 foresees that the salary of the head of the executive, Salvador Illa, will increase by 6,378.88 euros, rising from the 140,256.96 euros he received last year to 146,635.84 annually. To put this into perspective, the Basque Lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, second in the ranking, receives 117,243.14 euros, while the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in third position, earns 103,090.32 euros. The gap is even wider when we look towards Moncloa: the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has a salary of 95,943.96 euros, almost 51,000 euros less than Illa.This hierarchy is also maintained at the second tier. A minister of the Generalitat of Catalonia earns 130,049.36 euros, exceeding the 104,512.94 euros of a minister from the Basque Country or the 103,080.48 euros of their Madrid counterparts.Beyond the Government: where are the highest salaries found?If we look at the legislative chambers, the presidencies of the Cortes Generales and the Parliament of Catalonia represent the highest peaks. According to data from the remuneration registry, the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, will receive 151,995.48 euros in 2026, while in Spain, the president of the Congress, Francina Armengol, earns 230,911.66 euros and the president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, earns 191,240.42 euros.However, where are the highest salaries in the public sector? In Spain, public companies and regulatory bodies top the list. The three highest salaries are practically identical and correspond to the presidency of Loterías de l'Estat (252,474.97 euros), SEPI (251,242.18), and CESCE (251,530). In Catalonia, while the artistic director of the TNC, the general director, and the president of Ferrocarrils top the podium with 125,001.76 euros, these do not exceed the president's figures.Change of mind"I will make a commitment: I will lower the salary of the President of the Generalitat to the highest salary of a regional president other than Catalonia, which is that of the Lehendakari. It is a 30% reduction, to be close to the people." This was one of the proposals made by Salvador Illa during the 2021 election campaign. Although he was the most voted, he could not govern in that legislature, and in the following election campaign, that of 2024, he no longer repeated this commitment.In 2021, the president's remuneration was at its historical maximum, 153,236 euros, with Quim Torra at the head of the Generalitat. His successor, Pere Aragonès, , bringing it down to 130,251 euros. Since then, it has been revalued to maintain purchasing power.Faced with criticism for this change of opinion, Illa defended himself last Wednesday in Parliament, stating before the Plenary: "The increase [foreseen in the budgets] is what has been applied to all public servants in Catalonia, and I am a public servant of Catalonia." This increase is a result of the application of the legal framework that links the salaries of senior officials to the increases agreed for all civil servants.Paying little can be expensiveThe debate about public salaries is not just a matter of figures. Ramió warns that demagoguery about low salaries has a hidden cost: the difficulty in attracting competent managers. According to the political scientist, "for every two or three proposals they make for a minister, they often say no" because, fundamentally, "compared to the market and considering the responsibility, the salary is very low." If the public sector is not competitive, Ramió states, it risks being left in the hands of unprofessional profiles.Ramió also warns of two other risks associated with low salaries. When pressure and responsibility are extreme, but the remuneration is "ridiculous," it opens the door, in his opinion, to corruption. And, as a final reflection, he invites us to consider the model of the "rich politician" who doesn't need a salary, personified by Donald Trump. He ironically states that if the goal is to pay the minimum, "the best president in the world is Donald Trump, because he only earns a dollar a year." But the risk of this mirage is high: "What do we want? For politics to be done only by the rich?"

A war of the dimensions and transcendence of that initiated in the Middle East deserved from the outset a serious and documented debate on the background and possible repercussions of the conflict. The way this issue has taken shape in Spanish politics in general is already very disappointing, but if we move to another administrative level, that of the Community of Madrid, things worsen. It is not surprising, because during this legislature it has been common for the PP of Madrid, and especially its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to seek confrontation with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.

The High Court of Justice of Madrid has ordered the Community of Madrid to "immediately" begin the procedures for creating a registry of conscientious objectors to voluntary terminations of pregnancy, a list mandated by law and approved by the Interterritorial Council (comprised of representatives from all autonomous communities). The ruling by the eighth section of the court's administrative chamber is a further step in the ongoing dispute between the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the Ministry of Health, headed by Mónica García, which has resisted establishing a registry of professionals who refuse to perform abortions. In fact, the judges upheld the precautionary measures requested by the Ministry. The court specifies that although the precautionary measure does not require the Community of Madrid to create the registry immediately, it does impose the obligation to initiate the necessary administrative procedures to develop and approve it, in compliance with current regulations. However, she justifies the decision as a way to "combat the passivity" of the Madrid administration, since she believes there is a "risk of delay" and that the Ayuso government will try to "indefinitely prolong" the creation of the list.

The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the leader of the opposition, Manuela Bergerot, have engaged in a cheap, low-quality controversy, which is what political leaders do to serve up a daily dose of cheap entertainment. Ayuso says she "encourages" left-wing women—the verb is very well chosen—to "go out alone and drunk at night in Iran," and also to "take their gay friends along, to see when they get hung from cranes." She thus supports Donald Trump, embracing the amoral premise: if the leaders of a country are inhumane to the civilian population, the civilian population can be bombed under the pretext of bringing them down. Bergerot responded that "the first condition for a woman to be free is that her country not be bombed," and that she has a "mania" for "scolding women who like to go out partying," which is an idiotic statement, because it's a cynical "whataboutism." Speaking of women's freedom from being bombed, she downplays the freedom to walk down the street without rags covering you up like an Egyptian mummy.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso has once again positioned herself as Pedro Sánchez's antagonist in the wake of the Iran war. The Madrid president has attacked the Spanish prime minister for his clash with the United States, casting herself as his antithesis with a discourse aligned with Donald Trump. Just as she did with Gaza—with the controversial support he gave to Benjamin Netanyahu Amid Israel's offensive—or the unilateral US attack on Venezuela—Ayuso has escalated her rhetoric against the Spanish Prime Minister's "No to war" stance, labeling him a "rebellious teenage leader." "Of course, no to war, and may it end as soon as possible, but also no to the Spanish civil war that [the PSOE] fuels every day," the Madrid PP leader emphasized during the question period in the Madrid Assembly, responding to the PSOE. All the Socialist deputies wore stickers with the pacifist slogan, revived by their leader, superimposed on a Spanish flag. In this direct confrontation with Sánchez—which both the Moncloa Palace and Ayuso are stoking to the detriment of Alberto Núñez Feijóo's leadership—the Madrid PP leader's words have provoked widespread outrage on the left.

The internal crisis facing Isabel Díaz Ayuso is evident, although the Madrid president has tried to downplay it. During Thursday's question time in the Madrid Assembly, Ayuso had to address the controversial fall from grace of a sector within her regional government and the Popular Party's parliamentary group. "There is no distraction tactic that can cover up the infighting that has erupted with Viciana's dismissal," warned the leader of the opposition, spokesperson for Más Madrid, Manuela Bergerot. The departure earlier this week of the Minister of Education, Emilio Viciana, has triggered a trickle of resignations and dismissals of other officials linked to the now former minister. All of them fall under the influence of Antonio Castillo Algarra, a playwright considered an advisor to Ayuso in the educational and cultural spheres, and who is also one of those who resigned as director of the Spanish Ballet of the Community of Madrid.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso dismissed her Education Minister, Emilio Viciana, on Monday, and the decision has had repercussions within the Madrid PP. On Wednesday, Antonio Castillo Algarra, one of the directors of the Spanish Ballet of the Community of Madrid and a close associate of the dismissed minister, resigned, as did the members of parliament who resigned on Tuesday, the so-called the popcornsIn fact, they were part of a theater group directed by Castillo Algarra himself, who is also an advisor to Ayuso. The decision came from "political consistency," for reasons unrelated to the Ballet, and according to Europa Press, further resignations are not ruled out. Furthermore, the Madrid government has also dismissed two directors general from the Ministry of Education: the Director General of Universities, Nicolás Javier Casas, and the Director General of Secondary Education, Vocational Training, and Special Education, María Luz Rodríguez de Llera Tejeda. The three Popular Party members of parliament who have resigned from the Madrid Assembly are: Pablo Posse, Mónica Lavín, and Carlota Pasarón. Posse was the first to announce his resignation, doing so during the Education Committee meeting held this morning in the Assembly. There, according to the EFE news agency, Posse—who until now was the PP's spokesperson for Education in the Madrid Assembly—also explained that these three resignations will not be the only ones, as two directors general of the regional ministry will also step down: Nicolás Javier Casas, Director General of Universities; and María Luz Rodríguez de Llera, Director General of Secondary Education, Vocational Training, and Special Education. Sources within the Madrid government assure that no other dismissals have been approved so far. According to the Madrid PP, the resignations of Posse, Lavín—until now the PP's spokesperson for Social Policy in the Assembly—and Pasarón—spokesperson for Youth—are due to "personal reasons" of the three deputies, but the fact is that the resignations came the very next morning. The first change in Ayuso's government apparently did not please the three PP deputies who left the Assembly. The now former Minister of Education confirmed on Tuesday that his resignation was "at his own request" and thanked the Madrid president in a message to X for the opportunity to have served in the position over the past few years. Mercedes Zarzalejo will replace Viciana. In fact, according to Europa Press, the new minister will also form her own team, and therefore some officials will not resign voluntarily. Posse indicated that two directors general would like to resign.

"Son of a bitch." A voice rang out among the participants at the PSOE rally in Teruel during the final stretch of the Aragonese election campaign. The speaker was Belén Navarro, a PP councilwoman in Vallanca, a town of 128 inhabitants in the Rincón de Ademuz region, and the target of her anger was Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. Despite the outrage expressed by the Socialists and also by the Sumar coalition, who demanded that the PP dismiss the councilwoman, the outburst was not new, but rather a successor to the infamous "I like fruit" rhetoric championed by the Popular Party. Under the leadership of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz AyusoSuch offenses hardly cause a stir anymore in a political landscape increasingly accustomed to personal attacks.

The president of the Community of Madrid, the ineffable Ayuso, has announced that she is awarding an honorary distinction to the US because it is the "beacon of the free world." She accompanied the announcement with a lament over "the wound in Venezuela" and a diatribe against "the narco-states promoted by the far left": soon, therefore, will come the accusation against Sánchez, or against Begoña Gómez, of having established a terrorist narco-state in Spain. In any case, the Medal of the Community of Madrid (as the award in question is known) has been notable in recent years for honoring leaders of the Latin American right and far right, with whom the Spanish far right—like the Catalan far right—seeks to maintain well-oiled relations: for example, the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa. On this occasion, the "United States of America" ​​is being honored, but it is obvious that this is a tribute to Trump and Trumpism.

The President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has stated that the United States has always been viewed with "admiration for being the leading beacon of the free world" and has announced that she will award the country the International Medal bestowed by her government. She made this statement tonight in a video broadcast during The Hispanic Prosperity Gala, held at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's private residence in Florida, where she received recognition for her work in support of the Hispanic community. Ayuso argued that the world would not be the same without the Hispanic perspective, which she linked to "joy, celebration, Christian humanism, cultural fusion, family, law, and Spanish as a common language," along with "Western values ​​that contribute most to prosperity and progress." "The new world order needs our way of being and existing so that North America, the rest of the Americas, and Europe can be the freest and most dynamic places," stated the Madrid leader, who warned that sadness, impoverishment, and tyranny have gone too far and have "contaminated entire nations." She then asserted that the freedom of Venezuela is "the greatest wound" that must be healed, given the exodus of more than eight million people "whose lives have been taken over by communism." The Madrid president also expressed her hope that other countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Mexico will soon follow in Argentina's footsteps and "break their chains, regain their freedom, and put an end to the narco-states that far-left dictators are establishing wherever they can or are allowed to." International Medal

Ayuso has announced that she will award the International Medal of the Community of Madrid to the United States, coinciding with the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of its independence, and for being the "leading beacon of the free world." The Madrid government will present the award to a representative of the US administration during an official visit to Spain. This same honor has been bestowed in recent years upon the presidents of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky (2022); Ecuador, Daniel Noboa (2023); and Argentina, Javier Milei (2024).

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The clash of models between the Spanish government and the Community of Madrid shows no signs of slowing, and this Tuesday it was healthcare that took center stage. Pedro Sánchez's administration took a first step to safeguard public healthcare and, as it had been warning, laid out in writing the path it intends to follow. The Council of Ministers approved in its first reading a draft bill on healthcare services that aims to "slam the door," in the words of Health Minister Mónica García, on the publicly funded and privatized model promoted by the People's Party (PP) during José María Aznar's term. The Catalan healthcare system's employers' associations have already announced that they will demand the protection of the "unique" nature of Catalonia's publicly funded model. The bill, therefore, represents a direct attack on the healthcare system championed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso in the Community of Madrid. In fact, the president of the Madrid region was quick to react, accusing the government of "wanting to destroy healthcare" in Madrid and leading it into a "revolution" so that "nothing works."

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