The leader of Sumar advocates a pact with the purples to prevent the right and the extreme right from governing: “It would be a drama”
Yolanda Díaz, Second Vice President of the Government and leader of the electoral brand Sumar in the next general elections, he had a “bad” time and was “very angry” when Pablo Iglesias, then Secretary General of United We Can, he handpicked her as his successor. “It was a disrespect, I told him. I got very angry. I didn’t just call him a bastard [como él contó en su libro]I did something much worse”, assured Díaz in the interview this Sunday night in ‘The thing about Évole’ (La Sexta), space directed by the journalist Jordi Evole. He did not specify more.
The interview revolved, practically all the time, around his relationship with the former secretary general of Podemos because of the meeting or not between both parties The electoral success of the space to the left of the PSOE will depend. Despite her disagreements with Iglesias, the Galician defended at all times that Sumar and Podemos they must come to an agreement to prevent the right and the extreme right from governing, and that You don’t want to have to choose When the elections arrive, between a ballot from one party or another. But Díaz has not hidden his disappointment with Iglesias either.
“Has been people from Podemos who wanted to go to the Sumar act and did not go,” Díaz assured, in relation to the presentation of the platform that took place in Madrid on April 2 and to which they gave seedling Podemos and its main leaders. The leader of the platform denies that the main stumbling block with Podemos is whether or not to go to primaries, as the purples say. “Everyone in Sumar wants primaries. There will be primaries with citizen participation. Agreements are reached when desired,” she said.
The main problem is that Podemos does not want to be diluted in this new political brand. Díaz insisted again that They should go to the elections together elections at the end of the year (Sumar will not appear at the municipal and regional elections in May) and that electorally It would be the most recommended as demonstrated by past experiences. “If the right or the extreme right governs in this country it will be a drama. It is in our hands to change things, we must cooperate”, he defended. This Saturday in an act in Zaragoza, we can also, despite all the disputes and, according to Iglesias, the “insults and contempt”, defended unity with Sumar in their own general elections.
The vice president defends that Sumar is a space where the vote of people from both the left and the right, and that his candidacy would also include personalities such as Manuela Carmena, ‘Kichi’ (the mayor of Cádiz) or Teresa Rodriguez (Forward Andalusia). All three have broken with Podemos or Iglesias at some point.
A “huge dilemma”
Diaz stated his dislike with Iglesias, by placing it in a “huge dilemma”. “It was a disrespect for training [Unidas Podemos] and to me”, said the leader of Sumar. Asked by Évole, she acknowledged not imagining that Iglesias would continue to have the role she currently has in Podemos (despite being retired from politics). “Although I always had doubts because I know him”, he stated with a smile. “You have to let people fly, you have to let go.” Díaz thus insinuated that Iglesias does not leave prominence to Ione Belarra, the current secretary general of Can, or to the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero. “He is still there, he has even announced things about the Minister council in some media”. He also qualified that, despite everything, he feels towards Iglesias “much respect and affection”.
Évole asked him about other questions, such as his good harmony with Pedro Sánchez (“I have a very good relationship with him, he is a loving person and a great politician,” he assured), the ukrainian war (“The Ukrainian people have the right to legitimate defense, but we have to invest efforts to end this bloody war”), the 23 deaths of immigrants at the Melilla fence last year (“It was intolerable”, and hinted, although he did not express it explicitly, that Minister Grande-Marlaska should have resigned) or the king emeritus (“I am not worried that he will return to Sanxenxo, but that he will not give explanations to the public”).
But the interview kept coming back to the purple leader. Diaz wanted to call the dialogue. “I don’t castle in any position,” he said. Also made it very clear that, even if there was no final agreement with Podemos, in no way contemplate the possibility to go together with the PSOE.
“I don’t insult anyone”
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Regarding the tweet that Iglesias published months ago, describing as “miserable” “putting oneself in profile” when they insult a “companion” (in relation to the silence, according to him, that Díaz expressed in the face of the attacks that Montero suffered due to the law of ‘ only yes is yes’), the leader of Sumar acknowledged that she also interpreted that these insults were directed at her person.
“I do not insult anyone and I told him that I don’t share that way of doing things. I didn’t put myself in profile I just don’t radio the things I do. It took me nine months to pass the minimum wage law defends Díaz, who believes that “the public does not want to see this [insultos]”. “In public life you can’t do these things, it doesn’t matter if they vote for us or not,” critical.