Genius and figure at all times. True to his style, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, well known as MAR, never gives up and, in the midst of the socialist Juan Lobato’s mobile phone scandal, which leaves the hard core of La Moncloa and Ferraz in ruins, or the deleted messages of the State Attorney General, states in his personal account of X that the President of the Government, his wife Begoña and his political entourage “are going to move forward.” The chief of staff of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, is accustomed to not cutting a hair and this is how he defines Pedro Sánchez: “This guy is corrupt and a dictator.” Ole. Rodríguez dares to say loud and clear what many think in a low voice, thus unleashing the furious wrath of La Moncloa, the PSOE and the media left. Whatever it may be, MAR is smart, fast, cunning and can boast of having pulverized all the leaders of the opposition to the Madrid leader. He assumes his role as the “black beast” of “Sanchism” as a captain of the political ship against all odds. Without intending to, he has become the focus of attacks by the president, ministers and propagandists obedient to the dictates of the great boss Sánchez.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso did not know him, but one day she met Rodríguez and proposed to work by her side. In this way, over a few beers, in a traditional Madrid establishment, he signed him as his campaign manager in the 2019 elections. Since then, this Valladolid native, famous for his acidic tongue and proven sagacity, has played his role as guardian of the Madrid president like a mastiff in heat. “Thirty years later, MAR is still there,” wrote a chronicler of the media left. Nothing better to define a fireproof man, who went from editing “El Norte de Castilla”, an emblematic newspaper in Valladolid, to organizing the rallies of a then young José María Aznar.
I remember him a long time ago in those tough electoral campaigns, watching the stage lectern and the red light of the television cameras so that his leader would appear on the “prime time” news. Attentive to everything, he always gave him the right “chop” at the right time. Even his fiercest enemies recognize his decisive role in Aznar’s victory and in the transformation of a young journalist named Isabel into a first-class political icon. MAR is awkward, untamed and tongue-tied, but he knows how to create a character and a story. Like it or not, he has done it with two of the most important leaders of the Spanish center-right. It drives the provosts of the left out of their minds.
Ever since one very cold night in Valladolid, at a dinner where Ana Botella was also present, Aznar told her “I love you like a piece of cake”, MAR has been heartbroken. He was spokesperson for the Government in Castilla y León, great press chief in the national PP and Secretary of State for Communication in La Moncloa when José María Aznar won the 1996 general elections.
From that position he had days of ice and glory, he lashed out at his adversary, he gave top headlines for his high-sounding statements, he had clashes with journalists, but he also made what he considered friends, some of whom helped a lot and then turned their backs on him.
On July 11, 1998, after a very long meeting with Aznar, they agreed by mutual agreement to leave the presidential Cabinet. And from that day he left politics, entered private business as a consultant and devoted himself to his great hidden passion: literature. Beneath his somewhat rough appearance, MAR is a seasoned writer, author of several novels, including “Marta, the last hours of the neighborhood of the cross”, “The dead candidate” or “The secret cross of Charles V”. Likewise, he produced the political essay “And Aznar became president”, a treatise on political science to dissect the figure of a candidate who later came to power.
At the recent anniversary event of the Spanish Constitution, held at the Royal Post Office in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez sat alongside the community’s councilors and senior government officials. In a moment all the cell phones rang. He was summoned as a witness before the Supreme Court by Judge Ángel Luis Hurtado, who is investigating the case against the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz. A group of journalists approach him: “Hey, MAR, get ready to receive h…”. Answer: “I am very calm, I will tell what I have to and I know how to return them.”
THE CORRILLOS | betting
In a traditional Christmas drink celebrated on these dates, the prestigious economist, president of the Independent Foundation and vice president of the Royal European Academy of Doctors, Aldo Olcese Santonja, convenes politicians, journalists and some Ibex businessmen in an academic event. After an intense debate about the influence of the economy on politics, everyone talks about what is circulating these days in the Madrid sectors. “In the betting houses they match, Pedro Sánchez between 25 or 26.” In other words, they predict that the President of the Government will call general elections already in this date range.
Businessmen are struggling with the reduction in working hours imposed by the Sumar sector of the Government and the vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz. The CEOE and all the employers, behind the negotiations with the unions, are frontally opposed. Aldo Olcese, together with some businessmen, puts the cherry on top of the debate: «The interests and conflicts of the economy and finance are more difficult to manage because the pressures are subliminal and sometimes opaque, while those of politics are increasingly commonplace. of school. Among a group of veteran journalists attending the event, they talk about the dilemma of facing the truth of the information on behalf of the big players in the economy, the business and, now, the new legislation that the Government is preparing to control the media. communication. The bets continue on a change of cycle. In the end, Puigdemont decides.