We close the week with Isabel Díaz Ayuso in the eye of the hurricane, which was said in the old chronicles. These days, the president of the Community of Madrid is being bombarded by land, sea and air by her boyfriend, Alberto González Amador, whom we now know down to his underwear size. The aforementioned is being investigated for defrauding the Treasury in the pandemic, something very ugly but which, without a doubt, is on another wavelength of the Koldo García scandal, the mask commissioner who is a friend of Ábalos. Is Díaz Ayuso responsible for her boyfriend? No. Yes, she does, however, apply to herself the standards of accountability that she demands of others. At the very least, she has to explain whether she knew it or not.
Although I suspect that Ayuso will dodge the boyfriend's bullet just as she has done for four years with the shame protocols that were distributed in the first pandemic wave in nursing homes. Here there are no doubts about the president's responsibility. It's total. Madrid doubled the number of deaths in residences compared to the regional average. What happened?
While the political conversation is entertained with this Alberto for being who he is, 7,291 families have been waiting for four years for someone to respond politically for letting their grandparents die in any way, like rats. That is serious.
Yesterday, at the Ateneo de Madrid, family members, jurists, social entities and health experts remembered what happened. The citizen commission for the truth. Its devastating report reveals that the deaths of many elderly people – up to 4,000 – could have been avoided and that there was no adequate health care due to discriminatory political and management decisions.
Between March and April 2020, up to four protocols were circulated, issued by the regional government, which asked not to transfer covid patients to hospitals due to place of residence, physical disability or cognitive impairment, as well as not having private insurance. The execution of these orders was subject to a medicalization of the residences that was never carried out. Protocols like death sentences.
Ayuso continues saying that everything was done well. His is the recent phrase “they were not saved anywhere,” which is almost identical to “they would die anywhere.” But not saving your life is not the same as dying. The first implies helplessness: everything was done to save them. The second thing, carelessness: they will die the same. The Archimedes principle was applied according to which the economy matters more than the end of life. Written in other words: fuck the old people!
It is surprising that the same political class that is now stabbing itself at the expense of Ayuso's boyfriend is bothered by the drama of the residences. There are no explanations, much less a commission of inquiry. Nor does the prosecutor lift a finger. Conclusion: no one gives a damn about the elderly. Not before, not now. There are only broken promises and a cynical condemnation to remain silent and piss in some corner of a nursing home until another virus puts the crown on her bed.
