Luis García Montero’s link with the Spanish left is beyond doubt, since the poet was the IU’s candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid in 2015, just as he had stood in the European elections a few years earlier. His dependence on the Government of Pedro Sánchez is also no secret: his appointment as director of the Cervantes Institute was one of the first announced by the head of the Executive in 2018, when he arrived at La Moncloa. What was not so foreseeable is that García Montero would bypass his institutional neutrality and put himself at the service of the electoral interests of the PSOE. And this is precisely what has happened in these Andalusian elections.
A few weeks ago, in an act in which the PSOE-A commemorated the 40th anniversary of the first Andalusian elections, the socialist party projected a video with text and voice of García Montero in favor of the candidate Juan Espadas
. In that video, as a motto, it is emphasized that «Andalusia wants more», and the director of Cervantes says things like: «Andalusia does not resign, rebellious as the foam on the shores. Do you hear her?, green and white, and with open arms, the poet and the farmer, the guitar and the thermometer, the teacher and the girl who travel on that train, next station, Andalusia. […] In the light of the moon and in the dawn of their songs, we cultivate hope».
Due to this incursion by García Montero in the socialist campaign for the Andalusian elections, the Popular Parliamentary Group in Congress registered this Wednesday some parliamentary questions for the Government to confirm “that the director of the Cervantes Institute has been in charge of putting lyrics and voice to the electoral video of the PSOE in the Andalusian elections». In this text, presented by several popular deputies, the PP also asks if the poet “has received some kind of remuneration for this work.”
On May 21, when the PSOE-A released this video, Espadas sent “a hug” to the director of Cervantes “because every time I’ve asked him for something he has always been there.” The Socialists, said the Andalusian candidate, feel “very proud” of García Montero: “I love him very much and I enjoy his friendship.” These days, on the occasion of the presentation of his new book, the director of Cervantes has been critical of the Spanish right in some interviews. The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, was absent on Monday from the act that awarded Almudena Grandes, García Montero’s partner for three decades, the title of Favorite Daughter of the city.
