Sánchez's mother and daughter confront a journalist in Lanzarote

Sánchez's mother and daughter confront a journalist in Lanzarote

What does it say about the relationship between power and the press when the mother and one of the daughters of Spain's prime minister corner a reporter in a hotel lobby? The incident took place in Lanzarote, where the Sánchez family was spending a few days at La Mareta, a state-owned official residence. The OKDIARIO journalist had published images of that stay while 10,000 people kept the border city of Ceuta occupied.

Magdalena Pérez-Castejón, the prime minister's mother, and Ainhoa Sánchez Gómez, his eldest daughter, recognised the reporter and began to berate her. Without a word, the mother pulled out her phone and started recording. The journalist did the same. Then the daughter, right there in the hotel lobby, snapped at her: "Don't you think you have a job that's a...". The sentence was cut short, but the gesture was caught on record.

In the ensuing debate, reactions focus on three fronts: the cost to the public purse of the La Mareta residence, the family's attitude towards the press and, above all, the fact that the mother has an ongoing court case that could carry a prison sentence of around 8 years, according to some sources. None of this seems to bother the protagonists, who are too busy arguing with anyone who takes their picture.

And the icing on the cake: the eldest daughter studied Psychology in England. If anyone needs a psychologist, it is precisely the public image management of a family living in an official residence while the country looks the other way. As the saying goes: do as I say, not as I do.