To say that she was Jordi Pujol's secretary does not do justice to Carme Alcoriza, who died this Tuesday in Barcelona. She went beyond the concept of what a secretary was when she started working with president Jordi Pujol at Banca Catalana in 1970 and over time, especially in the 23 years that she accompanied him in the Generalitat of Catalonia, always in the office next door, she became a figure of influence, the highest influence. If president Pujol understood what power was as no other politician has done up till now, and gave the presidency just the right sheen so that in the Catalan imagination it was perceived as something omnipresent, essential and important, Alcoriza was not far behind. Or is there some other secretary who, with just the mention of her surname, is already able to be identified by the political class, the media and a large part of the public?
Alcoriza acted as a permanent gatekeeper of the entrances and exits from Pujol's presidential office. No one entered the most noble area without her authorization, and her collaboration was essential to cross the threshold that connects the imposing Gothic gallery to the office of the president of the Generalitat. This was her area of command and her unlimited sphere of influence in the years in which the power of Catalonia was in Plaça Sant Jaume - also on the seaward side of the square, occupied by Pasqual Maragall between 1982 and 1997, years in which the transformation of Barcelona and the Olympic Games raised the city's mayor to the summit - a time when the other powers, fundamentally those of the economy and the media, could not compete with who held the reins of the country.
It was she who decided when the ministers of the Catalan government would be received by Jordi Pujol, and she granted and distributed favours with an authority that only those who lived through that time are able to explain. More than one minister ended up accepting a position without ever guessing how the president had paid attention to a complimentary comment that Alcoriza had made at a specific moment. The opposite also applied. For 23 years she prepared his trips around the world, argued with ambassadors and chiefs of protocol and did her best to open all doors for the president. Especially successful was the trip she coordinated to the United States in 1990 and which culminated in Pujol receiving a short White House interview with the then-US president, George Bush senior. The Spanish ambassador at that time, the Socialist Julián Santamaría, had tried to prevent the meeting and while preparing the agenda with Alcoriza and the rest of the Catalan delegation he joked about the possibility of Pujol walking into the White House, giving the view that when regional presidents travelled to Washington they did so for tourism purposes. Less than 48 hours later, Santamaría, furious, demanded an explanation from her over a meeting that he was unable to prevent.
The Catalonia of that time is certainly not the same as today and the Generalitat remains the institution from which the presidency and the government emanate. But power has evolved and some things ain't what they used to be. I saw Alcoriza in action for almost four decades, at Banca Catalana, at the Palau de la Generalitat and, later, in the former president's office that Jordi Pujol enjoyed until 2014 when he was deprived of the privileges he had as president of the Generalitat. Alcoriza raised the position of secretary - officially becoming the president's chief of staff - to its zenith. No one has done it like she did; with intelligence, loyalty, a sense of humour and dedication. Knowing her was a privilege.