As the cabinet portfolios in Spain's coalition government are gradually allocated, José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes, of Valencia, has been appointed new Minister of Culture. Widely praised as an expert in law and philosophy, he has previously held the job of spokesperson for the Madrid regional parliament and was also linked to the earlier Socialist government under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Beyond his political experience, though, he also has something of a profile in the media - which he has cultivated for months via Twitter.
One of the topics that he is most passionate about is the Catalan independence process and the movement behind it. Rodríguez Uribes has dedicated quite a number of messages to the 2017 Catalan president Carles Puigdemont and his vice president Oriol Junqueras, branding them as uncaring liars.
He accuses Junqueras of cherry picking in his interpretation of the law and disputes the words of the ERC party leader when he defends justice based on the international rights which everyone must have. The new minister writes: "When Junqueras says that Catalonia is under international rights, he means under natural law, a natural law which he has interpreted in his own way."
Cuando Junqueras dice que Cataluña está bajo el Dcho Internacional quiere decir bajo el Dcho Natural, un D. Natural interpretado a su manera
— José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes (@jmrdezuribes) September 10, 2017
Rodríguez Uribes goes further, though, also making ironic comparisons about Junqueras. In fact, the reflection that this legal specialist makes about the leader of a party (ERC) which abstained to allow his own party to form a government is as follows: "Milking it for every last drop. Junqueras thinks he's Martin Luther King." (The tweet also criticises former PP foreign minister García-Margallo.)
Tirando de la cuerda hasta que se rompa: Junqueras, que se cree Martin Luther King, y Margallo, que sueña con El Cid http://t.co/yDhNO8r2Vi
— José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes (@jmrdezuribes) September 16, 2014
Meanwhile, Carles Puigdemont is criticized by the new culture minister for considering himself an exile: "If the facts are as Puigdemont explains them, among other aspects that he is an 'exile', it has to be explained that he is not, that rather he is someone who has not taken responsibility for his actions and has not fronted up to justice." A reflection which omits to mention that Puigdemont has complied with all the demands by the courts in the attempts to extradite him and has also been duly recognized as an MEP.
Si los hechos son los que cuenta Puigdemont, entre otros que es un "exiliado", habrá que explicar que no, que es alguien que no asume la responsabilidad de sus actos y que no rinde cuentas ante la justicia.
— José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes (@jmrdezuribes) April 21, 2018
In one of the sharpest-edged tweets, he goes beyond just commenting on the news and actions of Catalan pro-independence parties and mounts a direct attack on their leaders: "For Puigdemont and his allies to be talking about exile, asylum and political prisoners is evidence of their delusions, their ignorance, their callousness or all of these at once. "
Que Puigdemont y los suyos hablen de exilio, asilo o de presos políticos prueba su delirio, su ignorancia, su insensibilidad o todo a la vez
— José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes (@jmrdezuribes) November 1, 2017
Spain's new Socialist government has stated its intention to remove politics from the path of judicialization and enter into a phase of dialogue. An idea that the new Minister of Culture scarcely supports if his Twitter account is anything to go by. In a message that is still public and accessible to anyone, he states that "a 155 is necessary", in reference to Spanish constitutional article 155, under which Madrid established direct rule over Catalonia. He added that "it has to be limited in time and has to serve the recovery of Catalonia's autonomy". This is a paradox given that it was precisely Catalan autonomy which was removed and blocked by the application of the article.
Un 155 necesario, preciso, limitado en el tiempo y al servicio de la recuperación de la autonomía en Cataluña. Bien!https://t.co/9w8jxlvEwN
— José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes (@jmrdezuribes) October 27, 2017
We can but wait and see which path José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes chooses: that of a government minister responsible for culture or that of a commentator, not only on social media, but also on television where he is a regular talk guest.
So far, in cultural spheres people are already questioning whether he is qualified to take up a ministry that he has no experience in managing, unlike his predecessor José Guirao. In the Spanish literary society Asociación Colegial de Escritores, president Manuel Rico has noted that "he comes from the university world, we have nothing against that but it does seem a little anachronistic that he is not a person from the world of culture".