Ebola in Spain: How Soraya took command

MADRID – We're very pleased to hear that senior nurse Teresa Romero, Europe’s first Ebola victim, has survived the first fortnight of having the virus diagnosed – there is a much better survival rate among those who do. While still in the special unit at the Carlos III hospital’s special Ebola unit, she has spoken over the phone to her husband and is as active as she can be. We wish her well and can but thank her for volunteering for a risky job. But this item is not about her; it is about how the Government has handled the emergency. Accused of mishandling procedures after the deaths of two missionaries, and Teresa being practically insulted by Health Councillor of the Community of Madrid Javier Rodriguez, for doing so (he has since apologised but has not resigned), the matter was handled by the Minister for Health, Ana Mato, who did not appear to do a particularly good job – then Soraya Sáenz de Santa María Antón took over.

Soraya, as she is often called (on account of two very long surnames, presumably), is the central government’s Vice-President (or Deputy Prime Minister), second only to Mariano Rajoy (who had until that day done a disappearing act on the subject).

At a recent press conference, without waiting for any questions, she announced what the opposition had been calling for: a crisis cabinet or committee, or something. She would be presiding it, not the Health Minister.

Without further ado, and no questions either, the Vice-President hurried to cover the two main objectives of this crisis management, missing until then: information and coordination. She promised to use all available resources and establish information policies to “give Spaniards the maximum possible transparency:”

Only a few kilometres away, at the hospital where Teresa is isolated, her boss, the President of the Government (a transliteration from the Spanish Presidente del Gobierno, or Prime Minister), spoke at last. That in itself is unusual: when the President is about to speak, Vice-Presidents usually wait their turn. This became a trending topic in all the media – to the point where some of the less professional commentators assured their readers that Rajoy would be resigning very soon.

Rajoy was answering no questions, Santa María was, mostly about Ebola. By her side was the Minister of Defence, who hardly got a word in to announce an important issue: that Spanish troops would be going to Iraq.

How soon will we be seeing a woman Prime Minister for this country? We could do worse…

(We are planning an article on her for a future edition.)