The Hotelier-Podemos Power Game

Alberto Jarabo. Note the name. You'll be hearing a lot about him over the next weeks and months. He is a maker of documentary films dedicated to social issues. He does not have a political background. It is unlikely but not inconceivable that he could be the next president of the Balearics. Jarabo has been elected as the secretary-general of Podemos in the Balearics and so his name will probably top the Podemos list when the regional parliamentary election comes around.

Not having a political background is no barrier to an aspiring Podemos politician. Indeed, it is the preferred model. Anyone who has held office with an established political party is deemed unsuitable. Alberto is, therefore, cast from the mould that Pablo Iglesias has shaped. So far, so good, but might there prove to be one particular obstacle for Alberto? He isn't Mallorcan. He isn't from the Balearics. He is from Madrid. He has lived in Mallorca for fifteen years. But a "madrileño" potentially gaining high political office in the Balearics? One wonders how well this might play with a parochial electorate, even one minded to give the "casta" of the PP and PSOE an almighty kicking.

Non-Mallorcan or not, Alberto and the Balearics Podemos prominenti are making all the right noises, unless you happen to be a hotelier, in which case you would prefer not to have to listen. The hoteliers will lose their political influence, says Alberto. "The excessive power of the hotel lobby," adds Laura Camargo, the Podemos secretary, has created the problem of "how wealth is generated" in the Balearics. This attack on the hoteliers was only to have been expected. After all, the hoteliers had got their retaliation in first. Last week Miguel Fluxá of Iberostar spoke of his concern that a "utopian government could fall into the hands of people who do not understand economics". One of his executives, the hoteliers federation president, Aurelio Vázquez, said much the same thing. The founder of Meliá, Gabriel Escarrer Julià, found it "incredible that we are considering the possibility of the triumph of a communist or populist system in a country as advanced as Spain".

When Jarabo talks about breaking down the "monoculture" of tourism in the Balearics, there can surely be few who would disagree with him. But he appreciates that tourism is the prime generator of wealth. Podemos aren't about to kill the tourism goose and its golden egg but they are about to emasculate hotelier power and the "coalition" formed between the PP and the hoteliers. There will be many among the electorate who will back them on this. As I noted recently, there is no real love among Mallorcans for the big hoteliers, and in the participative spirit of Podemos (and others who are coming to this way of thinking), the hoteliers might take note that a perception of aloofness requires altering; they need to engage far better with their communities.

For all that Podemos might want to deprive the hoteliers of their power, they will know full well how much of a power they are up against. The hotel lobby goes well beyond commercial interests. It is a political entity in its own right and its political nature is about to be strengthened. The federation has changed its rules in order to allow a non-hotelier to be its next president. Vázquez's successor will be Inma de Benito, a hotelier-politician, and she has also been getting hotelier retaliation in first. What does one make of her call to political parties to not allow any further consumption of land for new hotel building beyond existing provisions? Does one detect the sight of a rug being pulled from under Podemos through the expedience of a new-found environmental evangelism on behalf of the hoteliers? It may be a very adroit move on her behalf. See, she is a hotelier-politician.

But then, we are at present in a state of speculation. Podemos haven't won anything yet. Nevertheless, the hoteliers (and others) have to take them seriously, even if they will hope that opinion poll support does not translate into actual votes or that Podemos trip up. The investigation into the financial affairs of Podemos leading light Juan Carlos Monedero is one way in which Podemos may stumble. Another source of slip-up is the connection that won't go away - Venezuela. To suggestions of funding for Podemos can be added the extraordinary threat by Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, to expropriate property and interests of Spanish companies, such as Meliá, if they don't put pressure on the Rajoy government to stop its campaign against Podemos and charges of links to the Venezuelan regime.

For all that the Mallorcans might not love their big hoteliers, they are unlikely to take kindly to Venezuela sticking its nose in. With friends like that etc. and of a madrileño in Mallorca, to boot.