He will need a left hand -a curious paradox- in the face of the attacks that, without a doubt, his political adversaries are going to inflict on him. Having suffered ten serious gorings and thirteen surgeries, it is to be expected that the bullfighter Vicente Barrera (Valencia, 1968), the next vice president and head of Culture for the Valencian government, will receive them with temperance.
It’s the surprise of the day. Neither because of his position in the ranking (7th on the list for the Valencia City Council), nor because of his limited political career, he seemed destined to become the strong man of Vox in the Generalitat Valenciana, nor in the right hand -now yes- of Carlos Mazón, who has already repeated several times that he is going to be the boss of all, in charge of the entire crew, that there is no free verse or Frankenstein governments.
So you will have to get along and dispatch daily with the bullfighter. Because it will largely depend on their good mutual understanding that the Valencian experiment works without drama or unforeseen scares, which are customary in the arena but go wrong with the heavy administrative machinery.
They have things in common: a law degree, their bourgeois origin -Barrera descends from an illustrious right-hander and through the mother of the owners of Paduana blankets- and common friends, such as Alberto Fabra, former president who awarded the right-hander the High Distinction of the Generalitat Valenciana or that of Francisco Camps, among other leaders of a party that always had a fondness for the Valencian bullring.
Barrera arrived late to bullfighting, and makes his debut in big politics when others point to the exit door. It remains to be seen if the virtues that gave him some success in the arena will prove useful in the parliamentary fight.
