A few days ago, an interview came to light that journalist Lorenzo Milá conducted with George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, after the 11M attacks in 2004. RTVE published a video of the special envoy to the United States reacting to the conversation that , for various reasons, was never broadcast.
In the video that they have published on the public channel’s website you can see how Milá smiles while watching the interview and how he expresses that that moment was one of the most surreal of his life: ”That was very heavy, it was amazing” .
”I remember when our citizens lost their lives (due to 9/11). I remember the horror, the indignation, the rage and the incredible sadness. So I guess I feel the same today,” the leader of the Republican party explained before the cameras of the Spanish media 20 years ago.
In the video reaction to the interview, Milá acknowledges that he should have been clearer: ”I should have had the ability to say ‘man, president, there is no need to enter into speculation, but only the fact that you are here today with the first lady already sends a very clear message, doesn’t it?”’
In the end, Milá confesses that he felt very confused by the news outlets’ decision not to broadcast the interview, but he remembers that he thought that the network did not want to divert public opinion towards the thought that it was an Islamic terrorist attack: ” “Since the government has so convincingly taken the path of authorship of ETA, they will not be interested in being friends of Bush at this time.”
Days after the video came to light, television presenter Mercedes Milá (elder sister of the aforementioned journalist) uploaded a post to Instagram in which she reflected on her family member’s actions and in which she harshly criticized the RTVE censorship.
”When Javier Rupérez called the Spanish television correspondent in Washington to tell him that George Bush was offering to give an interview to RTVE, his legs shook (…) Everything that happened that afternoon at the embassy of Spain was worthless because those responsible for TVE decided not to broadcast the interview,” the communicator began by writing.
”My brother did his job very well, but it took 20 years to see it. From here I thank those currently in charge of public television and denounce the censorship that Alfredo Urdaci, director of News at that time, carried out even though he now says that that interview was broadcast. He knows that he lies,’ he has sentenced without fear of the consequences.
After accusing Urdaci, the former Big Brother presenter has harshly attacked the politicians of that time: ”If the President of the Government, JM Aznar and his ministers lied to all Spaniards, he was not going to be less even if it were of a first-rate informative event, especially for the victims, all the victims of Al Qaeda, their families and their friends.”
Finally, Milá has valued the work that the journalists did and has sent a message of affection to his brother: ”Lorenzo and his team performed perfectly, but the bosses in Madrid kept that interview in a drawer without taking into account that history finds the ways to do justice. The older sister, which is me, is proud of that child who only stopped crying if we gave him a piece of bread.”
