Yolanda Diaz Is the New Face of the Spanish Left

"A few days after Donald Trump's reelection, Díaz had convened an International Labor Congress in Madrid. Bringing together labor ministers, union officials, researchers, and activists from around the world, she called for "an international alliance for labor rights." All through the conference, Díaz, dressed in white, listened carefully and took notes from her seat at the front of the room."

"Díaz ascended to high office during a time of successive crises-globally, domestically, and within Spain's fractious left. She grew up in a shipping town in Galicia, on Spain's Atlantic coast, an area with a history of union militancy, and has moved through various left-leaning coalitions in her rise from local politics-starting as the deputy mayor of Fene, her hometown-to the very center of national power."

Yolanda Díaz repeatedly uses the phrase "cambiar la vida de la gente" to express a core political aim. She convened an International Labor Congress in Madrid that gathered labor ministers, union officials, researchers, and activists and called for an international alliance for labor rights. She rose from local politics in Fene, Galicia, through left-leaning coalitions to become labor minister and second deputy prime minister amid successive global and domestic crises. She has a reputation for pragmatism and deal-making, delivering tangible improvements amid polarization. She leads the junior party in Spain's coalition government under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose party has faced scandals threatening the coalition.

Read at The Nation