Rubalcaba

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba was a singular and decisive figure in all areas of Spanish politics in recent decades. A chemist by training, he soon changed the white lab coat for a suit and tie, more typical of the corridors of Congress in which he represented the Spanish for six legislatures. He devoted thirty years of his life to building and strengthening democracy, to the point that none of the great events that took place from the first socialist government to the present can be explained without his presence. His early and unexpected death took from us a statesman in the best sense of the term. Intelligent and lucid, he was a rival feared by his adversaries, but also respected for his loyalty and discretion, for his elegant way of both dedicating himself to politics and abandoning it. Perhaps because there are no profiles like his, his disappearance caused a profound impact among citizens who, regardless of ideologies and above political differences, knew how to recognize his honesty, his talent and his generous service to the State. Antonio Caño shared with Rubalcaba his last years in the Editorial Committee of El País, a difficult stage in which he witnessed the concerns and anxieties of a man who always put the interests of Spain before his own. This biography, which has the testimonies of friends and collaborators, as well as unpublished documents in which he reflected his thoughts, fills a clamorous void around his figure. In the absence of those memoirs that Alfredo never wanted to write, may this book serve as a tribute to the legacy of a real politician.