• Los Aznar families: 'scared' by politics, lynxes in business

  • Politics The private life of the Aznar Botella in 40 years of marriage

On Friday, February 19, at 12 in the morning, José María Aznar, impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit, tie of the same tone and his

eternal shaved mustache,

arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid.

He went to

the Escorial room

, a curious coincidence given the dust that caused the wedding of his daughter Ana in that town in 2002.

He had a very special commitment, as was the

recording of the interview that a month before he had agreed with Jordi Évole

for his program

Lo de Évole

, which was

It will meet tomorrow, Sunday, February 28, at night.

According to the journalist,

he has waited ten years until the former president accepted.

"Usually,

I end up giving in to the good persevering Spaniards "

he explained later.

It was the commemoration of his first electoral triumph in 1996, which marks 25 years this March 3, which decided him, perhaps to

claim that "Spain is doing well"

which was iconic in his tenure.

Even so, that Aznar agreed to intervene in La Sexta,

demonized chain on the right

, and before a journalist like Évole, in his ideological antipodes, the expectation has increased.

Although, as revealed to LOC by a team member,

"Jordi is very satisfied, the interview passed in a very cordial tone.

As a rule, we do not send a previous questionnaire, even so

Aznar did not shy away from any questions, he did not even make suggestions, he limited himself to saying: "Do your job."

With a

large team of 13 people and seven cameras,

Évole was laying on the table for over an hour

thorny issues

, What

Barcenas

and the

corruption in the PP

, to which, according to the aforementioned source, Aznar argued that he never knew "any case of corruption in the party", nor did he receive "about any".

Also the

Iraq war

and weapons of mass destruction, the

attack of 11-M, the result of the Catalan elections,

the pardons to the condemned of the

you process

, or Pablo Casado's decision on the

change of headquarters of the PP

.

And, of course, the

exile

of Don Juan Carlos in Abu Dhabi,

whose relationship with Aznar was not a bed of roses.

Évole asked him what he thought, as a tax inspector, of the

controversy over Monarch taxes.

His response was harsh:

"The rules are to be met.

If the person representing the Institution does not believe in them, why should others believe? "What he does not remove, according to Évole's collaborator, for him to make a

defense of the Crown and also of his reign.

"He stressed that what he has done subsequently should not tarnish his great legacy as a monarch."

Nor was the controversy left in the pipeline

wedding of his daughter Ana,

among whose more than a thousand attendees were members of the

Gürtel plot

, like his own

Francisco Correa

.

"Many of the guests did not even know them," argued the former president.

There were no shortage of anecdotes, such as when Aznar, something common on television, had to authorize the transfer of rights for his interview to be broadcast on the network.

"What I was missing, giving up my rights to La Sexta"

he commented laughing.

Or his greeting with Évole, who after shaking his hand, commented to him.

"You are a rock."

The former president, who turned 68 this Thursday, February 25, seems to be in top form.

Physically, he hardly remembers that Aznar of 1996, a prototype of a mustachioed civil servant with a rather puny appearance.

Since his arrival at La Moncloa, thanks to the deceased

Bernardino Lombao, his coach,

your daily sessions of

running

combined with abs and muscle building have given him a new and rejuvenated appearance.

"He's made a bull

You don't get a pinch from him, "says a close friend. In addition, he has shaved off his mustache, and there is not much gray in his hair.

Nor has time diminished his abilities one iota, as he continues to develop an intense agenda as an ideologist and lecturer, giving talks around the world and holding meetings with international leaders.

It also continues as

Director of News Corporation

, the

media giant of mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Although its base of operations is the presidency of FAES, an ideological laboratory related to the PP, where it has become a

Jiminy Cricket

whose opinions still hold a chair among supporters and some officials, something that makes the current leadership of Genoa tremble.

He does not bite his tongue, and goes so far as to say that Sánchez "has a useless face that cannot cope with it", that "eliminating Spanish is nonsense" or even

support Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo

after being

ceased by Casado as spokesperson.

MARBELLA AND THE FAMILY

The coronavirus pandemic has interrupted his international agenda in 2020, which has allowed him to enjoy more of his family life with Ana Botella (66), retired from politics after leaving the Mayor of Madrid in 2015, her three children and her seven grandchildren .

José María, (42) the eldest, married to Mónica Abascal, is the father of Valvanuz, José María and Gaspar.

Ana (39), married to Alejandro Agag, who after living a long period in London has returned to Madrid, is the mother of Alejandro, Rodrigo, Alonso and Pelayo.

And Alonso (32), single, lives in the United States, where he is an executive of Afiniti, an artificial intelligence company.

José María Aznar and Ana Botella in Marbella, last June.

Aznar p

for long periods in Marbella

, where

was secluded during confinement

in its

villa in the Guadalmina Baja urbanization

, what

bought in 2013 for two million euros

.

Located next to the sea, the house, 360 meters long and with a pool, is built on a

2,141 meters plot,

It has four bedrooms and a 2.3 meter high wall to avoid curious people.

There, the former president gets up early every morning to do

jogging,

He walks along the beach with his dogs, plays golf, attends appointments telematically and usually has lunch or dinner with Ana and occasionally with friends in restaurants in the area, especially El Ancla.

In Madrid, they still live in the

villa in the exclusive Monte Alina urbanization, in Pozuelo,

which they acquired in 1999 for 98 million pesetas.

They don't lack money, because Aznar

receives about 75,000 euros gross per year as former president

, in addition to

two officials, escort, office and free plane tickets.

To this add the

298,000 euros that he earned in 2020 as Murdoch's advisor

and the

conferences

who imparts, with a

35,000 euro cache

on average.

According to the aforementioned relative, "although he enjoys great economic relief, it is

obsessively sober

.

In Genoa I was going

turning off lights to save,

so they continue to live like that typical wealthy middle class family that they were 25 years ago.

The difference is that now Aznar enjoys politics more, because by not having positions, he feels free to say and do whatever he wants. "

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