The initial quintet of Yolanda Díaz, those five guests who preceded her in the speeches, discovered, especially, two faces.

Because Carla Antonelli has a long career as a deputy of the PSOE and has recent popularity after breaking with that party for the Trans Law.

Because Gioconda Belli is a famous Nicaraguan writer and a social reference, once for her collaboration with Sandinismo against the dictator Somoza and now against the Sandinista Ortega. He also has a recent milestone: he tore up his passport live, on television, as a gesture against the autocrat.

And because Helio Roque can boast of 133,000 followers on Tik Tok, a figure that many politicians would already like. The kid had his slip, and that has made him even better known and, as for so many influencers, the error reinforces his image.

But in Diaz's quintet there were two anonymous ones. An election with a cause. Their stories have the added value of reflecting what the vice president wants to project: 1. Battle against supermarkets and inflation. 2. Fight against bad bosses who use low wages (hospitality) or impose slave conditions (agriculture). Maite Navarro and Teresa Fuentes come with a message, even with the work of a future candidate.

The neighborhood shopkeeper who wants to mark the step to large supermarkets

In the heart of Benimaclet, a historic neighborhood of Valencia full of students and working families, there is a small shop that has risen to fame for wanting to mark the passage to hypermarkets. The "basic shopping basket", with 28 products at 29 euros, launched in September Ultramarinos Javi aroused the praise of Yolanda Díaz and explain her invitation to launch her candidacy for the Presidency of the Government.

Less than 24 hours after affirming in the act of Sumar that "Yolanda was right" in proposing to limit the prices of food, Navarro and her husband, Javier Torres, were already lifting, early in the morning, the blind of the groceries. Like the last 28 years. "The idea of the basic basket has been a great success," says Navarro, while saying good morning to the neighbors who look out of the store. However, the fact that their initiative has allowed them to reach new customers – even from outside the neighborhood – does not mean that it has brought them great economic benefits. "You can't make money with the basket when you put the products practically at cost price," explains the shopkeeper.

The idea of offering a basic basket at a reasonable price came from her husband, who was actually inspired by Carrefour. "If they do, let's see what we can do, we have a lot of fresh produce and, selecting a few, we already have a basket. And that's how we help the people of the neighborhood with inflation," they said. In your basket fit milk, eggs, pasta, rice, cookies, sunflower oil, legumes, tomato, fruit, vegetables and trays of turkey breast, Serrano ham and cheese. The secret? Freeze the prices of those products, but not the rest that fill the shelves. "We are a business, not an NGO. We do not lose money because the increase in costs has been transferred to other products."

Navarro doesn't dare to lecture big supermarkets, but suggests they might be able to limit the price of certain products like her. "There is no margin with everything, although in specific things you could not earn money." The opportunity to launch his plea in favor of small businesses came this Sunday, the day of rest for their owners. Diaz had already tempted her for a Sumar rally on a Saturday, but she's behind the counter that day.

"If Yolanda believes it and can do it, why are we not going to support her," says this shopkeeper while preparing the last box of vegetables. Of course, he does not see much solution to the inflation crisis: "We are weathering the storm thanks to a loyal clientele."

The scourge of hoteliers who also rolls up their sleeves between greenhouses

Teresa Fuentes (Molina de Segura, 1976) has never appeared on party lists, "but I have always been in politics," she admits. She, a laboratory technician who dreamed of becoming a nurse, was the voice of unionism for Yolanda Díaz. As secretary of the federation of Services of the CCOO in the Region of Murcia, she values the work of the leader of Sumar in a sector that she knows well: hospitality. "There are poor workers in the hospitality and commerce of Murcia," he has repeated in recent months. The fight against fraud in hiring, breaks or overtime pay for waiters or kellys have been his priorities until, after a threat of strike for this Easter, he managed to sign a collective agreement with employers at the end of March.

Teresa Fuentes.E. M.

Their social commitment goes beyond trade unionism. Her humanitarian vocation satisfies her in her relationship with NGOs, especially with Amigos de Ritsona. His friendship with Joaquin 'the priest', a priest of the Workers' Brotherhood of Catholic Action, took him in 2016 to a Syrian refugee camp 17 kilometers from Athens from which he has not been able to detach. "No one is illegal" ("No one is illegal") has tattooed under the neck of this woman who, along with a companion, took a car and went to the field of Cartagena in search of Moroccan day laborers who had suffered abuse by the foreman who gave them work. They were offered the union's support and legal assistance to have their complaint result in a 42-year prison sentence for six continuing counts of sexual abuse.

In October, Fuentes already signed a manifesto for the unity of the left calling for the confluence in Murcia of Podemos, Izquierda Unida, Equo and Más País. Neither in 2015 nor in 2019 was this agreement possible in a region where the PP has governed for 30 years and where the growth of Vox is guessed. Last January he was one of the 13 voices of civil society that re-signed "for candidacies of progress and unity of the left." Finally, the parties signed their 'sum'.

Fuentes already appeared to the left of Yolanda Díaz in the process of listening to Sumar in Murcia, which brought together thousands of people in the Paraninfo of the University of Murcia. Will she be Diaz's face in the region? "There are many ways to be in politics," he recalls.

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