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María Consuelo Reyna Doménech

María Consuelo Reyna

She was the daughter of the family that owned the newspaper "Las Provincias", she was the one who "de facto" ruled this newspaper approximately from 1978 to 1999.

The fact is that, in her beginnings she flirted with Catalanism. And so, she was a juror for the "October Awards" in 1978 if we are not mistaken. But then, it seems that a momentous event took place in her life, which is said to have upset her and led her to the most fanatical anti-Catalanism. It is said that this lady may have had an extramarital affair with Manuel Sánchez Ayuso. He was a professor at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Valencia, a highly trained man with a formidable résumé and one of the most prominent figures of the Valencian left at the time. Despite being of Murcian origin, he fully shared and defended the Catalanism that was then also defended by the entire Valencian left. Here we can find a very complete biographical profile of him (PDF).

But approximately in the year 1978 (the exact date is unknown) it is said that this gentleman left her. And that is something she seems to have never accepted. The fact is that since then she turned her newspaper towards a furious anti-Catalanism. We have already seen how the main actors of anti-Catalanism used this newspaper to spread their ideas. The influence of this newspaper was very great, since it is the oldest newspaper in the Valencian Country published nowadays and was the most read in the city of València. Even the PSPV, when it ruled in the Valencian Country, was conditioned by the continuous campaigns launched by this newspaper at the time.

But all sins have their penance. This paranoid anti-Catalanism that filled the newspaper led to a gradual but widespread drop in sales. And in the late 1990s, some of the newspaper's shareholders (the other branch of the family, the Zarranz Doménech), first relied on minority shareholders to take control and then take over Reyna's position as the newspaper's director. This part of the family then entered into negotiations with the publisher group of the newspaper "El Correo Español-El Pueblo Vasco", which eventually became its owner. Although the newspaper is now basically right-wing and pro-Spanish, it no longer has the anti-Catalanism that filled (and dirtied) its centuries-old pages for nearly twenty years.

Sentandreu, Reyna and Dragó.

But María Consuelo did not give up, and at the beginning of the year 2000 she took up the centenary "Diario de Valencia" newspaper again, which maintained the previous paranoid, exalted and unethical style of journalism, based on anti-Catalanism and continued manipulation. But not everything went well for her. And her ex-husband, Jesús Sánchez Carrascosa, divorced her, leaving her without the newspaper. Unfortunately, they continued to soil the pages of the "Diario de Valencia" (even older than "Las Provincias") with the same dishonest anti-Catalan line of thought. Since Jesús Sánchez Carrascosa is a childhood friend of Eduardo Zaplana, when he lost all support within the Valencian People's Party, he relied on its most anti-Catalan sector. But today's Valencian society is no longer that of transition, and this paranoid anti-Catalanism no longer attracts the reading public. As a result, this newspaper closed in 2007.

Today, María Consuelo Reyna leads a very normal and quiet life, often participating in local radio and television talks, without having received any disapproval from any Valencian institution nor establishment.

Let us give two simple examples of her unethical way of doing journalism, and of her obsessive anti-Catalanism. Bearing in mind that this lady used to write in her newspaper almost every day, and that the vast majority of times she wrote about this anti-Catalan subject, one can more accurately gauge her delusional obsession. We will therefore put two examples: a long one (although a bit cut, because the article is later dedicated to putting a whole series of quotes out of context), and a shorter one, which belongs to a section, which was a column that appeared immediately after opening the newspaper, on the right side, and was called "La gota" ("The drop"). There she used to write almost every day, first in "Las Provincias" and then in the "Diario de Valencia".

1 - "De cuestión filológica y científica, nada" ("A philological and scientific matter, not") (LAS PROVINCIAS, 26-5-1997)

“Los pretendidos intelectuales y gurús del catalanismo montaraz se llenan la boca hablando de que la pretendida unidad de la lengua es una cuestión filológica y científica.

Mentira.

No es una cuestión científica.

No es una cuestión filológica.

Y bien claro lo dijo Jordi Pujol: “Para nosotros la unidad de la lengua es una prioridad política”.

¿Cuestión filológica o científica? Con esa cantinela sólo siguen los modosos sumisos de aquí. Los catalanes saben de sobra que es una cuestión política y creen a pies juntillas en lo de “dadme una lengua y construiré un imperio”.

Y es una cuestión política desde hace muchísimos años, desde que se dieron cuenta que ni tenían pasado cultural glorioso, ni económicamente iban solos a ninguna parte por tener una economía de lo más proteccionista...Fue cuando pensaron que, partiendo de la unidad de la lengua valenciana y el catalán, podían empezar a construir su imperio catalán.

Quede claro para los que lo dudan que lo del imperialismo catalán no es un invento de los valencianos como reacción. El copyright lo tiene Prat de la Riba, el padre del fundamentalismo pancatalanista. Prat de la Riba creía a pies juntillas lo que decía Napoleón: “Ninguna cosa más eficaz para introducir las costumbres de un pueblo en otro extranjero que acreditar allí su lengua”.

Lo que pasa es que, son tan torpes que, en lugar de fomentar las buenas relaciones, las han tensado con sus agresiones hasta extremos inconcebibles...Podíamos haber sido comunidades hermanas, tan hermanas como lo somos con Aragón. Pero han pretendido que fuéramos primos. Que nos sometiéramos a sus dicterios. Que dejáramos de ser nosotros para ser un pueblo borroso.

Y por ahí sí que no pasamos.

[...] Sin unidad de las dos lenguas, no hay palanca que valga para construir el tan anhelado imperio.

Lo grave del caso es que sean precisamente los políticos del PSOE-IU de la Comunidad Valenciana quienes estén siendo utilizados como instrumento de la derecha más derecha que hay en España: la derecha económica catalana”.

"The so-called intellectuals and gurus of coarse Catalanism fill their mouths by saying that the supposed unity of the language is a philological and scientific question.

That's a lie.

It is not a scientific question.

It is not a philological question.

And Jordi Pujol said it very clearly: "For us, the unity of the language is a political priority".

Philological or scientific question? With that same old story only persist the submissive well-mannered individuals of here. The Catalans know very well that it is a political issue and they absolutely believe in "give me a language and I will build an empire".

And it has been a political question for many years, since they realized that they neither had a glorious cultural past, nor went anywhere alone aconomically because they had a really protectionist economy... It was when they thought that, starting from the unity of the Valencian and Catalan languages, they could begin to build their Catalan empire.

It is clear to those who doubt it that Catalan imperialism is not an invention of the Valencians as a reaction. The copyright is held by Prat de la Riba, the father of Pan-Catalanist fundamentalism. Prat de la Riba absolutely believed in what Napoleon said: "There is nothing more effective in order to introduce the customs of a people in another foreign one, than to insert there their language."

What happens is that they are so clumsy that, instead of fostering good relations, they have strained them with their attacks to inconceivable extremes... We could have been sister communities, as sisters as we are with Aragon. But they pretended that we were cousins. That we submit to their dictates. That we stop being us to be a blurred people.

And that is what we do not accept.

[...] Without the unity of the two languages, there is no lever to build the long-awaited empire.

The serious thing about the case is that it is precisely the PSOE-IU politicians of the Valencian Community who are being used as an instrument of the most right-wing right-wing that exists in Spain: the Catalan economic right".

Then she makes a series of quotes from classic authors of Catalan and Valencian nationalism and comments on them in her own, so partial way. As we have already said, the reference to "imperialism" and the abundance of economic considerations refers us to the already classic article by Broseta, which we transcribed before, that of "La paella dels Països Catalans". In any case, we see clearly the manipulation, or the ignorance of María Consuelo Reyna, who gets into a field that she does not dominate, such as economics. Reading her article, she suggests that it is Catalonia that needs the Valencian Country financially. Well, recent studies indicate that 40% of Valencian product sales outside the Valencian Country go precisely to Catalonia. So it is quite the opposite.

2 - "La gota" (DIARIO DE VALENCIA, 26-9-2000)

“Ya tenemos a los de siempre, dando la tabarra. Como siempre. Me refiero a los chicos de los “correllenguas” que vienen por aquí provocando con su “llengua catalana”. Luego, los tontos de siempre, dicen que los que denunciamos a los “correllenguas” y similares, crispamos. Vaya por Dios. ¿Qué hay que hacer entonces? ¿Darse un punto en boca y que los correllengüeros, que son los auténticos crispadores, vengan a darnos lecciones? Pues no, queridos míos. El silencio de los corderos nunca nos ha gustado”.

"We already see the usual people, giving us nuisance. As usual. I am referring to the guys from the "correllenguas" who come here provoking with their "Catalan language". Then, the usual fools say that those of us who denounce the "correllenguas" and the like, get upset. Oh my God. What is there to do then? Stay quiet and the correllengüeros, who are the real people on edge, come here to give us lessons? Well no, my dear ones. We have never liked the silence of the lambs".

Given the proximity of dates, this article refers to the "Correllengua", which is one of the events that nationalist forces usually celebrate around October 9 (anniversary of the capture of the city of València by King James I). "Considerations" like this, we insist, were virtually ordinary in this section of "The drop". And a good proof is that this article corresponds no more and no less than to the number 1 of the resurrected "Diario de Valencia", when she was kicked out of the "Las Provincias". And as for the content, we think there is no need for comments.