When Héctor Illueca, a candidate for the presidency of the Unides Podem-EU Generalitat, first went to dinner at his friend Susana’s (better known as Sus), the whole family cooked a cooked lamb, and it proved fatal. At least that’s how he remembers it.
Although there are still no posters in the neighborhood of Sagunt de València, it is the day the campaign began. It’s nine in the morning and the boys and girls are running to school before the last second of the bell rings, Héctor Illueca’s account of trying the lamb: “It’s beautiful, it’s delicious.” The whole family laughed. “It’s deadly, Hector!” they told him.
We’re close to where Consell’s second vice president lives. The bars are full, the shops are open, and the activity of young and old workers takes place on the street. The neighborhood breathed. We go down to a terrace and Sus orders a decaf latte. Housing activist meets with this newspaper to talk about her friend. They met about 15 years ago at the social movements in Valencia. It can be said that Julio Anguita joins them, sums it up. Illueca always says he’s a “former student of Anguita,” and Shush confirms this. When they met, he played a very active role in the Mortgage Affected Platform (PAH), the Civil Front movement, which later sponsored by the former mayor of Córdoba and started the “dignity marches”, as well as the 15M. . His personal situation tied him even more to the militant Hector. Shelter has always been at the centre, because it is the “center of life” and Sus lost her home after the crisis. Today he continues to pay fees for an apartment that has been owned by a vulture fund for years.
He speaks and a school mural is read in the background. What did you learn from Illueca when you met him? He points out that they both have a friendship based on respect. When he started to coincide with the Minister of Housing on the civil front and PAH assemblies, he realized that they both had very different styles. “He was more patient with the goals and I from PAH wanted immediate changes. Because situations are urgent. He says they’ve found the “balance”. Héctor Illueca “funny and very ironic”Susan points. Of the dishes, she especially loves the tripe, a dish that Chelva introduced to her (because her family is from the Serranos region), which she uses as the purple nominee she shares in her networks. at busy times. Paella is also one of its weaknesses.
Hush remembers that after each meeting, beer and heated discussions with comrades were not lacking. “You have to argue to get to the root of the problems.” Shush and Hector were partners. Until one day they became friends: «He invites me to persevere. She always says: ‘We’re Malay drops, shut up’.” In 2014, Susana had to leave her house to rent out and still mortgage an apartment that would never be hers. “The good thing is we get a job soon.” If you lose your home, which is the center of your family, you lose security. I think Hector partly learned this from me».
According to his friend, Illueca is funny, ironic, playful, and a lover of books and animals. He still remembers when Hector adopted his dog. «Look at me, this comrade says Tro», “Is his name Tro?” asked. “No, Comrade Tro”, counting through laughter. Illueca recently introduced another member to her family: a dog named Boira, whom she likes to take for a walk in her neighborhood, according to her friend.
family is paramount
A series? “We both watched True Blood at the same time, he’s also a series buff”. Is there anything important to the candidate? His family. He always returns home to sleep, even on campaign and despite being at the other end of the Valencian Community, even with his daughter for a while and with his wife, who is originally from the town. Fortuna is in Murcia. “Family is important to him. If he enjoys something in particular, I think it’s going for a walk with his dog, Boira, who is only a few months old, and observing, thinking and, above all, reading. I’m sure she instills that in her daughter. She’s a book eater!” The two friends last met at a book launch recently. It’s harder to come across in the campaign now. Hoping that next time it’ll at least be to share some tripe in Chelva or a beer in the Sagunt de València neighborhood.
Activism, commitment, interest and above all shared ideals. “Politics is everything, it permeates every part of our lives. Politics is life,” he says. And if the friendship with Illueca described in these lines were a song, Utòpics, idealistes, ingenus, written by Pau Alabajos, would take the cake.