“Son of a bitch.” The phrase comes out of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s mouth in 2023. She is in the Congress of Deputies. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has just mentioned from the podium a “probable case of corruption” that would affect the president, referring to her brother receiving a commission from a company contracted by Madrid (the Prosecutor’s Office saw no crime). The baroness, present in the guest gallery, reacts causing a scandal that she redirects with a phrase that becomes popular among right-wing voters: she claims that what she said was “I like fruit.” Almost three years later, Díaz Ayuso finds herself in another uncomfortable situation. Neither she nor anyone in her government has managed to explain the acquisition of a penthouse worth more than 6 million euros by a public company (Planifica Madrid). And on Monday, after seeing how the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, referred to new explanations from the Madrid government, the baroness tried to close the controversy with another phrase with slogan potential: “It’s for sale, chao pescao.” Words loaded with danger, according to three analysts.
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“The “chao pescao” can be a boomerang against her,” says Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, political communication advisor. “It is very likely that this is a phrase aimed at cutting off and closing the issue, not only in front of the media but also in front of any other political actor, including her own party,” he argues referring to the internal noise in the PP, where there is unrest over the damage this issue is causing to the party’s brand. “It is a phrase that has a life of its own and can be used in another context, such as the continuity or not as president of the Community of Madrid,” he adds. “Like any ambiguous phrase, it depends on how and when it is used. Isabel Díaz Ayuso can also use it to say “Chao pescao” to the Spanish Prime Minister. It is a boomerang that goes back and forth.”
A minority sector of the Madrid PP, which gathers those harmed by the leader’s rise, or those who long for another style and other ways, is astonished by the purchase of the penthouse and the management of the consequent reputational crisis: “It’s an atomic catch.” This group scrutinized the interview in Europa Press by Núñez Feijóo, and this phrase: “Madrid Heritage will have to explain why it bought a property that cannot be used as an office.”
That is why Imma Aguilar, an analyst with experience on the political front line, agrees with Gutiérrez-Rubí on the double-edged nature of the joke with which Díaz Ayuso has grabbed headlines.
“It is almost like an angry and indirect response to Alberto Núñez Feijóo, who had just stated the day before that the Directorate General of Heritage of the Community of Madrid had to explain why it bought the penthouse,” she recalls about the national leader’s intervention. “The biggest mistake of this phrase is confusing closing a response with closing a crisis,” she warns. “What it gives the opposition is fuel, fuel to try to give more strength to the conflict regarding the management of the penthouse,” she maintains. And she warns: “It is a very iconic phrase, and a lot can be played with it. The move can be tactically effective, but strategically dangerous.”
The analyst Jordi Sarrión-Carbonell also considers that the phrase was not only directed at the general public but particularly at the PP. “One of the functions of this strategy is precisely to close ranks within her own now that political activity returns after the summer,” he explains. “In the short term, it is a victory,” he emphasizes. “She has achieved something very important in crisis communication: changing the topic of conversation,” he highlights. “The problem is that it can become a victory for the opposition in the medium and long term. Ayuso has created a concept that the opposition can easily appropriate. And she has done it when the crisis is far from over.”
For now, that is precisely what has happened. Only a few minutes had passed since Ayuso had uttered the phrase “chao pescao” when social networks were already boiling with messages, photos, montages, and memes harmful to her interests.
The problem with saying “chao pescao” when you get caught with a 6 million euro penthouse of public money is that then the judge arrives and the fish is still there.
— Mónica García (@Monica_Garcia_G) August 24, 2026
There were some from her direct rivals. For example, Más Madrid published a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the image of the president, the phrase, and the party’s initials. Its leader, Mónica García, who is also Minister of Health, tried to reframe the phrase to use it against the president of the Community of Madrid.
“The problem with saying ‘chao pescao’ when you get caught with a 6 million euro penthouse of public money is that then the judge arrives and the pescao is still there,” wrote the leader of the regional party on her social networks.
The same strategy was followed by the Secretary General of the PSOE in Madrid, Óscar López. “More than chao pescao it’s that you have been pescao,” published the also minister of the Government of Spain on X.
More than chao pescao it’s that you have been pescao.
— Oscar López Agueda (@oscarlopeztwit) August 24, 2026
You will have to answer before the courts, before the Assembly, and before the citizens about the spending of more than 6 million euros on a luxury penthouse paid with everyone’s money. https://t.co/Hr1WiJ5qPj
His colleague in the central government, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport, also commented on the controversy: “Oh lord! Chao, Pescao.”
No one knows the future, and whether the phrase will end up in the dustbin of history, or catch on like “I like fruit.” What is difficult is that Ayuso uses her new wordplay with Feijóo as she did with the previous one: one Christmas, she gave a basket full of fruit to the PP leader, and no one needed to explain what message that image contained. Now, the pescao swims alone.
