It was March 2001. In a hotel full of journalists, Nevenka Fernández announced her resignation as finance councilor of the municipality of Ponferrada and accused the mayor, Ismael Álvarez, of sexual harassment. “I am 26 years old and I have dignity”, a phrase remembered several times since then and which paved the way for a country that was not used to that type of public denunciation, much less against a politician. The leader of the PP was convicted and resigned, but society turned its back on that young and prepared woman who had been living “in hell” for some time; he spoke out in favor of Álvarez and she left the country. On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Congress of Deputies will hear her testimony on Tuesday.
Nevenka Fernández intervenes via video conference from Ireland at the institutional event of the Chamber, which again this year is supported by Vox, a party that denies sexist violence and has undermined the political consensus on this scourge. The meeting is chaired by the highest authority of the institution, Francina Armengol, and moderated by the journalist Ana Requena with the participation of the judge specializing in gender violence Cira García.
During the event, the names of the women murdered in 2025 due to sexist violence will be read and will end with the placing of a candle for each victim on the steps of the facade of the Palace.
The case of the former city councilor was brought back to the present day in 2021 in the documentary Nevenka; reprized three years later in the film I’m Nevenkaby Icíar Bollaín; and I counted now The power of truth (Penguin), written by herself.
