The musical ‘Malinche’, by Nacho Cano, has filed a lawsuit this Wednesday before the Courts of First Instance of Madrid against Renfe for resolving “unilaterally, without legitimate cause” and for political reasons the institutional sponsorship contract signed in April 2024.
“The decision to unilaterally break up Renfe was absolutely politicized and instigated, according to all indications, by the association of Consumers FACUA-Consumers in Action,” says the producer of ‘Malinche’ in the lawsuit, to which Europa Press has had access.
‘Malinche’ blames the general secretary of FACUA Rubén Sánchez for encouraging the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to pressure Renfe to break the sponsorship contract, the day Nacho Cano was arrested for allegedly hiring irregular immigrants for his musical.
“I trust that Minister Óscar Puente will announce the immediate withdrawal of Renfe’s sponsorship of Nacho Cano’s musical. And that both Netflix, Estrella Galicia, Aeromexico and the rest of the sponsors will do the same,” he published on social networks.
The next day, June 10, 2024, Renfe released a statement announcing that the statements made by Nacho Cano, who described the National Police as “criminal”, forced them to “rescind the collaboration agreement”, since he shared the “social concern” about the events that occurred.
“Renfe considers the National Police, which has been serving citizens for 200 years, and the State Security Corps and Forces as one of the fundamental pillars of the Rule of Law,” said the railway company.
All of this after making a statement also available from Óscar Puente himself on his profile on the social network
The production company maintains that Renfe broke the agreement due to alleged reputational damage derived from statements by Nacho Cano and the criminal investigation opened against the musical, despite the fact that this procedure has subsequently been archived by the Provincial Court of Madrid due to lack of foundation.
Nacho Cano’s company maintains that it fully complied with its contractual obligations and that it even assumed costs of corporate events in favor of Renfe.
The contract, signed on April 17, 2024, designated Renfe as the “official train” of the show until December 31, 2026 and contemplated joint marketing, communication and promotion actions. According to the lawsuit, the letter sent by Renfe in July 2024 invoked a clause that allowed early resolution in case of possible reputational damage.
The letter places Renfe’s decision in the campaign of “hostility, discredit and harassment” that certain activist organizations and media “related to the government environment” carried out against ‘Malinche’. “This campaign had as its priority objective the figure of its creator, Nacho Cano, whose public projection and artistic prestige they tried to deliberately erode,” the lawsuit states.
A BUSINESS BREAKUP WITH “SEVERE LOSS OF OPPORTUNITIES”
The breakdown of the sponsorship agreement has caused the musical, according to the lawsuit, a “serious loss of business opportunities” by depriving it of access to the target audience that Renfe provided, as well as the reputational damage caused by “the involvement and positioning of the Government of Spain against the Musical.” “Politicizing the decision and leading other collaborators to leave due to the arbitrariness of the decision and fear of reprisals,” the letter adds.
“The campaign unleashed had the desired result, displacing commercial sponsors, as well as the collaboration of patrons and philanthropists, by unfairly criminalizing the artist, his work, the show and his entire environment. This resulted in a bankruptcy of the economic model and the business plan and financial asphyxiation,” the document denounces.
Finally, ‘Malinche’ asks that Renfe be ordered to pay them compensation to establish an expert report that will be provided before the prior hearing.