The spokesperson for Izquierda Unida, Enrique Santiago, stated this Thursday that he “has no doubt” that the United States “could have a political interest” in causing “a political crisis in the Government of Spain” and also “to give a lesson to those who may have worked to evade the illegal sanctions unilaterally imposed by the United States on Venezuela” for their collaboration in the investigation against the former president of the government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for, among other crimes, influence peddling in the case of the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra.
Santiago expressed himself this way in an interview on La 1 of TVE, in which he denounced that the strategy of the United States consists of “turning into judicial cases what are nothing more than attempts to interfere in the sovereignty of other States,” referring to what happened at the beginning of the year with the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela “to take the oil” or this same week in Cuba with Raúl Castro, “to take over the island.”
“Mr. Trump does not hold much appreciation for the Government of Spain,” said the deputy of the Sumar group alluding to the public confrontations that the North American president has had with the head of the Spanish Executive, Pedro Sánchez, over the Iran war and other issues.
Likewise, Santiago opined that “it is not even half normal” that “the U.S. makes recordings available” that, according to his denunciation, “it is not known whether they were obtained with or without judicial authorization in our country or in other countries” and that they “worry so much” about Zapatero’s activities “and not about the lobby that other former presidents do.”
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The United States Department of Homeland Security collaborated with the Spanish police in the money laundering investigation that led to the process opened by the National Court against Zapatero, as confirmed yesterday by a department spokesperson, a fact that already appeared in the order of the National Court judge José Luis Calama who charged him with allegedly leading a network of influence peddling and money laundering.
“No alleged responsibility of the Government appears anywhere”
Regarding the judge’s order, the deputy defended that what does not appear “anywhere” is “an alleged responsibility of the Government” and stated that “the order presents very clear indications in some cases” against the former socialist leader, but that in matters of embezzlement or money laundering it finds “absolutely nothing.”
However, Enrique Santiago acknowledged that “there do seem to be political responsibilities or actions that are more than questionable” ethically, because “public resources” may have been used that “cannot be compatible with carrying out lucrative activities.” In this regard, he lamented that there are activities that “do not have to be illegal, but that politically are devastating” and reproached “the excessive eagerness for personal profit.”
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