José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was a political asset and a business asset. He was, at least, until this Tuesday when his indictment in the National Court for leading a network of influence broke out. The former president was a draw because of his relations with Pedro Sánchez’s government, but not only for that. The case includes a list of businessmen, lawyers, and politicians who had connections with him, and in some cases, those ties were linked to commercial and economic relations.
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Judge José Luis Calama, who is investigating the former prime minister in the so-called Plus Ultra case, links Venezuelan magnates such as Rodolfo Reyes, Domingo Amaro Chacón, Raif el Arigie, Camilo Ibrahim Issa, Danilo Alfonso Diazgranados, or Francisco Flores.
The magistrate suspects that all of them, in one way or another, sought the influence of the former socialist leader for their private businesses. And, in some cases, investigators have detected transfers to Zapatero’s “lieutenant,” the businessman and friend Julio Martínez Martínez. Money that would be jumping from company to company with false invoices to end up partly in the accounts of the former Spanish president, according to the investigation.
Even, in some cases, as with Amaro Chacón, he paid Martínez’s front company, Análisis Relevante, the company of Zapatero’s daughters, Whathefav, or the think tank Gate Center, whose advisory board president is also Zapatero, through “fictitious contracts.”
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The judge’s thesis is that Mariano Rajoy’s predecessor spoke directly with this Venezuelan businessman due to messages found on the investigated phones: “President, I report the news to you”; “President, we remain attentive to your instructions on this matter.” From his company Inteligencia Prospectiva, 1.2 million euros would have gone to accounts linked to Zapatero’s environment, which the judge links to the former president’s influence with “the Lady,” that is, the current president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to allow the sale of Venezuelan oil to the Chinese.
But not only that. This magnate would also have carried out, through Julio Martínez, gold operations, stock trading, or currency operations. Chacón even sent letters of intent addressed to President Zapatero’s office. The Venezuelan and Martínez called the dealings with the former president the “Z mission,” which consisted of preparing a letter of intent (LOI) after “Philippe Apikian, president of the company Swissoil Trading SA, and the Chinese” were “ready to buy ships.” “He is ready to travel to meet with the Lady and Minister of Petroleum,” reads a message between them, referring to Delcy Rodríguez.
For the judge, it is clear that these intentions necessarily went through Zapatero’s management. And that is because he is the one who has “direct access to people at the highest levels of political responsibility.”
The case includes a letter of intent sent by “China International Cultural Technology Resources Group CO LTD” to the “Office of President Zapatero” in October 2023.
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The network intermediated with a Venezuelan general to obtain flight authorizations
In recent years, Zapatero’s relations with Venezuela have been tightening, as has been evident from his public interventions and now that some details of the case are becoming known. For example, it has been learned that the top executives of the airline Plus Ultra came to Zapatero to help them influence the government to rescue the company in 2021 with 53 million euros. The contact route was Rodolfo Reyes, Venezuelan shareholder of the airline – investigated by the United States – who accessed former Venezuelan deputy minister Ramón Gorrils, who had contacts with the former president through Manuel Aaron Fajardo, son of a former socialist senator with business in Venezuela. In fact, Calama places him as “Zapatero’s man in Venezuela.”
At that time, many interests were at stake, and for that reason, several businessmen and lawyers linked to the Chavista government sought Zapatero’s support. On the one hand, they sought the rescue by the Spanish government; on the other hand, flight rights in Venezuela, and on the other hand, help in other businesses. And at the end of all this, investigators have detected a tangle of companies that pay other companies linked to Martínez so that he then ends up transferring part of the money to Zapatero himself in his own accounts, or through companies, such as his daughters’, thus exceeding two million euros.
Companies such as Softgestor, Caletón Consultores, or Agropecuria, among others, were used for this. These magnates knew who was behind Martínez and the destination of the transfers. The case includes a conversation between Plus Ultra’s lawyer, Miguel Palomero, and Venezuelan businessman Diazgranados in which he assures that Martínez “is the boss’s bank.” “I understand what you mean,” replies his interlocutor. The judge considers that this businessman made payments to Whathefav, the company of Zapatero’s daughters.
One of the influences they sought was that of Major General Juan Manuel Teixeira – whom Zapatero’s close friend had saved in his agenda as “MG Texeira” – who shared military training with the current Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, one of the strongmen of the Chavista regime. Teixeira was in 2021 president of the Venezuelan Civil Aeronautics Institute (INAC), the body that regulates incoming and outgoing flights in the country. In 2021, Plus Ultra – which had started operating in the Latin American country in 2018 – maintained a debt with INAC of 258,618 dollars.
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INAC stopped authorizing flights to the company in the middle of the pandemic, but Plus Ultra continued selling tickets. Zapatero’s lieutenant intervened before Teixeira. “These flights do not have approval,” the high-ranking officer asked him. “I know, my general, let’s hope they are approved,” Martínez replied. That summer, hundreds of passengers experienced an odyssey at Barajas airport due to the cancellation of Plus Ultra’s “pirate” flights. In the conversations intercepted from Martínez, it appears how Teixeira reproached him that the company sold tickets for unauthorized flights, which left many people stranded. However, two days later, a person registered as “Z” in Martínez’s agenda sent him the following message: “In time and form. Successful management.” Immediately after, Zapatero’s friend wrote to the general to thank him for “the help.”
And as had already been publicly revealed and has been established in the case, the socialist’s ties were not limited to the high Chavista ranks. Zapatero played a key role in the exile of the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia. There are messages from Eudoro González Dellán, a former member of the Venezuelan opposition, addressed to “president” Rodríguez Zapatero.
