Surprise, what you call surprise, it is not quite. That the bailout of the airline Plus Ultra in the middle of the pandemic was a case of moral corruption by the Government is a certainty. A forceps delivery that angered and embarrassed members of the Executive itself and officials who handled that file. To have access to the loot of 53 million, that company, with hardly any planes, a ridiculous flight history, and barely any employees, had to be declared “strategic” for the interests of the Spanish productive fabric beforehand. Without any shame, the Government served a pig in a poke. Plus Ultra strategic! An act of piracy for anyone with eyes in their face. That justice closed the case in 2023, after a complaint from Manos Limpias, PP, and Vox, marked the end of the legal troubles. The court considered that the hose through which the 53 million from the treasury would end up flowing towards the airline was approved. The procedure had been correct.
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But from those powders, these muds. Only using a different blender. The ball rolled again after the recent request from France and Switzerland for Spain to collaborate in an investigation of an alleged criminal organization to launder Venezuelan money. Serious words that make the attempt to discredit the Zapatero case by dismissing it as a crude maneuver by Manos Limpias and the opposition false and malicious.
The powders of Plus Ultra are not the only ones threatening to cover Zapatero in mud
It is enough to read the indictment order to understand what was once incomprehensible. The former president will be guilty or innocent of the crimes attributed to him, but his persistent claim that he did not lift a finger for that bailout is impossible to sustain. Only from the logic imposed by political polarization, which despises facts and forces choosing sides, can it be maintained that the work of the anti-corruption prosecution, the UDEF, and the National Court judge José Luis Calama is the result of lawfare in this case.
Yesterday in Congress, some of Pedro Sánchez’s partners pulled the handbrake amid the multitude of clues laid out. More than going out boldly to proclaim the innocence of a saint, reality advises a demanding and combative request for clarifications. Also patience, since the powders of Plus Ultra are not the only ones threatening to cover the former president in mud. The United States is digging into the same waste containers. The trade of embargoed Venezuelan oil, the gold from Chavismo’s mines, or well-paid pro-China activism also deserve the attention of justice.
Read more Sánchez and the loss of innocence
Zapatero’s moral relativism, more than evident in his political action, transferred to his way of doing business destroys, due to the clear will of opacity that includes the use of his daughters, the aura of an unblemished man moved only to action by the driving principle of do-goodism. Today we know that he likes the money of dictatorships at least as much as the syrupy speeches. And no, it is not sinful, nor even bad, that a left-wing man, just like one from the right or center, aspires to be a millionaire. What is, however, is to travel the path to opulence while assuming the role of moral beacon of the West when at best one is nothing more than a lobbyist providing diligent service to dictatorships. Or a supposed corrupt and corrupter at worst.
Political consequences? The uncorking of the Zapatero case adds more pressure to the political playing field. But no implosion is expected, since this one already endures everything. The manual of the Ábalos-Cerdán case is perfectly reusable. First phase: full support from Moncloa to the indicted friend and fans stirring up the theory of lawfare and a hunt organized by the fascists. In a second phase, if convenient, distancing-denial-encapsulation of the character: Zapatero? Who is that gentleman you speak of?
On the opposite side, neither Feijóo will call a no-confidence motion he cannot win, nor Podemos, Junts, or anyone else will lift a finger to anticipate a scenario that leads the PP-Vox duo to govern Spain. Another matter is the demoralizing effect that the fall of their particular Dalai Lama may have on the socialist family. Discovering, through facts, that former presidents, like Shakira’s women, do not cry, they invoice. And that they do not give a damn about the concept, the how, or to whom.
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