The Plot Thickens

Spain is in a mess right now. The background to this is a mixture of judicial bullying, corruption, foreign meddling and improper aspiration.

Agenda Pública had several US experts commenting on Spain back in March 2026: ‘Trump’s Oval Office threat to "cut off all trade with Spain" is coercion in plain sight, and it also betrays how stretched he already is on Iran’, said one. ‘Prime Minister Sánchez’s actions are deeply disappointing for those of us in the United States who wish to see a strong U.S.-Spain relationship, including strong military cooperation between our two countries’, said another. ‘There could be other types of actions, such as measures affecting U.S. exports to Spain, investments, or visas, as well as financial matters…’.

‘The White House’, we read elsewhere, ‘through its ambassador, has publicly expressed its "frustration" with the refusal of Pedro Sánchez's government to allow the use of the Rota and Morón military bases for the war against Iran. Furthermore, the ambassador has openly criticized Sánchez for not receiving him in three months, something interpreted as a deliberate snub to the Trump administration’.

By June, this frustration had reached the point where – we suspect – the Americans and their disagreeable friend in the Middle East are now actively trying to remove a thorn in their side, in favour of a sweeter and better colleague in the Moncloa, one able to increase the national expenditure on arms while cutting taxes for the wealthy and – with the insistence of Vox – creating a Jim Crow policy against minorities (including, of course, women).

Sad to say, however, the Spanish electorate have a low opinion of both Trump’s America and Bibi’s Israel.

Late last month, and we return to the US embassy in Madrid, we find the American ambassador Benjamin León receiving in separate meetings both Feijóo and Abascal (and the delightful Ms Ayuso in her offices at the Puerta del Sol). What did they have to discuss, asks the leader of the Izquierda Unida? Plots, plans and a new president for Spain? Perhaps.

The worry about American involvement in Spanish domestic affairs brings this headline from El Huff Post: ‘Donald Trump's frustration with Spain and suspicions about US involvement in Zapatero's indictment: "The real political target is Sánchez."’.

The Italian weekly L'Expresso has a leader that warns that "no European leader sleeps soundly" now that "Washington has activated the beacon."

But the plotters need an unarguable scandal. The joke attacks against Sánchez wife and his brother are not going to pull down the Government – maybe the Judiciary can come up with something better. Cynical? Me?

Step aside Begoña, we’ve got Zapatero… The judicial machine got rid of the Sánchez-appointed Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz last November without providing any proof of wrongdoing, while still not bringing the investigation of Ayuso’s boyfriend a year down the line any closer to fruition. The case against Cristobal Montoro goes back to 2016 while the Kitchen Case (the last PP government trying to silence proof of fraud) is being quietly unreported. The Courts block Zapatero’s bank account, but not Montoro’s, or ‘the boyfriend’, or Fernández Díaz… They threaten to take away the passport of the president’s wife (where would she go?). But, we all know what’s really happening.

As someone says, the PP has so far failed to bring down the coalition government and Pedro Sánchez, but it has succeeded in destroying the Spanish justice system and its reputation.

What stops the government from falling, says Gabriel Rufián, is that the alternative is infinitely worse. ‘These people prefer a left-wing thief to an honourable right-wing government’ says the PP spokesman Miguel Tellado.

Forget the polling station, or the 2027 elections, ‘"I will do everything possible to change the government, and when I say everything, I mean everything," says Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

Will he succeed? It’s certainly possible.

¡Viva España Carajo!

This Zapatero scandal is a mess. Whether the Zap did anything untoward or not, it’s an investigation which – thanks to the uneven tardiness of the Audiencia Nacional – could take years to resolve: with another stain on the PSOE. We have seen just how the small and silly cases against Pedro Sánchez wife – and his brother – can run for years not so much to punish the alleged perpetrator as to muddy the waters of a government which came in with a motion of censure against the PP’s corruption.

Some of which, eight years on, still hasn’t been resolved.

The establishment in Spain is understandably conservative. They, whether the bankers, the judiciary, the capitalists, the opportunists and the media-whores, all live and strive to protect their holdings. Bully for them.

The majority of Spaniards, whether manipulated or not by the system, remain poor. They have problems to reach the end of the month, and trickle-down economics doesn’t work (indeed, trickle-up seems to be the order of the day).

The right-wing doesn’t have any solutions to this, besides lowering taxes for the wealthy, encouraging bullfights and coming up with clever catch-phrases against the socialists or encouraging their White Nationalism, AKA ‘Prioridad Nacional’: a form of Jim Crow policies aimed at the minorities.

Indeed, a protest last Saturday in Madrid with the PP, Vox and Álvise Pérez (he’s a small party to the right of Vox) featured a banner which read: ‘General Franco. Thank you for four decades of security, peace, love, and discipline. ¡Viva España!’

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is an ideal character to assassinate. He has been revered by the left for his social policies (same-sex weddings), his closure of ETA (how that must hurt the right-wing propagandists) and reversing Spain’s participation in Aznar/Bush’s War on terror. Now, it’s our turn say the conservatives (even if we must use material kindly delivered by Trump’s Homeland Security or maybe even the Mossad).

Besides the satisfaction of putting Spain back by fifty years, what will the PP/Vox actually do for their countrymen? They always vote against raising the minimum wage, shortening the working week, or improving our public health and education systems.

Maybe they would increase military spending, ban abortions or send a new ambassador to the embassy in Tel Aviv.

Spain is a marvellous country, populated by delightful people and full of wondrous things to see and do. Buggered if I know why they want to fuck it up.  

The Taking of Bambi 123

In yet another effort to unseat Pedro Sánchez, Manos Limpias (wiki) has made a complaint against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for money laundering. This follows from an accusation made by Victor Aldama (a businessman released from jail to help investigations against the PSOE) on a conspiracy TV show called Horizonte. It’s now in front of the court. There had been some sub judice investigations prior to these revelations - circled around Zapatero's relationship with the Venezuelan government. 

From El Mundo here, ‘The judge identifies Zapatero as the "leader" of an "influence peddling" network to rescue the Plus Ultra airline and earn two million euros (for his efforts). The court notified the former president this Tuesday of his summons, requiring him to appear on June 2nd. The National Court has charged Zapatero with money laundering, and the police have searched his office and his daughters' company’.  

 El País in English fully explains the case here. The visibly indignant ex-president issued a statement following his indictment in the Caso Plus Ultra, releasing a video reaffirming that his public and private activities have been conducted "with absolute respect for the law". Or not.

A later story says that the Spanish court received inflammatory information about  Zapatero from the US 'Homeland Security Investigations' in what might be a plan from the White House to destabilise Spain. As usual, no proof has been offered or found. The judge closed Zapatero's bank account on Thursday. 

From Aspero Mundo here: 'The investigating judge had a technically impeccable option: to take Zapatero's statement before formally charging him. He could have summoned him as a suspect, listened to his version of events, compared the evidence with his explanations, and only then decided on the level of the charges. This is the option any careful investigating judge chooses when the suspect is available, has a known address, has publicly offered his version of events, and occupies an institutional position whose public exposure multiplies the cost of any procedural error.

He did not choose this option. He formally charged him first, applied the most serious charges—criminal organization, not mere cooperation; leadership, not mere participation—and then summoned him to testify on June 2, 2026. The public damage caused by the charges was done before the former president could explain anything...'

Regardless of the outcome, the damage to Zapatero is irreparable.

As another ex-president José María Aznar said: ‘El que pueda hacer, que haga’.

Gabriel Rufián (ERC) speaking in the Cortes on Wednesday ‘For all of us on the left – if this is true, then it’s una mierda. If it’s another right-wing scam, then it’s an even bigger mierda (video)’.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is remembered for taking Spain out of George W Bush’s Iraq war and bringing about the end of ETA (Wiki). His nickname when president (2004 - 2011) was 'Bambi' and he is kind of a Spanish version, I think, of Jimmy Carter. 

Opinion from El Plural: ‘The CIS (Spanish Centre for Sociological Research) had once again accurately predicted the Andalusian elections, triggering alarm bells for the Spanish right-wing media and political establishment. In that same April poll, the CIS said that the PSOE were leading the PP by almost 13 points nationally. Amid this climate of widespread nervousness, the Partido Popular and its affiliated groups have chosen a primary target to destabilize the government and the PSOE: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. This is not a casual or merely retrospective attack, but rather a cold and calculated strategy to neutralize the socialists' most effective electoral asset and thus prevent another right-wing debacle in the upcoming general elections…’

From 20Minutos here: ‘Feijóo demands Sánchez resign, but the president closes ranks with Zapatero and affirms that "there will be elections in 2027."’.

Anything said or done or alleged by someone regarding the PSOE is immediately investigated, while other things with much greater national impact are left until later (sometimes, much later). You might believe it or you might not, according to your politics, but you know it’s a frame-up.

Only the (Very) Best

Vox brings overt racism to politics. The Vox-proposed ‘Prioridad Nacional’ (sometimes unkindly rendered as ‘Prioridad Nazional’ with a z) is raising all kinds of criticism. The thrust is that anyone, ideally, with a Spanish father and Spanish mother should come first, before all those foreigners. So far and in order to hold on to their crowns, the PP has accepted this ugly piece of Vox dogma in both Extremadura and Aragón.  

Opinion from elDiario.es: ‘Prioridad Nacional: a moral downfall. The investiture of María Guardiola this week has highlighted how the Partido Popular, far from distancing itself from Vox's racist and xenophobic positions, is adopting them as part of its ideology. Including national priority as a basis for potential aid constitutes, in addition to a breach of the principle of equality and non-discrimination, a true moral failing because it allows for distinctions between people when it comes to receiving basic state services…’

Opinion from Público: ‘Don't say "national priority", say "discrimination based on origin": the concept the far right is trying to push’.

LaSexta here: ‘"National priority" throughout Spain, Abascal's objective for his racist measure (so far) are agreed with the PP in both Extremadura and Aragon’.

The Guardian sums it up here: ‘Hard line on immigration adopted by the Partido Popular as the right seeks to overthrow the socialist government in 2027’.

The problem with this policy, popular in its day with the Austrian house painter and his concept of the untermenschen, and now found in both the Middle East (think Palestine) and the USA (ICE), is that such a thing could become policy in Spain. I exaggerate? Maybe.

First they came for the foreigners, then for the homosexuals, then for the communists, then for the women voters...

In short, the basic concept – whether expanded or not – goes that Spaniards should be first and immigrants should be at the back of the queue for health and other services. For those who agree with this - the link to the Vox page that will reserve for you a wrist bracelet with the Spanish red, yellow, red colours emblazoned with Prioridad Nacional is here. 

From Cordópolis here: ‘Sánchez responds to the PP-Vox pacts: “The true ‘national priority’ for Spain is peace, employment, and guaranteed public services”, he says. In a pre-campaign rally for the Andalusian elections, the President contrasted his vision for the country with the agreements of the right and far right, accusing them of “violating” a “sacred principle of the Constitution: non-discrimination”’.

Andalucía Goes to the Polls

Andalucía was always ‘Red’ right up until recent times.

Up to, and after the Civil War, the enormous estates that made up the fertile part of the region was under the thumb of the latifundistas, the absent landlords from Madrid and elsewhere.

During the War, or at least until the fascists regained control, the land was run (no doubt ineptly) by the colectivos. The worker soviets. The cities were impoverished, and many people – those that could – had moved away to Catalonia, Algeria, France, Germany and where possible, Mexico and South America. A figure given suggests 2,700,000 emigrated in search of a better life elsewhere.

The huge majority of the andaluces in those difficult times were lefties – perhaps understandably – and when Franco eventually went to His Reward in 1975, Spain soon threw forth a progressive leader from Seville – Felipe González and the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, the PSOE.

Spain took off, under the new democracy, but Andalucía, always poor and forgotten by Madrid, continued to lag far behind. Its regional government, based in Seville and held by PSOE figures, was noted for its corruption.

Seville: not only the capital of Andalucía’s eight provinces, but also its wealthiest. They say that the money came in – but it never left to be distributed in the satellite provinces (particularly Almería, at almost seven hours by train).

Poor leadership: Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán caught in the ERE scandal; Susana Díaz, inept and then the one after her… (you know, I’m not even going to bother to look him up).

Now, in 2026, those people are all gone – some with prison sentences, others deserving of them. Even Felipe González, Seville’s most famous son, is now under a cloud.

The Junta de Andalucía, the regional authority, is currently in the hands of a conservative. He’s Juanma Moreno, perhaps the third or fourth in importance in the whole of the PP. Elections are to be held on May 17th and he’ll no doubt get in again.

How did the voters come to switch their allegiances?

For one thing, they discovered a social class below them: the immigrants.

Second, as above, they saw the corruption and graft in the socialist camp.

Thirdly, simply voting conservative gives one, at least and if nothing else, the sensation of having joined the middle classes.

And life goes on. Only, it doesn’t if you get ill.

Juanma Moreno, like Isabel Díaz Ayuso in Madrid, has been supporting the private health sector at the expense of the public one. Ayuso is stained with the unnecessary deaths of the 7,291 elderly folk in the residencias during the Covid, Juanma has the problem of the lost breast cancer results which affected several thousand women. They have both been seen to be dismantling their regional public health systems.

The PSOE-A only has the one shot at the moment in its electioneering (despite having a senior ex-Government minister as their candidate), and that’s the state of the Servicio Andaluz de Sanidad. The public health service is clearly underfunded and being drained by the private sector – and there are many who don’t have the funds for private insurance.

The elections in Andalucía will probably run as expected, but supposing Moreno has to come to a deal with Vox. Will their ‘national priority’ put me back at the far end of the waiting list, in a public hospital that is sorely underfinanced?