If you are related to any active politician in Spain, you better tremble. Watch your back, check your pockets, retrace all the steps you took in the last ten years. It's not advice, it's a warning. And, if you discover the slightest hint of something even remotely suspicious that could be related to it, covering it with corruption or simple mischief, it would be better to entrust yourself to the Moreneta or the virgin that you have closest and as a reference. They're going to come after you, whether your hands are clean or dirty. And they are going to do it not to harm you, but to harm your in-law. "But we're just very distant cousins," you might think. Do not do it. There are no "buts" that matter. Don't think you're safe. If you've ever paid black for a lollipop, you'll be found out. Because this persecution of relatives of politicians is valid for relationships up to the sixth degree. That is, pentagrandfather, pentagrandchildren, great-great-uncles, great-great-nephews, third-uncles and third-nephews.
What's more, as the relationship becomes closer, the chances of you being investigated increase, since in these matters there is no gender discrimination in any sense. For example, on the one hand, we have the boyfriend of the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who it became known this week that she proposed accepting eight months in prison and 525,000 euros for two alleged tax crimes in order not to go to trial. . And, on the other hand, we have the recent complaint for alleged influence peddling and corruption against the wife of the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez. You should know that the interpretation of kinship is also very broad among the persecutors of relatives of politicians. And don't think that there are few of them, because, ask yourself the following: Do the big parties have teams that are dedicated to tracking these types of possible cases of corruption with the intention of eroding their opponents?
In Spain we have gone from the sewers of the State, with the dirty war against the independence movement, to the hunt for family (dis)influencers, that is, relatives of politicians who can help reduce their social influence by taking out dirty laundry (if any). no, that doesn't matter). The final objective is always to try to get them to resign, that would be the ideal, but, if this is not achieved, at least they will be seen worse and could lose support at the polls. Let it be noted that family (des)influencers is a term that we just invented and, in addition, we wanted to give it a touch mixed with some words in "English" because it is much cooler and more interesting, as if it had been invented some professor from Harvard University.
Each ideological or political faction (with all its related satellites) begins to investigate the most immediate environment of the politicians to overthrow: partner, parents, children. Then, if they don't find anything worthwhile, they move on to the second grade, with grandparents (if they are still alive), grandchildren and siblings. The latter can be almost as juicy as the couples, although not as much. If they don't find anything, they continue with the nephews or uncles and then move on to the cousins. But they don't give up and are capable of going after second-uncles or second-nephews if appropriate. Thus, at least, up to the sixth degree of kinship.
Laugh at the destabilizing effect of the feared Russian hackers on Western democracies. When the Spanish legion of family (de)influencer hunters gets to work, even in an institutionalized way, they destroy everything and everyone. Perhaps the example of a family of which the most members exposed themselves to public opinion was that of the former president of the Generalitat, Jordi Pujol. It was what, in the jargon of these political hunters, was called "a combined hunt of grade zero and grade one", since they not only went for the patriarch, but also for his wife and his children. That was enough to remove from the political scene the omnipresent President Pujol, architect of the convergent Catalonia that gave way to that of the tripartites before the independence process broke out.
Nowadays the tools for spying and trying to find out dirty laundry have evolved much more. There is no longer a need to put a microphone in a vase on a restaurant table. Now they infect your cell phone with Pegasus or some similar spy program and they have you. Although it also seems that the "mud machine" coined by the Italian writer Umberto Eco to refer to the destruction of political rivals through journalistic montages works very well in Spain. And the anonymous complaint, the neighbor spy and revenge are also classics. Surely, the latter is something inherited from the times of the Civil War and Francoism.
Therefore, it could be concluded that persecuting a political opponent through his or her family is a Spanish tradition. And, in this multi-election year, it is quite a temptation. For now, we have left the Basque elections behind us. Sánchez has seen the glass half full again and says that he beat Feijóo's PP "9 to 1", combining the votes of the PNV, EH Bildu, PSE and Sumar. He looks more and more like the Barça coach, Xavi Hernández, who never makes a mistake and, if he loses, it is always the fault of someone, the referee, or something, like a ghost goal not awarded against the eternal rival, Real Madrid. Sánchez has not won the Basque elections, but for him it is as if he had been the winner. Xavi said that he would leave Barça and, although he is not going to win anything this season, now it seems that he says that he has thought about it again and that in Barcelona he is doing very well. In the end, he will fulfill his contract until 2025, because Joan Laporta's board has allowed him to do so. "To rectify is wise and now I feel strong enough to continue," said Xavi, drawing on the cliché. We'll see how this ends... You can't bluff your way through life, you end up getting caught. It is clear that Xavi would have no future as a poker player, unlike Gerard Piqué, who, it seems, is quite good at it.
Xavi Hernández has created "good theater", as the Portuguese coach José Mourinho would say. And Pedro Sánchez, too, because he knows perfectly well what country we live in. Furthermore, he is the same one who approximately a month ago demanded that Feijóo resign Ayuso because the Madrid president's boyfriend was being investigated ("have courage, even if it costs you your job," he told her). Now it turns out that he is considering resigning due to the “harassment operation” against his wife. If it is consistent with what he demanded of Ayuso, he should have already stopped being president of the Government, with which the political hunters who attacked his partner to remove him from power would have triumphed. But, we are in the scenario of posturing politics, which is why we immediately read headlines like: "Government and PSOE conspire so that Sánchez continues in office: We need him so that Spain continues to advance." That is to say, without him we are lost, just like Barça without Xavi?
If Pedro Sánchez, as a political writer, had made his letter public on April 23, the same day as Sant Jordi, there would have been a line of readers waiting to sign it at any stop on the Rambla. The Diada would have become another Rose Festival of socialism around the Cervantes of Spanish politics. But, it was not like that and, furthermore, the president decided to make it public through a private social network, X, the old Twitter, that is, he opted for the Donald Trump system. Curious act of communicative Trumpism. Significant, at a time when the PSOE is changing its course to become a basically presidential party, configured around the figure of the messiah Pedro Sánchez, who sometimes gives the impression that he forgets that he does not have an absolute majority, that he is governing in coalition and that, in addition, needs the support of several parties (non-socialist) to be able to have its room in the Moncloa.
In this way, everything that is projected on the political level in Spain generates a feeling of helplessness among citizens. Who really pulls the strings of this country?... A judge from Madrid has been the one who motivated this movement by Pedro Sánchez by opening preliminary proceedings in record time (and preventing the Prosecutor's Office from being able to rule on it, although he subsequently requested the file of the case) due to a complaint by Clean Hands against the wife of the President of the Government.
Clean Hands is not a soap brand, but rather a pseudo-union that has been in the spotlight for its practices considered unethical and was even convicted of extortion, although it was later acquitted by the Supreme Court. It turns out that Clean Hands also recognizes the possibility that the information on which he bases his complaint against the president's wife is false.
In reality, the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court prevents opening a criminal process based on journalistic news (that is, nothing about Watergates in Spain), which denotes the troupe role that journalism increasingly plays in this country (that is one of the reasons why fake news proliferates). Just in case, as the political hunters have already smelled blood, the ultra-conservative and ultra-Catholic organization Hazte Oír has filed a criminal complaint against Sánchez's wife for "an undetermined number" of influence peddling crimes, ensuring that it is not based on cuts. of press that could be false, but rather that it affects "facts and information in a chronological and rigorous manner." We will see...
It turns out that the PP already used former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, the Spanish James Moriarty with a great career as a literary character, in 2014 to spy on Pedro Sánchez's father-in-law. Yes, yes, in-laws also give a lot of play when it comes to looking for family (un)influencers. And, furthermore, Villarejo offered none other than Manos Ciencias to process the complaint, since he claimed to control them.
But, now, in this turbulent 2024, the damage has already been done, the political hunters have already acted. The ins and outs of politics have long been mixed with those of the judiciary in Spain, Catalan independence supporters know this very well. And Sánchez also knows this, which is why he cannot claim surprise or feel like a victim of a system that works like this for some and also for others, unfortunately for Spanish society.
But, instead of leaving Moncloa without further ado (or simply avoiding setting up a media circus), Sánchez has chosen to take advantage of the wild card of Sant Jordi week and bet on the literary genre of the "rally letter", making public a unprecedented writing in which he denounces that the right and the extreme right are trying to make him "fail politically and personally" by attacking his wife, chosen in this case as a family (dis)influencer. In his epistle, the president affirms that he is not "naive," although he surely wants to take us Spaniards for that very reason.
The fact is that, in his writing, Pedro Sánchez criticizes the media of the right and the extreme right, but, of course, there are also those of the left and the extreme left, which are not favorable to the political leaders of the PP or Vox , For example. That's what it's like to live in a (supposed) democracy. There is diversity and each citizen chooses how they are informed and who they want to inform them.
"I am aware that they are denouncing Begoña not because she has done something illegal, they know there is no case, but because she is my wife," he states in a writing that, apart from being his personal confessional, is full of election campaign speeches. with the Catalan elections in sight. It is striking that, a few hours before making public his "rally letter", Sánchez had the opportunity to explain to the Spaniards his thoughts (and intentions) in the control session in Congress, when the ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, He asked him about it. But he only limited himself to answering: "Despite everything, today I still believe in justice."
Had his political and marketing advisors already designed the plan to make his "rally letter" public in the afternoon?... Many say that they didn't know anything, that it was a personal decision, that Cervantes-Sánchez wrote the letter by his own hand and letter, but the presidents of the Government do not make personal decisions without consulting them or studying them or agreeing on them first with their advisors because they affect all Spaniards. It is your responsibility (or irresponsibility, depending on how you look at it, in this case).
Therefore, everything indicates that Pedro Sánchez is doing a Xavi Hernández, a "I'm leaving but I'm staying", with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and others calling for citizen mobilization in defense of the president. But, if he really left office, it would at least be in line with what he demanded of Ayuso (would the Madrid president also resign from her position then?).
Now, let no one be fooled (or allowed to be fooled), everything in this political wonderland exudes hypocrisy, wherever you look and whoever you look at. And, if Sánchez were to leave Madrid, perhaps it is because he would already have a secured destiny and, incidentally, perhaps we could have the first female president of the Government (socialist, of course). "This move would allow the Spanish prime minister to be named the next president of the European Council after the June elections," notes Euractiv.
Sánchez is privileged. One day he campaigns for him to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his support for the Palestinian State and another day he can allow himself to cancel his agenda "to be able to reflect and decide which path to take," although he assures that he will continue "working." Any Spaniard who wants to do that in his work environment is going to have a difficult time unless he gets medical leave or "reflects" on his vacation days. Now it turns out that the president is going to have the country waiting for him to get up on Monday morning and deign to appear before the media to announce his "decision", as he announces in his "letter rally". All that remains is for Gerard Piqué to come out saying "he's staying" just like he did with Neymar, although, in the case of the Brazilian player, in the end he left and left Barça for PSG, just like Messi later.
The Junts candidate to repeat as president of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, has already suggested to Sánchez what he can do: "You can always present a question of trust and clear up doubts." Let's hope that the president does not think of calling (super) early elections (in reality, he cannot until next May 29), because the saturation of elections this 2024 in Spain could be a Guinness record. Although we already know how all this could end sooner or later, with an interview (also a rally) that the president would grant exclusively to David Broncano to help justify his million-dollar signing for TVE.
But if this Sant Jordi week from Sánchez's "rally letter" has shown us something, it is that Barcelona, the epicenter capital of the next 12-M elections, is a great city for the rich (and the footballers and coaches are. ). It is also a paradise for tourists, a great theme park, where a literary and romantic festival ends up being a full-fledged business and a great international attraction. But, don't let books and roses prevent us from seeing, smelling and reading reality. Not even a gentleman like Sant Jordi, despite his exploits and fame, would be able to afford to live in this prohibitive city, unless he got a contract with Barça. He would surely not be able to find housing for himself or his horse. And not just a mansion on Montcada Street in the Gothic quarter, what's wrong, he would have difficulties getting a small apartment to rent or buy, which he plans so much, so much.
So that we get an idea of the magnitude of the tragedy. In this city of expats and new rich people, you can drive a Porsche Macant T Election for 799 euros per month, according to this week's offer, but, on the other hand, it will be very difficult to find a home for that price. Not even a hovel. In other words, having a roof is not a vital right, but a luxury item, even more so than a Porsche.
Data helps us understand it. The low quality of employment and the difficulties in accessing housing lead 27% of Spaniards to consider that their income level does not allow them to have a decent life. The 1st Oxfam Intermón Multiple Inequalities Survey made public these days told us this. For its part, the Bank of Spain assures that "the magnitude of the problem" translates into a deficit of 600,000 homes, especially in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga and Alicante.
It is normal for Sant Jordi not to find an apartment if he is forced to exchange his horse for a Porsche. The question is whether we will one day end up like all those people that, by law, the United Kingdom will send to Rwanda because they have no place in their country. Where do all those citizens go who find it increasingly difficult to live in cities like Barcelona and who are silently expelled every day by the overwhelming force of supply and demand? In Madrid they are no longer even hiding: Ayuso now offers a 20% tax deduction on investments made by a foreigner who has recently arrived in the community for six years (another version of the golden visa). Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our capitals are increasingly becoming an oasis only for the rich and a desert for the poor.
As long as the political class continues to engage in its dirty wars instead of solving the real problems of its voters, there will be no room to dream, not even with a book in one hand and a rose in the other.
