Antoni Bassas's analysis: 'From rats to envelope cash'

In just a few hours, the focus has shifted from Mazón to Pedro Sánchez. Mazón's political career, and surely his personal one as well, died yesterday, live on air. section on greeting the victims alongside the King and Queen of Spain and insulted by the victims, who They called him everything from "rat" to worse.

As long as Mazón doesn't resign, the people won't be able to find closure. His continued presence is an insult. He's such a washed-up politician that yesterday he gave a little speech, and the audience, just to get applause at the end, consisted of 160 members of the Valencian government. In this speech, he summed up the catastrophe with the phrase: "There are things that should have worked better." What can you expect from a leader like that?

Last night's event in Valencia was so tense that Mazón's presence overshadowed the victims and their families. An event filled with tears and insults is a very bitter affair. There were words of calm and the searing notes ofThe song of the birdsBut the only sentiment that truly hung in the air was expressed by Virginia Ortiz, who had lost a cousin. And she put it perfectly:

"Our neighbor is not our enemy. Most of us just want to live in peace. But this peace is only possible in societies that have freedom, equality, dignity, and security. Floods are the natural phenomenon that causes the most deaths in Spain. But it wasn't this phenomenon that caused the catastrophe we suffered; it was human suffering that led to the initial act that resulted in these deaths."

Next Monday, Maribel Vilaplana, the journalist who was having lunch with Mazón, will testify before the court.

And we were saying that the focus has quickly shifted today to Pedro Sánchez because since 9 a.m. he has been appearing before the Senate's investigative committee (the fourth in which the PP has an absolute majority) and they are asking him about corruption in the PSOE, given that the party's last organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán, is in prison.

Formally, this commission is important. In practice, the commission has started with the kind of back-and-forth we could have imagined. Not even an hour had passed and a senator had already spoken of a "corrupt government" (taking advantage of Yolanda Díaz's slip of the tongue), and Sánchez counterattacked by saying that this is a "defamation commission" and that It's "a circus"And with this circus bit, they've already provided the headline for the whole day. To give you an idea, the opening tone was this:

Gentleman: "Can you clarify whether you have ever received any cash payments in envelopes during your party's term? Yes or no? A specific question."

Sánchez: "Regarding your question, I want to say the following: the Socialist Party is a party that has absolutely clean, absolutely regular financing..."

Knight: "Yes, but the question was very specific."

Sánchez: "Without a doubt."

Chairman of the committee: "I believe Ms. Caballero's question is very specific. I understand that you want to extend the time as much as you deem necessary. But I also tell you this: if you abuse this power, as I am beginning to see you are doing, I will find it necessary to extend the time."

Gentleman: "Returning to the question: yes or no?"

Sánchez: "So... can I answer you?"

Gentleman: "Yes, it's very simple. But you can do it with a monosyllable."

Sánchez: "Firstly, allow me to thank the president of this committee for his impartiality—that's sarcasm. And secondly…"

President: "Sánchez, Mr. Sánchez. You're not going to argue with me, you're the star of the show today."

So, with the first question – "Did you receive any money on top of that, yes or no?" – they spent five minutes going around in circles. Incidentally, Sánchez ended up admitting that yes, they "settled expenses against invoices" by paying in cash, which isn't a crime. Like I said, the first hour was like a Calaf market, where Sánchez felt right at home and turned everything around. Yesterday we felt pain, insults, and anger. Today we're feeling disparagement and students walking out of the studio. A noise that shows that the general interests of the people are bothered by them.

Good morning.