A new railway tragedy bursts into the pre-campaign

The morning has begun with a serious train accident in Spain. Two high-speed trains have collided in the province of Toledo, south of Madrid. An Iryo and an AVE. They did not collide head-on but from the rear, one that was moving against one that was stationary. It seems the train driver had not received the message that there was a stationary train ahead because the electronic system that was supposed to inform them was not working and the control center did not warn them. As a result of the impact, two carriages have fallen down an embankment and, as I speak to you, Civil Protection has reported 46 deaths, but the death toll may worsen. We still do not know why it happened, but it is impossible not to think about the accident in Andalusia, in Adamuz, in the month of January, where 46 people also died.

We will limit ourselves to saying that having the second-largest high-speed train network in the world, as is the case in Spain, requires many human, material, and technological resources, in maintenance and renewal, and not any country can afford that. Spain is not the second-largest economy in the world. And do not doubt that this accident will be electoral campaign material, due to the gravity of the event, the repetition of the January accident, and because the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, is so loose-tongued on social media and in Congress that every time the trains do not run, let alone if there is an accident, such loquacity turns against him.

Meanwhile, today it is news that the Mossos have asked for help from the Spanish Interior Ministry to close social media accounts that summon young people to cause destruction. Specifically, the Mossos have requested the intervention of the Intelligence Center against Terrorism, of which the Catalonia police is a part. The Mossos are a part of it. This police action is faster than requesting the intervention of a judge. Regarding the cowardly level of messages that will rain down on us these days as if excrement were raining, we have an example today in the person of Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, who yesterday linked the violence in Barcelona with the 1st of October, ETA, and Pedro Sánchez.

Cayetana Álvarez: “He has legitimized violence in two specific ways. First, by amnestying the violence of the coup d’état in Catalonia. And I remember the fire, the barricades, the split head of a police officer during the terrible nights of Via Laietana. And, second, Sánchez has legitimized the violence of the pro-ETA world, the pro-ETA violence”.

Considering the 1st of October to have been violent is Orwellian. Everyone knows that the violence was brought by the Spanish government, at the hands of the National Police and the Civil Guard, and that Rajoy's government, from the same party as Ms. Álvarez de Toledo, ignored years and years of peaceful, million-strong demonstrations. And ETA. For the PP, ETA is still there. Meanwhile, Pedro Sánchez continues to exploit the human side of his offer. Now it turns out he decided to call elections while having lunch with his family.

Pedro Sánchez: “I did not call elections immediately, I called them once the weekend had passed. First, because I wanted to see a bit what the response to the mobilization on the street was, but, secondly, because I had a very important appointment that I always have on Sundays with my family, with my parents, whom I asked what I should do. And well, I saw it very clearly after lunching with them, because both they and my wife told me: «Elections must be called. If you cannot carry forward this type of measures, Parliament must be renewed»”. This is that whole “the power of love” thing, in this case, of the family. Mimicking any of us, when we sit at the table on the weekend and talk about our problems. That is how they take us to the polls.

Good morning.