So it has happened: a former Spanish prime minister, who is now no longer dared to be remembered by the nickname Bambi, has declared as an accused for the first time. The newspapers digest it and the headlines are, almost unanimously, critical of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero because his explanations, partial and ethereal, convince no one, starting with the judge. That the cave would go for the jugular was taken for granted, but it is that even this disappointment seeps onto the front pages of newspapers usually friendly to the PSOE like La Vanguardia (“Zapatero denies receiving payment for the Plus Ultra rescue, but does not convince the judge”) or El Periódico (“Zapatero does not convince the judge, but keeps his passport”). There is only one newspaper that sides with him, El País, with “Zapatero declares that he did not influence the rescue: ‘I ask for trust’”. It is the only newspaper that does not mention the magistrate and the indications of corruption that remain. There are headlines without judicial gluten and this is one of them. With the addition of a small trick: the phrase in quotes does not correspond to the declaration before the magistrates, as it might seem, but is a phrase extracted from the subsequent press release. And it is an empty phrase, which appeals to trust out of the blue, or out of the eyebrow (but the public's eyebrows are even more angled than his, after details of the investigation were leaked).
Refusing to answer questions about the jewels certainly does not help to dissipate the stench. Here, again, El País comes to the rescue with “Experts see little criminal scope in Zapatero's jewels if he proves he received them as a gift while president”. It suggests that there is no problem if, instead of foisting a cheque –“what the hell do I do with this!”– the typical obliging sheikh gifts you a sapphire. But if he gets away with it, it will be because the tax offense of not declaring them has expired, since more than ten years have passed, not because the practice is acceptable. He may be spared the (judicial) penalty, but hardly the burn.
