Santos Cerdán's sudden, bail-free imprisonment can be understood as a direct response by the Supreme Court to the Constitutional Court's ruling upholding the amnesty law. It is clearly a way of criminalizing amnesty and granting it to those it is granted to: Catalan separatists. The syllogism is clear: first premise, Santos Cerdán is corrupt; second premise, Santos Cerdán negotiated the amnesty; conclusion: the amnesty is corrupt. It is so obvious that no explanation is necessary, only rhetoric to give it gravity and a dark air of betrayal of Spain. Headlines like: "Santos Cerdán admits he negotiated the amnesty because it was essential for Pedro Sánchez's investiture" simply describe how political negotiations work, but suddenly these negotiations appear as what the right always repeats: something illegal, illegitimate, shameful, a betrayal of Spain. Garbage, as Felipe González said. On Monday, Santos Cerdán wasn't alone in the van entering Soto del Real prison: he was accompanied by the amnesty.
The amnesty must be destroyed because it is the greatest political expression of an anomaly that Spanish nationalism did not tolerate during the Republic and is not willing to tolerate now either: a progressive government that legislates with the support of the Catalans, the Basques, and the left. From the right, they have repeatedly shouted that such a government is illegitimate: saying this is irresponsible and profoundly anti-democratic, but from their point of view, it must be justified, because, for them, such a government entails the liquidation of Spain. And Spain, no matter how much nationalist pomp is added to it, is a vast conglomeration of interests. A lot of money for those patriots who know how to defend it with the necessary cynicism and energy.
That's why you can now read and listen to the writers, journalists, and pundits calling once again for a governing agreement between the PP and the PSOE. It's a way of proving right what Feijóo and Abascal have explicitly said on many occasions, and what many also think: that minorities shouldn't be given the opportunity to occupy positions of power, much less govern in them. Governing with minorities is a crime, and the amnesty law is blatant proof. Santos Cerdán (and Ábalos, and Koldo) have made it extremely easy for them with their alleged and repulsive adventures as thieves of public money, with all the staging (vices, swinish conversations) of traditional corruption. But these are still, within the Spanish political-judicial system, venial sins, for which many right-wing leaders enter to testify, and leave, with their heads held high, often even pretending to be angry. Cerdán has been imprisoned for demeaning himself to speaking with Puigdemont and Junqueras. Let's see what the PP does now if it wants to push through its motion of no confidence.
