1. In Spain's judicial system, some always come out on top, while others always get the short end of the stick. The pity is that acquittal on all charges or a thorough licking of the tongue has nothing to do with reason or the truth of the facts. It all gets messed up depending on which political party you belong to, where in the country you were born, and what you think about the unity of the State. This year will be fifty years since Franco laid the sack, but there are still a good handful of heirs to that regime who haven't washed their togas. Let's look at three very current cases.
2. Now that it's been five years since we began lockdown and so many people were dying from COVID, the judicial issue is taking center stage in Catalonia. The Civil Guard and National Police unions are seeking three years in prison and fifteen years of disqualification for former ministers Alba Vergés and Josep Maria Argimon, and sentences for three senior officials in the Department of Health, due to the delay in vaccinating Spanish police officers stationed in Catalonia. In March 2021, the priority when administering the first vaccines to arrive was different. After a year of saturated ICUs and thousands of deaths in the hospital, the highest-risk population was vaccinated first. Yes, by March 24, 77% of the Mossos d'Esquadra police officers, 78% of Barcelona's city guards, 4% of the national police officers, and 3% of the Civil Guards had been vaccinated. But it's also true that, a month later, by order of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJC), all the police officers and those with tricorn hats who requested it were vaccinated. That is, long before the rest of the street population, who were not essential personnel. It doesn't matter that they vaccinated them all a month later. After the fact, they don't want justice; they clamor for revenge. What a difference this makes from the events of October 1st, when pardons have poured in for the police and civil guards who happily and eagerly softened us up, while the protagonists of the Trial are scrutinized. And when in doubt, pardons are denied. This is no coincidence.
3. Also in the wake of COVID, we're talking about the Community of Madrid. President Isabel Díaz Ayuso, with a hawk-like cynicism, has learned that she must always deny everything, even when reality has put her between a rock and a hard place. Even if your partner agreed to deals with the courts to minimize his tax dealings, the textbook strategy is to always try to portray himself as the victim. Even if her brother grew a golden beard with medical supplies for COVID, and even if 7,291 people died in Madrid nursing homes because they politically decided it was better not to transfer them to hospitals, Ayuso distances herself with her trademark arrogance. The data is shocking, both devastating and cruel. But five years later, she still speaks of fabricated figures and leftist machinations and admits that the death toll was "only" 4,000, as if that should console anyone. The protocols that prevented the elderly from being denied care during the pandemic may not be considered murder, as Socialist spokesperson Reyes Maroto has claimed, but there's no word in the dictionary that defines such atrocity in management. For Ayuso, not only will there be no ruling against her, but we may soon see her as a candidate for the Moncloa office.
4. In that sense, Carlos Mazón can breathe easy. It doesn't matter that he gave so many different versions of his indifference on the day of the DANA. Who he ate with, what he was doing in the private room at Ventorro, and whether or not the Cecopio security camera footage was manipulated—these are all just a bunch of shavings. The reality is that 224 people died, and, given the data the Valencian president would have had, had it been for his work and if his government had managed the emergency properly, many families would surely be whole. Terrible. But does anyone believe Mazón will even be tried and convicted for all of this?
