Francisco Martínez, the umpteenth broken toy of the PP

MadridCornered by several cases relating to the PP's dirty war against his political adversaries, Francisco Martínez (Madrid, 1975) has once again fallen into disgrace, this time for a case of alleged money laundering, disclosure of secrets and cybercrimes, for which he was arrested this Tuesday. The Secretary of State for Security between 2013 and 2016, during Jorge Fernández Díaz's time at the Ministry of the Interior, has seen how his maneuvers with former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo in Operation Catalunya, the prospective investigations against Podemos and his pleas to the former president have been exposed. Audios and WhatsApp revealed in recent years have exposed him. "My biggest mistake was being loyal to wretches like Jorge, [Mariano] Rajoy, or [María Dolores de] Cospedal," he lamented in a message.

A lawyer in the Spanish Parliament since 2004, he came into contact with the PP until Fernández Díaz appointed him as director of staff and, later, number two in the ministry. In 2016, dirty laundry from the Interior Ministry was already beginning to surface, and Rajoy preferred that the top officials until then leave, although he did reserve a place for them on the lists as deputies in Congress. Three years later, with the PP already in opposition, they were removed. From then on, Martínez's most frequent corridors stopped being those of the ministry or Congress and became those of the National Court. A defendant in the Kitchen case, whose trial will be held next year, he has tried to drag at least his former boss into the courtroom for not being the only one to pay the price for the irregular spying on the former treasurer of the PP, Luis Bárcenas, to steal information about the party's corruption. Fernández Díaz will also be tried and the The prosecution is requesting 15 years in prison for both.

The instruction of this case left an episode for history: one you have a comparison between bothTwo highly trusted individuals who had commanded the Ministry of the Interior faced off before the judge, each presenting the version that would benefit them most. [Fernández Díaz], but he is the one who exposed himself the most. His dialogue with the former commissioner was constant from the beginning: when The World published the false UDEF report on the Pujols and Artur Mas in November 2012, he was aware of it. However, like all the other PP leaders who have appeared before the Congressional commission, he denied recognizing his voice in the audio recordings with Villarejo and denied the existence of Operation Catalonia.

Against Podemos

It is not surprising that he rejected this thesis, which, if accepted, could lead to a new judicial investigation – former President Mas has, in fact, filed a complaint – considering that he has three open ones. Judge Santiago Pedraz of the National Court is investigating a case on spying on members of Podemos And some of the conversations revealed in the case leave Martínez in a very bad light. "Of those Podemos members who had a criminal record, have you been able to confirm anything? [...] It would be very interesting to know, if they've been involved in extremist, aberzales issues... [...] What a fucking shit, someone must be... bad", he told former National Police Commissioner Enrique García Castaño via WhatsApp. "I categorically deny it, and I will do so in court as well," Martínez defended himself when he appeared in Congress last October, where he began working before joining—by mistake?—the People's Party.