"Not giving in to Leire's geekiness is smart": the PSOE defends Sánchez's silence

Madrid"The moment is difficult for us, no one denies it, but above all because of the general atmosphere. It's shit and chaos, especially caused by the right and the far right. You take reality and the country is going in a different direction. Do we have to deal with this? Of course. What the PP is doing isn't good? For no one. But the polls show it's only good for Vox." This is how Spanish government sources summarize the situation facing Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE following the outbreak of the Leire Díez case, about which the Spanish president remains silent and to which the party has reacted by trailing. It took the PSOE 48 hours to open an information file on the activist after audio recordings were released in which she offered judicial benefits to an accused businessman, and this Wednesday It took another 24 hours to announce that he would take the matter to the Prosecutor's Office he pendrive with documentation that Díez had handed over on Tuesday afternoon, when he appeared at Ferraz to explain what was happening.

The PSOE's lukewarm attitude toward Leire Díez, whom several sources consulted describe as a "freak," as well as the confirmation that she and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset had met with the Socialist party's number three, Santos Cerdán, fuel suspicions. "There is no connection beyond membership. It's more a matter of crooks than anything else," insist Socialist sources. In recent hours, there have been highly critical voices toward Sánchez, such as Emiliano García-Page from La Mancha and Javier Lambán from Aragon, who have even gone so far as to advocate for the Spanish president to bring forward the elections. An intervention by former leader Eduardo Madina on Cadena SER has gone viral, expressing his belief that Díez has moved through the underworld, offering deals to those accused of corruption. Transport Minister Óscar Puente has counterattacked: "What was missing from the quartet of resentful people."

This Thursday, the second vice president of the Spanish government and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, reiterated that the PSOE "must clarify what is happening." However, the Spanish government defends Sánchez's failure to respond to journalists' questions for so many days. "There is a lot of overexcitement in the media and among the opposition. Sometimes it's better to say nothing, because it only increases the noise. Would this have stopped if we had said something? No," they argue with the Spanish executive. A veteran socialist agrees: "The president [remains silent] so as not to fuel it. It's an intelligent communication strategy. I would advise him to do so as well. The right has managed to monopolize the debate on the issues that suit them, and the government is losing the battle over the issues to be debated."

The PP "forces the machine"

According to these sources, the PP is trying to divert attention from the congress that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has called for next month, where internal differences could surface, and is "pushing the brakes" to derail the legislature. "They are pushing the situation to the limit by trying to force elections, because they see that they are running out of time," they assure from the Moncloa. "They are seeing that the situation with Junts is much better than it was three months ago," they add. In fact, they are trying to turn the tables and believe that the PP should be ashamed of the appearance of the commissioner Víctor de Aldama in Díez's appearance and his request that Feijóo put an end to this government. "The endorsement that [Feijóo] was missing," they joked in the PSOE this Wednesday.

Beyond the PP's political strategy, the PSOE also asks to take stock of what is being published and makes the comparison with the patriotic police of Mariano Rajoy's government. "We come from a Rajoy government that used the deputy director of operations of the National Police and the Secretary of State to control things, and you say Sánchez is a dictator when he has done nothing with the power he has and that a lady uses...?" say Socialist sources. Furthermore, they insist that the right-wing media give credence to any suspicions against the Spanish government, but Aldama's accusations have not been proven so far, and nothing more has been heard of the alleged report from the UCO (University of Catalonia) that was supposed to be presented to the judge weeks ago and that allegedly points to clues against Santos Cerdán.

A 'patriotic UCO'?

The PSOE's position is also delicate because, although they do not work in a coordinated manner – according to what they defend, Díez and the PSOE – they have shared diagnoses of the state's sewers. And there are elements in structures such as the UCO that act against the Spanish government, as can be seen from the WhatsApp of the former head of human resources Juan Vicente Bonilla, now hired by the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, in which he speaks disparagingly of the ""red-purple" of the Spanish government. "It's something that directly affects them, and Fernando Grande-Marlaska isn't doing anything to clean up the sewers," complained journalist Patrícia López, one of Leire Díez's collaborators, on Cuatro this Thursday. Quietly, the State executive admits that they cannot publicly say that there is a Patriotic UCO.