The plan is to disinfect the PSOE from the sanchista virus

BarcelonaAt what point did Pedro Sánchez become the number 1 enemy of this triumvirate made up of the Spanish right, the deep state and the Madrid establishment? We can place this point of no return in May 2021, when the president of the government announced his intention to pardon the Catalan political prisoners. That was the turning point, the inflection point. Sánchez was no longer one of them.

The Spanish democracy, heir to the 1978 pact, has much narrower limits than some think, and those who have discovered this abruptly have been the socialists, who are now tasting the same medicine that the independentists had previously tasted. A very clear boundary is that justice could not be amended, especially on an issue as important as the unity of the homeland. Since then, it can be stated that Sánchez's government has been at war with the judiciary, a power of the State that was not de-Francoized in its day and in which alignment with conservative ideas is the majority.

It is from that moment that the deep state, an informal network that includes judges, police commanders, high-ranking officials, etc., with a lot of power in their hands, is activated. Their first reaction is one of astonishment and then rage, but they are calm. Everyone in Madrid is convinced that there will be a change of government in 2023 and things will return to normal. But on July 23, the surprise is immense. Sánchez has beaten them.

Total war

In this second term, the war has already been total and the amnesty law acts as a catalyst. But it is soon seen that the only way to bring down Sánchez is through corruption, as happened with Felipe. And God knows they have found material that, conveniently presented, is lethal for the PSOE. It is always said that mistakes are made under pressure. Catalan independence did it during the Procés, and it seems that the PSOE has done it by crudely trying to stop judges and prosecutors. This is a war that the PSOE could not win, much less with characters like José Luis Ábalos or Leire Díez.

The PSOE now faces not only an electoral risk but an existential one. The hunt will not stop and will target the main leaders, including Pedro Sánchez. The objective is to disinfect the PSOE of the Sanchista virus, which is also Zapaterista, and return to the Felipista path. The offer that future leaders will receive will be very clear: renounce Sánchez and Zapatero and you can re-enter the game of parliamentary "turnismo" and the distribution of perks. This is what the Madrid establishment would also want to affirm its power with respect to the periphery. This is what is coming. Regardless of whether the PSOE's corruption is more or less real, more or less serious. And what is evident is that Sánchez decided to go to war without first looking at what he had at home.

The details

In a moment of general depression of the PSOE, there is still someone who believes in victory. The former director of the office of the Presidency of the Government of Spain, Iván Redondo, is presenting his book, El manual, these days with different interviews, where he insists that Sánchez is the only socialist candidate who can bring the party, despite the current crisis, to the threshold of 30% of the votes and dispute victory with Feijóo's PP, whom he sees in the hands of Vox.

The Community of Madrid already exceeds seven million inhabitants and its president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said this week during the presentation of her housing plan that they aspire to reach eight million by 2040. Ayuso represents within the PP the commitment to population growth through immigration, which distances her from the far-right of Vox. However, the autonomous community that is growing fastest in population is not Madrid or Catalonia, but the Valencian Country.