The thread that links the Zapatero case with the controversial landing of Delcy Rodríguez in Madrid

MadridThe name of Delcy Rodríguez rose to prominence in Spanish politics long before Donald Trump's intervention in Venezuela and before she became the country's new leader following the arrest and imprisonment of Nicolás Maduro. It was in January 2020, when she landed at Barajas airport and had a meeting (formal or informal, depending on the version) with the then Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, now in pre-trial detention for the Koldo case. That contact was highly controversial, as Rodríguez was prohibited from entering European Union territory as part of the sanctions agreed by Brussels against Maduro's government. Now, the so-called Delcygate is back in the spotlight: there is a thread connecting those events with the summary of the Zapatero case, which has shaken Spanish politics. This thread has a name, and it is Commissioner Jesús María Gómez Martín.

a Venezuelan businessman, who also appears in the case as a suspect for money laundering a Venezuelan businessman, who also appears in the case as a suspect for money laundering. In these messages, they would speak of Commissioner Jesús María Gómez Martín as one of their contacts in Spain. Palomero, moreover, is considered in the summary as the man the network turns to to try to activate the Ábalos channel in the Plus Ultra rescue, even though theoretically the one that would eventually be successful, according to the police, would be that of Julio Martínez Martínez and Zapatero.

"The basis is a Whatsapp chat maintained between lawyer Miguel Palomero and Danilo Diazgranados, the former being the one to whom the latter made requests to handle economic matters in Spain, including favors and gratuities, among others to the Barajas commissioner Jesús María Gómez Martín, with repeated references to Julio Martínez Martínez, with a clear role in obtaining subsidies for Plus Ultra". This chat would be called Danilo-Spain, although it is not clear who its members are.

At the same time, when the headquarters of Plus Ultra was searched, investigators also extracted a contact card from the same commissioner Jesús María Gómez Martín, with his number handwritten on the back. An indicator, in the opinion of the investigating judge, that he was one of this airline's men in the State to try to gain influence in the public sector. On the other hand, the judge also places this police officer as one of the links in the Koldo case, since according to her, he would have facilitated business of illicit origin at Cuatro Vientos airport (Madrid), according to a conversation by Koldo García, former advisor to Ábalos, although it is not transcribed in the ruling.

The link with Zapatero

According to the judge, who no longer handles the case because she transferred it to the National Court, these conversations indicate that there is a corporate network dedicated to acting as an intermediary with the Spanish public sector and which calls itself the Zapatero group. One of the elements that the investigating judge highlights is that in the Danilo-Spain chat, it is revealed that Danilo Diazgranados would have a personal and economic relationship with a person named "Zorro", "Z", or "ZZZ", whom investigators identify as Zapatero. It is indicated that he would have exerted influence on Repsol's senior executives so that Diazgranados would obtain the distribution of lubricants from this company in Venezuela in December 2023.

Given all this information, in addition to a possible money laundering offense that would also affect this businessman and another referred from France and Switzerland, the investigating judge in Madrid who was handling the case decided to recuse herself in favor of the National Court this February. And it has been José Luis Calama, also with information received from the United States, with information also received from the United States, who has decided to indict Zapatero.