El Mundo publishes exclusively this Monday the WhatsApp messages regarding the expulsion of Javier Ortega Smith from Vox. The information is quite revealing, because it shows that it is not enough to agree on it with the leadership, but that it must then be executed in a very specific way, which is by also expelling Javier Ortega Smith from the formation's WhatsApp groups. And this apparently was not so simple. In one of the screenshots published by the newspaper, it can be seen how the general secretary, Ignacio Garriga, informs of the decision in one of these groups: "Javier, the national executive committee has unanimously agreed (19 yeses) on your dismissal as a member. Please, leave the group".

It is already known that the first victim of a war is truth and that, for governments, especially in times of war, doing journalism is unpatriotic because certain sensitive information cannot be revealed to the enemy. Media outlets always face this dilemma in times of war, as part of their readership may buy into this message, and therefore, the New York Times has been forced to educate its readers.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has opened a rift in his own party with the adoption of the principle of "national priority", an emblem of the far-right Le Penist movement that has been spreading across the rest of Europe, but which the PP had never embraced. What's more, it had vehemently rejected it.

We now know that Mariano Rajoy's great secret, the masterful formula that explains such a long political career, has consisted of never getting bogged down in details. If we are to believe his account to the judge, a Minister of the Interior, a head of government, or a party leader knows almost nothing about what goes on below him. "I was not aware of the reserved funds for a second of my life when I was Minister of the Interior," he stated. And this is despite the fact that one of his predecessors, José Luis Corcuera, was tried (and acquitted) for fraudulent use of these funds. But the point is that with this formula he has been able to surf through all the scandals that have affected the PP while he was one of the main, or the main, leader. He never knew anything because he wants us to believe that he only dealt with the great matters of state, with high politics.

The Valencian publishing house Tirant lo Blanch, aimed at the university public, has a very interesting collection that mixes two seemingly distant concepts such as cinema and law. The idea is apparently simple, but very effective in engaging readers who are looking for a more enjoyable way to approach issues that can be dry. The key is to find a legal expert who wants to get involved. Many have done so so far, and thus we find, for example, the criminal lawyer Jordi Nieva discussing democratic institutions based on John Ford's classic The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The latest acquisition of the publishing house has been Joan Ridao, Professor of Constitutional Law at the UB and lawyer in the Parliament (and a former leader of ERC), who tackles one of his specialties, the regulation of lobbyists, based on the film Miss Sloane (2016), directed by John Madden and starring Jessica Chastain.

Pedro Sánchez applies Johan Cruyff's football maxim to politics, which went something like "If we have the ball, they can't score any goals." Or, with a slight variation, "if you have the ball, you don't need to defend, because there's only one ball." Therefore, the point is to have the ball, meaning to set the terms of the debate. In this regard, the extraordinary regularization of immigrants is an impactful measure, the first in 20 years, and it goes to the heart of the debates currently shaking the Western world. Impossible to ignore.

The ERC deputy in Congress Francesc-Marc Álvaro presented the book, but it was another republican in Madrid who took the party president's message. "I went to jail for Catalunya, not because Colau is a deputy on an Esquerra list." Oriol Junqueras has cut short the unitary list of the left promoted for weeks by Gabriel Rufián with the collaboration of his former colleague in the lower house, Joan Tardà. In fact, a few days ago Tardà himself suggested in an interview in Público that Colau be number 2 on a list headed by Rufián and that David Fernàndez (CUP) also be in third position.

Alejandro Fernández (Tarragona, 1976) feels strengthened at the helm of the PP of Catalonia and has left behind his differences with Alberto Núñez Feijóo.Can you explain to us what the PP's position is regarding the war in Iran?

When Pedro Sánchez dusted off the slogan “No to war”, he knew perfectly well what he was doing. The confusion it has caused in the PP is such that the best response Feijóo's spin doctors could come up with in Wednesday's session was: “No to war and no to you”.

When the euthanasia law was approved in June 2021, support for the initiative was very broad in Spanish society, which had experienced emblematic cases such as that of Ramon Sampedro (died in 1998), played by Javier Bardem in Alejandro Amenábar's film Mar adentro, or that of Ángel Hernández, the man who helped his wife, María José Carrasco, to die in 2019 and who was acquitted of the crime of aiding suicide once the law came into force. According to a CIS barometer from January 2021, 72% were in favor of the law and only 15% against.

Albert Dalmau (Barcelona, 1990) visits l'ARA after a week in which, despite everything, the Government has saved a match ball and has gained time to approve the budgets.The government yesterday made a gesture quite unprecedented in Catalan political history, which is the withdrawal of the budgets. Is it a tactical withdrawal?

The big news from the elections in Castile and León is that, for the first time in a long time, the expectations predicting a surge for Vox have not materialized. Polls forecasting a drop for the People's Party (PP) and a Vox surge to 19 seats and over 20% of the vote have instead led to a scenario that reinforces the two-party system, with both the PP and the Socialists gaining more seats (+2) than Vox (+1). Therefore, it is legitimate to ask whether the far-right wave is reaching its peak, especially considering that the campaign coincided with Donald Trump's escalating involvement in the Iran-Contra affair. However, two points need to be clarified. Vox's rise hasn't been as significant because it was already starting from a strong position in 2022, when it obtained 17.6% of the vote and 13 seats. The electoral system, especially in a territory with many constituencies, benefits the two major parties and disadvantages third parties, as has been the case. The second point is that, while the far right is not growing as much, the hegemony of the right is consolidating.

Pedro Sánchez usually plays on the attack when he sees a clear opportunity to advance. And the diplomatic clash with Donald Trump's United States represents an unbeatable window of opportunity for him to set the debate on terms that suit him best. There are two major blocs in the world: the militarists/authoritarians (Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, etc.), and the democrats and supporters of the diplomatic path (which he currently leads, at least within the EU). In a country like Spain, with a very significant anti-militarist and anti-American sentiment (a direct legacy of Francoism), and which in 2003 and 2004 mobilized against the Iraq War in a process that would end with the PP's eviction from power, it is playing a winning card.

This week no relevant secrets about the 23-F coup d'état have been revealed, but it has left us with the hilarious phone conversations of Antonio Tejero's wife and a new strategic blunder by Alberto Núñez Feijóo for history. Carmen Díaz Pereira, Tejero's wife, discovered on the night of February 23rd what it feels like to be on the losing side. While half of Spain waits with bated breath to see if they will be rounded up like in 1936, this woman, sensing that the coup was failing, moved heaven and earth to try to get her husband out of the mess he had gotten into for being “a fool” and “an idiot”. “If they've left him like a cigarette butt. For God's sake. It's undignified”, she complains to General Fajardo. It's clear that she considers her husband an idealistic dreamer who has been tricked by some cowardly generals. “So good and so honest. Always with the homeland up, down [...] and all he wants is to end terrorism so that people live comfortably and in peace”, she tells a friend. “Have you seen what a disgusting army?”, she tells another. The friends she speaks to, presumably also military wives, try to encourage her by telling her that her husband is a “hero”, but she is suspicious. She knows, long before her husband does, how it will all end and that he will be a scapegoat. “A wretch” who has been “deceived”. Seen through these conversations, February 23rd becomes a sad Valle-Inclanesque farce. Of course, a farce that could have cost many lives.

Six members of Spanish intelligence services were involved in the 23-F coup attempt. This is what the Higher Center for Defense Intelligence (Cesid) —the previous version of the National Intelligence Center (CNI)— admits in an internal document that the Spanish government declassified this Wednesday. "Some members of this unit actively participated in the events of February 23," acknowledges Cesid after having carried out an investigation that concluded that six people "either knew about the events before the 23rd" or "planned operational support." This collaboration "they carried out" and "later tried to cover up their participation by activating an operation that would justify their movements" that day, the report states.

Six members of the Spanish intelligence services were involved in the attempted coup of February 23, 1981. This is admitted in a document by the Higher Center for Defense Information (CESID)—the former version of the National Intelligence Center (CNI)—which the Spanish government declassified on Wednesday. "Some members of this unit actively participated in the events of February 23," CESID acknowledges after conducting an internal and "discreet" investigation that concluded that six people "either knew about the events before the 23rd" or "planned operational support." The document highlights the name of Captain García Almenta, who, according to the document, gave "direct orders" to members of an elite CESID unit—called the Special Missions Operational Group (AOME)—which had a degree of autonomy, to assist the coup plotters.

Among the information declassified this Wednesday by the Spanish government regarding the attempted coup of February 23, 1981, are notes from the Spanish intelligence services. The then Higher Center for Defense Information (CESID) prepared one in early February 1982, almost a year after the events and a few weeks before the trial of those responsible, which recorded suspicions that Juan Carlos I had held "confidential and secretive interviews" with "some of the main" perpetrators of the 23-F coup. "It is asserted that, in fact, the King has met confidentially with Lieutenant General Milans del Bosch; it indicates that above all else, the aim is to ensure that the Crown is not harmed by the proceedings and that, in any case, attempts to do so do not originate from the main defendants and those with a known monarchist vocation," the CESID document states.

Vox has a short-, medium-, and long-term plan to put Santiago Abascal in La Moncloa (the Spanish Prime Minister's official residence). The first step in this strategy is being taken these days in negotiations with the PP (People's Party) for the regional governments of Extremadura and Aragon, which will coincide with the elections in Castile and León and Andalusia. All of this is with an eye on the 2027 general elections. According to information obtained by ARA, the far-right's plan hinges on an initial demand: to enter the government of Extremadura. The excuse is that they don't trust the president, María Guardiola, but the reality is more complex; Vox intends to corner the Extremaduran leader while simultaneously making things easier for others. males Populars, for example, Jorge Azcón in Aragon.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo has concluded that to reach La Moncloa (the Prime Minister's residence) he needs to coexist with uncomfortable neighbors, such as Vox. There is, therefore, no alternative. In fact, what he now needs to demonstrate is that PP-Vox governments work, and that this is a model that can be replicated in the Spanish executive branch. The dream of governing alone, already difficult for most of his supporters, is a distant prospect. malesThis is arithmetically impossible in a Parliament where Catalan and Basque votes also come into play, as is the case in the Congress. However, this coexistence can be, for many reasons, even more complex than the one Pedro Sánchez faces with his partners. Why? Because the political paradigm is changing at breakneck speed before our very eyes.

"We'll have good news about that soon," says José Miguel Sánchez, the general manager of the Zaragoza Chamber of Commerce, smiling when asked about the possibility of Aragon surpassing Catalonia in per capita income and moving from being the fifth richest autonomous community in Spain to the fourth. Sánchez is the leading figure of the economic euphoria reigning in Aragon thanks to the influx of millions in investments announced by major American technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft, as well as Blackstone, to build data centers. So far, some thirty have already been announced. The figures are staggering, but depending on the specific investment, we're talking about sums of money that exceed Aragon's current GDP, which stands at 49 billion euros. "This is Aragon's moment," declares Sánchez from his office in the Chamber's historic headquarters, located next to the construction site of the Nueva Romareda stadium, one of the football stadiums vying to host matches of the 2030 World Cup.