The author of the failed coup d'état of February 23, 1981, Antonio Tejero Molina, has died in Valencia at the age of 93, according to various media outlets that have confirmed the information with the family. The death of the former lieutenant colonel coincides with the same day the Spanish government declassified documents about the 23-F coup d'état. Tejero had been in delicate health for several years and this Thursday night he gave up. Born on April 30, 1932, in Alhaurín el Grande (Málaga), he joined the Civil Guard in 1951, from which he was expelled after being sentenced to 30 years in prison for military rebellion. He served part of his sentence in Sant Ferran Castle in Figueres, a former military prison. In 1996, he was released having served only half of his sentence.

Antonio Tejero Molina, the mastermind behind the failed coup attempt of February 23, 1981, died Wednesday afternoon in Alzira (Valencian Community) at the age of 93, as reported by the law firm representing his family in a statement. The former lieutenant colonel's death coincides with the same day the Spanish government declassified documents related to the 23-F coup. Tejero had been in poor health for several years and passed away Wednesday afternoon. In the statement, the family's lawyers explained that "in the absolute conviction that death is not the end, [the family] is grateful for all the expressions of affection received during these difficult times and requests the utmost respect for their privacy."

The snap election called in Extremadura for December 21st has handed Miguel Ángel Gallardo (Villanueva de la Serena, 1974) the opportunity to run in his first regional elections. The PSOE candidate has received the party's endorsement at the national level, despite facing trial for alleged malfeasance and influence peddling related to the hiring of David Sánchez, brother of the Spanish Prime Minister, at the Badajoz Provincial Council. During the investigation, Gallardo orchestrated the resignation of several members of the PSOE list in order to secure a seat in the regional parliament, gain parliamentary immunity, and have the case heard in the High Court of Justice of Extremadura.

In these pages we have already recalled on other occasions that on November 2, 2017, the then Secretary General of ERC, Marta Rovira, warned that what the Spanish justice system, hand in hand with the PP, was doing against the independence movement—imprisoning an entire government—would one day turn against the PSOE. That this moment has arrived is demonstrated once again with the start of the trial of the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, a high point in the war that the right-wing-dominated Spanish judicial leadership launched against Pedro Sánchez when he agreed to an amnesty with Junts in exchange for remaining in power. Executive, because it would be inappropriate not to specify.

The day after Pedro Sánchez reiterates his address to the Senate Faced with attacks from the right claiming there are no irregularities in the PSOE's financing, the Supreme Court has made a move that calls into question the explanations of the Spanish Prime Minister. The investigating judge in the Ábalos/Koldo case, Leopoldo Puente, asked the National Court to investigate the cash payments made by the PSOE to former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García, supposedly to cover justified expenses, according to the party. However, Puente believes that the flow of cash at the party headquarters on Ferraz Street has "unanswered questions that must be clarified." Given the suspicion of potential irregular financing and also possible money laundering, the Supreme Court judge is passing the buck to the National Court. "What Sánchez saw as perfectly normal yesterday in the Senate's investigative committee is not. TRUE "Sánchez's didn't even last 24 hours," tweeted the PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo.

There will be no meeting between Pedro Sánchez and Carles Puigdemont to mend relations between Junts and the PSOE. The pro-independence party had already indicated this week that it would not resolve the situation, and this Friday the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, echoed this sentiment, stating in an interview on TVE that this hypothetical meeting between the Spanish president and the Junts leader "is not relevant." When asked directly if it would help to halt negotiations, he was categorical: "I don't think so." If this meeting hasn't taken place, it's probably because neither side has been interested. Junts has opted for a break, believing that the negotiations with the PSOE have yielded no results and, therefore, a Sánchez-Puigdemont meeting would have represented a kind of alliance against the move to the opposition that Junts has decided upon. And Moncloa Palace rules out the possibility of the Prime Minister traveling abroad to meet with the former Catalan president, who would be arrested if he were to set foot in Spain. Sánchez has repeatedly stated that he made a commitment to meet with Puigdemont almost two years ago, when he signed the amnesty agreement, but conditioned it on the law being applied to him.

The People's Party (PP) wanted to subject Pedro Sánchez to questioning in the Senate's Koldo/Ábalos case committee, but on occasions like these, it knows how to frustrate the conservative party until chaos reigns. The Spanish president donned his PSOE leadership hat to confront the right-wing corruption accusations, and the discussion devolved into another chapter of the "you too" rivalry between the two major parties in the country. "I think this is a circus," Sánchez declared from the outset. The spectacle reached its peak at the end, during the tense questioning by PP Senator Alejo Miranda de Larra, who was powerless in the face of the Spanish president's responses, some evasive and others direct. "There was a black money circuit on Génova Street, not on Ferraz Street," said Sánchez, who left the committee "very satisfied."

The same week that Junts broke with the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez is now open to unblocking one of the agreements with Carles Puigdemont's party, and Junts voted in favor of a Spanish government law, the one on customer service. The Spanish president made a gesture to revive the law on repeat offenders, although it was a generic announcement that neither the Moncloa Palace nor the PSOE expected, and it remains to be seen whether it will gain traction.

"When has there ever been an investiture majority?", ask sources from the Moncloa. And this sums up why, for the Spanish government, not much has changed in the legislature in the State since Together they decided to break the Brussels agreement with the PSOEPedro Sánchez has known from day one that the parliamentary arithmetic arising from the July 23, 2023, elections was "complex," as Minister of the Presidency Félix Bolaños recalled this Tuesday at the press conference following the Council of Ministers. And now the Spanish government is downplaying the idea that Junts and Podemos are not firmly established allies of the government in Congress. "All relationships have their ups and downs," stated the spokesperson for the Moncloa, Pilar Alegría.

In 2017, Carles Puigdemont thought that the Spanish government would negotiate self-determination with the threat of the 1-O referendum, and six years later, he believed it could do so thanks to seven key deputies in Congress and an international mediator. But the unity of Spain cannot be negotiated with either a PP or PSOE government. This is the main lesson to be drawn after nineteen meetings in Switzerland between Junts and the Socialists, as the former Catalan president revealed in his appearance without questions in Perpignan.

Since last February, the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) has included Gabriel Rufián among its response options to the question: "Of the main political leaders, who would you prefer to be the president of the Spanish government?" Six months ago, 0.4% of respondents chose the leader of the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), and in the latest survey, in October, support rose to 2.7%. It remains to be seen how this will change after his time on the program. The revolt TVE's program last Monday. For the moment, this is an anecdotal figure, but surely the most relevant aspect of the underlying debate is not that percentage, but rather the fact that a Catalan independence leader is among the response options.

At the threshold of a year with elections in several autonomous communities—Castilla y León and Andalusia, and the question marks in Extremadura and Aragón—Pedro Sánchez appears to be stuck in a pre-campaign framework, although at the national level he insists that he will not bring forward the elections and will extend the legislature until 2027. He is trying to counter the alleged corruption surrounding him and his parliamentary fragility, now accentuated by Junts' threats to break off relations. Sánchez is trying to impose a narrative that benefits him, while Alberto Núñez Feijóo is working hard to portray an exhausted government that has no other option but to call the Spanish people to the polls.

An important move by the Spanish government to redirect relations with Junts. Germany and Spain agreed this Friday to a "dialogue" to make Catalan official in the European Union. In the midst of the crisis with the pro-independence party, the executives of both countries are working together to find a "response" to Spain's request to recognize the co-official languages in the State: Catalan, Basque, and Galician. In a joint statement, written in English, German and Spanish, they assert that the "incorporation of these languages constitutes an essential part of Spain's multilingual national identity" and add that for this reason they have decided to "initiate bilateral conversations after which Spain will present a text for debate and decision by the 27 member states at a future meeting of the Consell de In addition, they commit to starting "as soon as possible", with the talks being led by the respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs. That is, they do not commit to any specific timetable, but they do commit to moving quickly to reach an agreement.

"[Isabel Díaz] Ayuso is not above the law. She will have to comply with it," said Manuela Bergerot, spokesperson for Más Madrid, in the corridors of the Madrid Assembly on Thursday. This was a phrase often heard from representatives of the PSC, Catalunya Sí Que es Pot, Cs, or the PP in 2017, when the Catalan government was preparing to unilaterally declare independence, changing the subject to "Carles Puigdemont." Eight years after the DUI (Monday is October 27th), the regional chamber of the Spanish capital has replaced the Parliament of Catalonia.honor of hosting the most tense plenary sessions, especially during the sessions overseeing the Madrid president.

Junts' speech to Congress goes a step further. Míriam Nogueras asked Pedro Sánchez questions again this Wednesday in the control session, five weeks after the last time, when she warned that the "extension" could not last the entire legislature. "Perhaps there should be less talk about schedule changes and start talking about the time of change," proclaimed the spokesperson for the pro-independence party in Madrid, which has outlined a turning point in relations between the Spanish government and her party. Junts sources assure that this time the threat is serious and that in the coming days "things will happen."

Pedro Sánchez is the one who allegedly gave the order to dig up dirt within the Civil Guard and the Prosecutor's Office. Specifically, dirt on those investigating cases surrounding the Spanish president. This is what he conveys to prosecutor Ignacio Stampa in the complaint he filed against former PSOE member Leire Díez and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, with whom he met on May 7, for alleged bribery. These two individuals allegedly asked him for information about irregularities by Anti-Corruption prosecutors in a meeting that, initially, was intended to convey an apology from the Spanish government for his "unfair" departure from the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Sumar is raising its tone against the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and suggesting the resignation of Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez in the face of the price crisis. "We need serious, brave, and innovative measures. And we are afraid that Isabel Rodríguez hasn't fully embraced this, and therefore should give way to whoever is willing to do so," stated Verónica Martínez Barbero, Sumar's spokesperson in Congress. Pilar Alegría, the spokesperson for the Spanish Parliament, countered that she does not share the request, and the Socialist party in the coalition maintains that it is "unjustified." "The groups must do their work to draw attention," Rodríguez herself reacted in the corridors of the Senate.

"I acknowledge them [the facts]," stated businessman Francisco Correa, leader of the Gürtel case, in the latest trial on the plot that began this Monday in the National Court. This is the main cause of a case that led to Pedro Sánchez's successful motion of censure against Mariano Rajoy in 2018, following the ruling in the first phase of the Gürtel case that convicted the PP as the party responsible for profit. The National Court sentenced Correa to 51 years in prison for leading the scheme of commissions to PP politicians in exchange for contracts with companies in its network, but also sentenced the party's former treasurer, Luis Bárcenas, to 33 years in prison, and the PP as a legal entity.

Pedro Sánchez has been laughing for two weeks now, not like in his investiture debate when he mocked Alberto Núñez Feijóo's "I'm not president because I don't want to be," but he is laughing. In last week's control session, he told the PP leader "Cheer up, Alberto", and laughed, after the leader of the opposition announced that the Spanish president should appear before the commission of inquiry into the Koldo case in the Senate – it will be on October 30th. And this past Monday he also responded to Donald Trump's euphoria during his show to Sharm el-Sheikh over the ceasefire in Gaza.

Following the new Civil Guard report revealing financial mismatches involving José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García, they appeared before the Supreme Court this week and remain on provisional release. In contrast, former PSOE organizational secretary Santos Cerdán has been imprisoned since June, and the investigating judge in the case, Leopoldo Puente, has twice reaffirmed his decision. Why this discrepancy? Of the three factors that legitimize provisional detention, the judge ruled out the risk of flight and repeated offenses, but warned of the possible destruction of evidence.