The sentence of 24 years in prison for José Luis Ábalos, the harshest sentence for a former minister, has not changed Moncloa's script by even a millimeter. Although it is the first to affect Pedro Sánchez's government, from the executive they consider that the case was already discounted and that they distanced themselves at the opportune moment from the former head of Transport and a totem of the PSOE. "Before he was formally indicted, we asked him for his deputy's seat, and he ended up in the mixed group," they state from the Spanish government. Specifically, it was the federal executive committee of the PSOE on February 26, 2024: they gave him 24 hours to do so and assume political responsibility for the Koldo case, even though at that time there was no formal indictment of the former minister yet. Now, this in vigilando responsibility does not apply in Sánchez's case, for having trusted him, and Moncloa considers that he has already paid the political price for this case: by distancing himself and undertaking anti-corruption plans still in the process of implementation, also as a result of Santos Cerdán's case.

There is no doubt that Begoña Gómez has had her passport withdrawn to humiliate her and her husband, to see if she finally abandons the presidency of the Spanish government. The Madrid right and far-right (redundancy intended) are no longer willing to wait another minute for her to call elections. That's why the judge (hold my drink) considers that the police escort of the Sánchez family could collaborate in a flight from Spain. We already wrote it here months ago: they want the socialist president in prison.The Spanish nationalist right (excuse the repetition once again) is furious. Because of the amnesty and pardons for Catalan independentists in exchange for the investiture? Yes, of course. But not for the flag, which they flagrantly wave, but for power. Eight years of socialist presidency means eight years without controlling the BOE, with its appointments and its royal decrees. From Catalonia, we have the necessary perspective to understand that we are witnessing a new coup against the state. A coup that did not begin with the amnesty law, in which Sánchez dared to correct the Supreme Court's ruling (and which, precisely for this reason, is not being fully applied). The right did not digest the defeat of 2004 due to Aznar's lies when the train bombings occurred in Madrid, nor the Statute of 2006, corrected by the Constitutional Court after being approved in a referendum. That legal maneuver, and those that followed with the cases for 9-N and 1-O, bears a strong resemblance to this judge's decision intended to attack the executive from an unleashed judiciary. And the PSOE was more than warned that, when convenient, it is nothing more than the necessary alibi to legitimize Spain as a democracy with party alternation. But now the alibi is over. PP and Vox will now alternate.

For months, the case being investigated by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado against Begoña Gómez, wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has been causing unease within socialist ranks: they consider it "persecution" against Gómez for being the wife of the head of the state executive. This weekend, however, Peinado has also managed to outrage the police and part of the judiciary with the argument he used to justify the withdrawal of Gómez's passport, a precautionary measure requested by the popular prosecution led by the ultra entity Hazte Oír. The magistrate considered there was a flight risk because her escorts could help her in a possible escape. An argument that angered the police force and also put the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) on alert. So much so that this Monday the permanent commission of this body will study whether to open disciplinary proceedings against Peinado.

On June 12, 2023, the PSOE began to leave behind the feeling of defeat. That day, an uninhibited José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero went on Cope to defend Pedro Sánchez's "spectacular" government, laughed at the PP's insinuations of fraud, and stated that he expected nothing more than the re-establishment of a PSOE-led government. Carlos Herrera told him that neither the results of the municipal and regional elections nor the polls predicted it to be a plausible scenario. Zapatero began the comeback.

The weekly The Economist, with a hard-won reputation for rigor and liberalism, also excels – like The New Yorker or Libération– on its covers. A few years ago, one was dedicated to Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had just arrived at Downing Street, asking: "Is Bambi a carnivore?”. Over the years and the Iraq War, the British Labourite proved to be not only a carnivore but also an anthropophage.

"The left cannot steal," Gabriel Rufián, a Member of Parliament for Esquerra, told the PSOE bench a year ago. This warning resonated strongly with a PSOE which, with the Koldo and Cerdán case and the investigations into Begoña Gómez and David Sánchez – wife and brother of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez – were yet to be joined by the cases of Leire Díez and former socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The perception in public debate, however, is clear: progressive voters do not forgive illicit enrichment, as the conservative electorate does. But does corruption really punish the left more than the right? Far from being a myth, evidence shows it is a reality with studied mechanisms.

Leire Díez has been under the scrutiny of the National High Court for days for allegedly orchestrating – and with the hand of Santos Cerdán – an structure to derail the judicial cases of Pedro Sánchez's circle. The investigation will take another step from next week with the declaration of lawyer Jacobo Teijelo as investigated and a battery of 24 witnesses who will begin to parade before Santiago Pedraz. According to the judge, what the so-called plumber of the PSOE did was to offer "remunerations or favors" in exchange for information or actions that would help to torpedo investigations uncomfortable for the socialists. Some of her interlocutors believed that what she was telling them was "fantastical," a "waste of time," or an "intrigue," even though Leire Díez boasted of having the capacity to maneuver in high instances to achieve her goals. Where did the tentacles she claimed to have reach?

It is difficult to talk about lawfare in the cases that harass the PSOE due to the multitude of evidence and proof that accumulate daily, but if there is one that could serve to illustrate a textbook case of lawfare it would be the one affecting the wife of the Spanish president, Begoña Gómez. Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has led a surreal investigation, guided by evident bad faith and hostility towards Pedro Sánchez and his circle. For this reason, everyone took for granted that last Monday, when Begoña Gómez was summoned for a hearing, the judge would proceed to inform her of her indictment and the opening of oral proceedings. Surprisingly, however, five days later, the judge has not yet communicated his decision, nor has he ruled on the popular prosecution's request to withdraw her passport preventively, which unjustifiably prolongs the procedure.

Light blue shirt, open blazer and no tie. Pedro Sánchez entered the hemicycle of the Congress of Deputies with this casual look on a day of high political and judicial tension in Madrid: at the same time José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was arriving at the National Court to testify as an accused for influence peddling, money laundering, tax offense, and smuggling. The pressure was already enough today to have to put on a tie. His top lieutenants have joined him: Carlos Cuerpo, who had arrived with a blue one, and Félix Bolaños, who was wearing a red one.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's expected declaration as a defendant before the National Court has not moved the PSOE's position one millimeter. The former Spanish Prime Minister has emerged while retaining freedom of movement

Pedro Sánchez's partners are increasingly uncomfortable with the alleged corruption cases affecting the Spanish government, and this Tuesday Junts made a move: although they have been demanding the call for elections for weeks, they have registered an amendment to a PP motion for the Congress of Deputies to pronounce on the matter. However, the chamber's board, with the votes of the PSOE and Sumar, has vetoed the vote and it will not take place: the argument is that calling elections is an "exclusive" competence of the Spanish president and that, therefore, the Junts initiative "invades constitutionally reserved competences" for the head of the executive. The amendment was going to go ahead and would have been a hard blow for Sánchez in a week horribilis for the judicial agenda surrounding the PSOE: despite not being legally binding, it would have been politically evident that he does not have the confidence of Congress and that a majority is demanding new elections.

In the middle of a horribilis week for the PSOE due to the judicial agenda against Pedro Sánchez's circle, the socialists and Sumar have agreed to unblock one of the pending issues in Congress. The two formations that make up the Spanish government have announced the push for the reform of the Penal Code which includes, among others, the repeal of the crimes of insult and slander against the Crown and offenses against religious feelings. This modification proposal had been shelved in the lower house for more than two years. The pact recovers the bill presented by Sumar at the beginning of the legislature – it was taken into consideration by Congress at the end of 2023 – and plans to abolish fines and prison sentences of up to two years for insulting or slandering any member of the Spanish royal family or for using their image in a way that "could damage the prestige of the Crown", as currently established in the Penal Code.

A new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, to which ARA has had access, supports the alleged leadership role that Santos Cerdán would have exercised in the Leire Díez case. The National Court is investigating an alleged "criminal structure" to "obstruct" judicial proceedings and "protect the interests" of Pedro Sánchez. The 107-page document reinforces the existing evidence and, among other things, includes a report on the "management of travel expenses" related to Santos Cerdán and other members of his team in 2024 and 2025, which was prepared by the PSOE and handed over to the UCO three weeks ago. "He gave verbal instructions to his support staff to authorize any trip requested by Leire Díez in such a way that she personally communicated with the Secretariat staff to request trips," the report by Santiago Llorente, coordinator of the party's management, states.

In less than a month, the session period in the Congress of Deputies ends. The last week of ordinary activity in the lower house will be that of June 24, when Pedro Sánchez's appearance is scheduled due to the latest judicial scandals in his circle. The Spanish Prime Minister will have to give explanations regarding the indictment of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the revelations from the investigation into the Leire Díez case. This judicial minefield of the PSOE has relegated legislative matters to the background. With a weaker parliamentary majority than ever, Sánchez faces the final stretch of the legislature with serious doubts about whether he will manage to approve the laws that are pending in Congress, as well as the outstanding agreements with his investiture allies.

The Zapatero family's jewelry is today the main focus of tension in Spanish politics. The former president of the government has just been charged in a separate piece of the one that Judge of the National Court José Luis Calama was already investigating. The immediate consequence, beyond being summoned to testify again, is that as soon as legal action has been initiated regarding his jewelry, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero can no longer regularize them. Article 305.4 of the Penal Code establishes that he could have done so before the investigating judge formally communicated the opening of proceedings.

The procedural situation of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero worsens with each passing day and threatens to become a ordeal for him and also for the PSOE. The episode of the jewels found in a safe in his office, which his entourage initially downplayed and valued at around 50,000 euros, but which have now been appraised at 1.3 million, leaves the former president in a very difficult situation. The judge has decided to open a separate piece of the Plus Ultra case to investigate him for alleged smuggling and tax offense, as he considers that there is no record that they have been declared or that they have a clear origin.

The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has not seen the 3Cat documentary that exposes the abuses suffered by thousands of young people doing military service in Spain. She herself explained this Tuesday afternoon in the Senate when she tried to shrug off the pressure from Junts to clarify the vexations, torture, and rapes during mandatory military service in the Spanish army and, specifically, the 1,900 deaths that the journalistic investigation of the program Sense ficció estimates occurred for this reason. Both the first part of the documentary, broadcast at the end of 2024 under the title Et faran un home, and the second, Et faran un home: Morts silenciades,which expands it with more testimonies, published in mid-2026, have led the pro-independence and sovereignist parties to demand the creation of an investigation committee in Congress.

"Antonio Balas: dangerous". This is one of the various annotations found in the agendas seized from Leire Díez, the main suspect in the latest judicial case affecting the PSOE. It refers to the head of the economic crime department of the Central Operative Unit (UCO), Antonio Balas. He is 52 years old and originally from a town in Badajoz, although this lieutenant colonel forged his career in the Basque Country during the ETA years. "If there is one thing I can say I am a bit of a specialist in, it is the field of criminal investigation," he defined himself in an event in November 2023, three years after taking charge of the UCO's economic crime department with the aim of ending corruption, which he himself defined as "a serious threat [...] to the rule of law and the welfare society".

Iván Redondo (Sant Sebastià, 1981) has already become a legend of political communication in Spain. He was the power behind the scenes at Moncloa from 2018 to 2021 as chief of staff for Pedro Sánchez, and previously began in Badalona with Xavier García Albiol and in Extremadura with the government of José Antonio Monago. Five years after leaving the Spanish government, he explains why he left and the keys to winning elections in El manual (2026, Contraluz).

When the impact of the indictment of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has not yet faded, the Leire case, which investigates an alleged plot to torpedo judicial cases affecting government members or those close to Pedro Sánchez, threatens to become a ticking time bomb against the PSOE. In the last few hours, we have seen how the summary has forced the socialists to qualify or directly rectify previous statements. Now, for example, it can no longer be claimed that Leire Díez was nobody in the PSOE, when we know that she met with Santos Cerdán 22 times; that she entered Ferraz normally; that she spoke with the party president, Cristina Narbona, and that she met up to three times with the director of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González.