The defense strategy of businessman Julio Martínez Martínez has become a new headache for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The friend and alleged frontman of the former Spanish government president has put it into practice this week, advised by lawyer María Dolores Márquez de Prado. It is with whom he was accompanied this Tuesday when he appeared as an investigated party at the National Court, a scenario that Márquez de Prado knows very well. This renowned criminal lawyer worked as a prosecutor there for seventeen years. A period in which she earned the nickname "indomitable." Precisely for being a headache for another former socialist leader, former Spanish president Felipe González during his time in Moncloa.

When on February 21, 2024, the Civil Guard arrested him, Víctor de Aldama was president of Zamora CF and his name had never appeared related to the Spanish government. Two and a half years later, his “active” collaboration in the judicial investigations that tarnish Pedro Sánchez has turned him into a ticking time bomb for the PSOE. Not only because of the “full and continuous cooperation” with justice that has led to the "condemnation of José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García, but because, boasting of the benefits of stretching the blanket, it has become a path to follow for other people. And it is a weak point of the defense that Moncloa, under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, puts up. This very week we have had some examples. 

The president of Plus Ultra Línies Aèries, Julio Martínez Sola, and the CEO of the same entity, Roberto Rosselli, involved in the Zapatero case, have resigned from their positions. They did so while being investigated for the loan the company received during the pandemic, as reported by ACB sources and confirmed by EFE.

“I will have it when the [ministers'] council finishes, that's how we've kedat”. This is the message of discord that Jorge Fernández Díaz clings to in an attempt to achieve acquittal in the Kitchen case trial, which has entered its final stretch at the National High Court after almost four months. Where does it come from? It is an SMS that, on August 2, 2013, the then Minister of the Interior allegedly sent to his number two, Francisco Martínez, who was Secretary of State for Security. It is one of the pieces of evidence that led to Fernández Díaz's indictment – in September 2020 – and has brought him to the dock. The Prosecutor's Office is asking for fifteen years in prison. However, from day one, he denies its authenticity. “We maintain the thesis that these messages never existed. If they existed, they were neither sent nor forwarded by him,” his lawyer, Jesús Mandri, defended during the final statement. He considers that they underwent “clear manipulation” and an “ad hoc creation” and that it is “implausible” to claim that the messages came from the former minister. On the other hand, sources from the prosecution support them, arguing that it makes no sense for Francisco Martínez to put in writing something that incriminated him.

Julio Martínez Martínez has become one of the key figures in the investigation into José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. They both met in 2011, when the former president sold him a house in Almeria, they became friends and got fond of going out running together. The UDEF believes he was his frontman. 24 hours after disrupting Zapatero's defense strategy by assuring that he was the one who “marked the steps to follow” in the Plus Ultra rescue, the businessman has spent four hours testifying before Judge José Luis Calama as a suspect and has fully ratified the confession about the former president's intervention. Despite this, he said he does not know who he influenced or with whom he spoke for the airline to receive public aid. Sources present at the declaration explain to ARA that he recounted that he simply relayed to Zapatero what clients told him, that he did not get involved in the actions he took, and that he did not report to him if he was going to see anyone.

The Constitutional Court will begin to reconsider the amnesty in two months, on September 22, because really, what are sixty days in the life of a person who has been waiting for justice, exiled or disqualified, for almost nine years? It won't matter anymore.

On May 19, early in the morning, a piece of news exploded like an unexpected shell: a judge from the National High Court charged José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the alleged leader of an influence peddling scheme. A month later, he, who in recent years has been Pedro Sánchez's loyal squire and guardian, testified before José Luis Calama for almost three hours and denied all suspicions root and branch. But he left one topic unaddressed: the jewelry worth 1.3 million euros that the Spanish police found in the safe of his office. A week later, the UDEF opened a new avenue and suggested that Zapatero received 200,000 euros for influencing in Bolivia in favor of a Peruvian company. Since then, leaks and complaints from the former Spanish president's defense have been the only news in a case shrouded in many unknowns. From that moment on, and despite the lingering questions, Moncloa maintains its unwavering support for the former Spanish president and Pedro Sánchez reiterates his "confidence" in him.

The Director General of the Civil Guard has returned to the National Court to testify as an investigated party for prevarication and obstruction of justice within the framework of the Leire Díez case. Her name surfaced after the Central Operative Unit (UCO) discovered that she had met with the person known as the PSOE's "plumber", even though she has distanced herself from the alleged plot to torpedo judicial investigations from the outset. According to what ARA has been able to ascertain, she stated before the judge that she is a "victim" of Santos Cerdán, who was the party's number three and with whom she "never" had a "good relationship," and assured that if she had known that Leire Díez was coming on his behalf, she would have refused to receive her. She added that she saw "nothing suspicious" in the contacts with her and that they never spoke about internal investigations within the Civil Guard.

No pressure or orders not to investigate Pedro Sánchez's circle. The Deputy Operational Director (DAO) of the Civil Guard, who is being investigated for prevarication and obstruction of justice within the Leire Díez case, has defended himself before Judge Santiago Pedraz. The former head of the Central Operative Unit (UCO), Rafael Yuste, assured that in July 2024 he urged agents to "step aside" in judicial cases with political implications and urged them not to be proactive and to cede the lead in driving cases to the judges. Manuel Llamas has been testifying for over two hours and has denied any maneuver to torpedo or obstruct investigations: he assured that at no time did he say they should step aside and denied any kind of pressure.

Cristina Narbona has completely dissociated herself from the maneuvers that Leire Díez allegedly instigated to destabilize judicial cases around Pedro Sánchez. The president of the PSOE, who exchanged WhatsApp messages with the then socialist militant on the day the Spanish president began the five days of reflection, has made it clear that “he had no knowledge whatsoever” of the alleged plot being investigated by the National Court. He said this when questioned by journalists after a declaration as a witness under half an hour before Judge Santiago Pedraz. Leire Díez told him that she "knew facts that could be important" and she referred her to Santos Cerdán because he, as the party's organization secretary, was in charge of communication policy. According to what ARA has been able to learn, behind closed doors she said that Díez called her because she "wanted to collaborate and help" and had "useful information for the party." "I'm referring to information, not sewage," she clarified. Of course, she acknowledged that the Civil Guard's reports describe "worrying indications."

The causes surrounding the PSOE have some common ground. One of these common denominators are the main investigated individuals – José Luis Ábalos, Santos Cerdán, and Koldo García – who appear in different courts. But another is people who had never been involved in politics, who were not initially on the radar, and who have ended up becoming key figures in the ongoing investigations.

Santiago Pedraz tightens the circle around Pedro Sánchez's inner circle. The judge investigating the Leire Díez case at the National Court has decided to investigate Juan Manuel Serrano, who was Pedro Sánchez's chief of staff at the PSOE before he reached Moncloa and president of Correos from 2018 to 2023. He takes this step after the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office requested it following "}the latest report from the Civil Guard, which concluded that he had a “relevant and preeminent participation” in the alleged plot. The report from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) indicated that he and Díez would have “worked closely in the achievement of the objectives” of the supposed organization, both in the alleged irregular awarding of contracts within the SEPI environment and in attempts to destabilize judicial cases linked to the socialists.

Plot twist with a few days until the Kitchen trial ends. The National High Court judge Antonio Piña, who is investigating the case, has finally agreed to investigate the audio recordings of conversations between María Dolores de Cospedal and José Manuel Villarejo about the operation to try to steal information from Luis Bárcenas that could compromise the PP. The former general secretary of the PP, who was also Minister of Defense, had until now one of the big protected names of the case, but justice has finally decided to put a magnifying glass on it due to recordings that also implicate former president Mariano Rajoy.

The National Court Prosecutor's Office considers it proven that the former Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz, directly participated in the "criminal parapolice operation" known as the Kitchen case and had "control" over the driver of the former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas, who acted as an informant. Prosecutor César de Rivas concluded this Tuesday before the court that this illegal operation was not intended to recover Bárcenas's hidden money, but to "boycott" the judicial investigation of the Gürtel case and seize "compromising" documentation from him for the party leadership.

In recent days, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has deployed his defense strategy on multiple fronts: four written statements in four days. The latest step taken by the former Spanish president has been to lash out very harshly at the UDEF, whom he holds responsible for his diaries and conversations with his secretary having ended up leaked to the media.having ended up leaked to the media. He denounces it as an “authentic outrage”, an “indiscriminate dissemination” with a “devastating result” and “the most serious attack that can be made” against the rights to honor, privacy, self-image, and secrecy of communications. This latest request, which ARA has accessed, is added to the other moves he has recently made to try to invalidate the chats that incriminate him. They are all conversations between third parties who speak about him and which were the basis of his indictment. So far, his roadmap focuses on attacking the origin and legitimacy of the evidence.

There is a comparison between two fashionable judges who are currently making a name for themselves: José Luis Calama, who is investigating José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the National Court, and Juan Carlos Peinado, who has sent Begoña Gómez to trial after a two-year investigation. It is obvious to everyone that the way these two major media cases in which they are involved are being handled is different. Indeed, high-ranking voices from Moncloa in the corridors of Congress admit that Calama "is not" Peinado, as shown by the fact that the investigation into the former Spanish president, still in its early stages, does not have the extravagances of the indictment of Pedro Sánchez's wife. The clear distance between the two has become evident, especially in two matters: the adoption of precautionary measures and the indictment of individuals who have previously testified under oath to tell the truth. Let's go step by step.

The Unit of Economic and Fiscal Crime (UDEF) of the Spanish police has opened a new front for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. A report accessed by ARA reveals that the former Spanish president allegedly received 200,000 euros from a Peruvian company –Grupo Gloria– in exchange for "mediating or influencing" "various millionaire lawsuits" that the company had in Bolivia. He allegedly charged them through a "simulated contract" with an intermediary company –Focus Social– through three invoices: one for 100,000 euros in 2024 and two for 50,000 euros in 2025. For this purpose, he "allegedly met or contacted" "high political spheres" of Bolivia, such as President Luis Arce, the ministers of Economy and Justice, and the state attorney general. At the center of the target was a sanction of 107 million dollars that the company's cement subsidiary –Soboce– had received.

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?

The day after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero declared himself investigated, Judge José Luis Calama makes a move and takes a further step: he indicts his two daughters –Alba Rodríguez and Laura Rodríguez– and his secretary –Gertrudis Alcázar–. The magistrate did so after the PP requested it, as leader of the popular prosecutions, pointing to the crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling and money laundering. It was an initial request from Hazte Oír that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office subsequently endorsed. Why are they being investigated?

Wednesday morning was a very stressful day for the media in general and for Espejo público in particular. The control session in the Congress of Deputies coincided with the declaration of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at the National Court. By the start of Susanna Griso's program, at nine in the morning, the former president, who was under investigation, had already arrived at the building. They already had the image of the day: Zapatero getting out of the car and climbing the stairs that led him inside the courts.Public Mirror had three different viewpoints of that moment. The first, a general shot, further away, in which Zapatero was seen in profile getting out of the car. The second, tighter, in which he appeared from the back getting out of the vehicle. And the third, very similar, which captured the moment he turned to wave and went up the stairs. The program joined these three scenes to slightly extend the sequence. It was a triple entry to the National Court. Since Zapatero's declaration was simultaneous with the control session, the program split the screen into several parts. But Zapatero's car arriving was an obsession, to the point that they kept the images on loop for practically the entire program: entering the National Court over and over again. Large, small, on one side, in the center, in the bottom corner, or at the top. They varied it depending on the space they had, the connections with the reporters, and the topics they were developing. But the former president was always there, somewhere or another. Between nine in the morning and beyond one in the afternoon, we saw Zapatero enter the National Court up to 286 times (perhaps with a small margin of error which you will allow me, after spending four hours watching the television loop like someone watching a washing machine drum in motion). More than seventy times per hour. From the side, from the back, or waving. Depending on the time, they also added a few images of the confiscated jewels in between, merging the scene of the car arriving with the loot from the safe. Around eleven in the morning, they offered a touch of creativity: they repeated the images again, adding a caption that supposedly reproduced the insults hurled at him by some pedestrians. Up to eighteen times they replayed the images with the addition of “¡SINVERGÜENZA!” and “¡CHORIZO!” in huge yellow letters. From one in the afternoon, Zapatero left the courts through the guest entrance, which caught most of the media off guard. But they managed a fleeting scene of the socialist leaving, which they replayed in slow motion up to 28 times. “¡Nos han jugado al despiste!”, lamented Griso, and the panelist Toni Cantó commented that the building's column had played in his favor because it partially blocked him. The pleasure of the television verdict. Then they reiterated in two boxes the arrival and departure sequences simultaneously. Zapatero twice at the National Court. The satisfaction of a job well done.