The PSOE and Unidas Podemos agreed in their coalition government agreement that state portfolios, such as Defence, would go to the party led by Pedro Sánchez. That decision put a brake on the aspirations of organisations that for years have been denouncing Spain's role in arms exports because, in practice, nothing has changed with respect to the PP period. On paper, however, in April 2020 a relevant event took place: the Spanish government approved a decree, 494/2020, which proposed a mechanism that would enable it to verify on the ground that the arms and dual-use material it exports are used for what has been agreed. Most of the actors consulted agree that this is an important step, but it has its dark corners. The first of all: that it has not been used.

Ali Jameel and his colleagues from the NGO Mwatana for Human Rights are risking their lives to document war crimes in Yemen, martyred by decades of conflict. After a bombing in a neighbourhood or a hospital, they quickly go to the area to collect the remains of the ammunition used and to interview the survivors. This is how, since Saudi Arabia's intervention began in 2015, they have gathered evidence of 177 aerial bombardments. In 29 cases they were able to prove that the Saudi coalition was dropping bombs made in the UK, Italy and Germany. And where are these bombs being dropped from? Well, also from planes made in Europe, including Spain. "Spain is an accomplice to war crimes for selling fighters and military ships to Saudi Arabia", denounces Jameel from Sana'a in a telephone conversation with ARA.

There is one sector of the Spanish economy that does not suffer so much from the crisis: the military industry. For a decade now, Spain has been one of the top 10 countries that export the most arms in the world, a place far above its economic capacity or its global political weight. According to the latest report of the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI), published two weeks ago, it ranks seventh in the world ranking of arms exporters in the period 2016-2020, only behind the great military powers of the planet: the United States, Russia, France, Germany, China and the United Kingdom. In 2018 it ranked fifth. In recent years, 3.2% of all weapons sold in the world were manufactured in Spain, with the corresponding authorizations to market them from the government in Madrid. Arms exports made in Spain have soared by 295.4% between 2010 and 2019. A whole business that grows in opacity, protected by the Law of State Secrets.