"I have never had any connection with Plus Ultra, nor did anyone ask me for anything. I did nothing and had no interest in the bailout." José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero testified for four hours before the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee. called by the PP at the start of the election campaign in Castile and León to talk, primarily, about the Plus Ultra bailout. A case that is under investigation for alleged money laundering – it is questioned whether part of the bailout could have been used to launder money from corruption in Venezuela – and which the Popular Party has long considered highly credible.

A blow has been dealt to the far-right group Hazte Oír by the National Court. Judge Antonio Piña has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the organization against former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for money laundering, drug trafficking, and membership in a criminal organization due to his ties with Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan regime. After reviewing the document, he concluded that he cannot open a "prospective" investigation into the former Prime Minister's assets without evidence of criminal activity and without the original lawsuit providing "any facts" that could link Zapatero to the alleged crimes. In fact, Piña strongly criticized Hazte Oír: "Personal or popular belief cannot be confused with the existence of facts sufficient to warrant opening a criminal case." He added, "The public significance of lawsuits like this requires the presentation of evidence that goes beyond journalistic reports."

The Catalan phrase "to call for bad times"It refers to the doomsayer or the jinx: the one who predicts misfortunes. In Spain, and in Catalonia, it is usually the one who does the opposite who attracts misfortune. That is, "calls good weather." In other words, they see the sky as bright and clear without knowing (or knowing, even worse) that storm clouds are approaching.

Venezuela is part of Spanish politics, not only because of the thousands of Venezuelans living in the country—especially in Madrid—but also because, beyond Gaza, it is one of the international issues that most strains parliamentary relations. This was evident once again this Thursday in the Congress of Deputies with the extraordinary appearance of Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares, who explained his policy regarding the Venezuelan situation and defended not only Spain's role as a "bridge" with the country but also the role of the former Spanish president as mediator. He faced criticism from the right and far right throughout the discussion, despite the fact that the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office has opposed investigating him for his alleged links to Venezuelan drug trafficking. "I hope they apologize to him," reacted Spanish Vice President María Jesús Montero afterward.

The National Court has opened a new legal front in the inner circle of Pedro Sánchez and will investigate for the first time the role of former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in Venezuela. Four days after Hazte Oír filed a lawsuit against him for the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering, and drug trafficking, Judge Antonio Piña considers that the reported events have "characteristics that suggest the possible existence" of a criminal offense. However, according to the court order accessed by ARA, given that the "nature and circumstances" of the events are still "undetermined," he has decided to initiate the preliminary proceedings that are "essential" to see if the investigation has merit. Before proceeding, he is asking the Public Prosecutor's Office whether the National Court has jurisdiction to do so.

Until fourteen days ago, Julio Martínez Martínez was an anonymous businessman with over thirty years of experience. He was listed as the sole administrator of sixteen companies—eleven with headquarters in Petrer (Alicante), four in his hometown of Elda, and one in Madrid—and he often went running with a "friend of many years." That friend is former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. When he was with him on December 8, dressed in athletic wear, running along the paths of El Pardo—as they did most of the time—he didn't yet know that four days later the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police would arrest him as part of an investigation into the Plus Ultra airline for money laundering. The following day, the judge confiscated his passport and prohibited him from leaving the country.

From the start of this legislative session, the right wing has been working hard to put José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the spotlight. In recent days, the situation has intensified, and the former Spanish president has once again become a target for the People's Party (PP) and Vox. The PP leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has presented him as the "symbol of the decline" of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE); the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has dubbed him "the scapegoat in every situation"; and the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has demanded that he give explanations in court. Zapatero is the main leader of the old guard of the PSOE who staunchly supports Pedro Sánchez—a month ago he boasted of having had a "long coffee" with the Spanish president and asserted that he "is strong and convinced"—and he has also emerged as a key figure in critical moments of this legislative session. In fact, Zapatero has also been the PSOE's firefighter in the most difficult situations with Junts: he has been the most important link Sánchez has had a relationship with former president Carles Puigdemont since 2023, with whom he has even forged a "relationship of trust"

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has a wish: to have a conversation with Carles Puigdemont in Girona. Zapatero confessed this on Monday morning during a speech at the Ateneo. In Madrid, despite the day's agenda—ranging from the political crisis in the Valencian Community to the start of the trial against the Attorney General—media attention confirmed that the speaker was one of Pedro Sánchez's key advisors. Everything the former Spanish president says must be understood as part of behind-the-scenes work to ensure the success of this legislature. Even today, and despite Junts' break with the PSOE"Dialogue must be incessant, tireless," argued the man who doesn't hide the fact that the right wing once accused him of breaking up Spain, and also of handing it over to the terrorist group ETA. "[For the PP] with me, Spain broke 187 times [...] With me, the Spanish nation surrendered to ETA, and it was ETA that surrendered."

Pedro J. Ramírez (Logroño, 1952) is one of the most influential Spanish journalists of the democratic period and also one of the most controversial. He has now published his second volume of memoirs (You can tell the truth, Planeta), where he defends decisions as controversial as his covers with false accusations against pro-independence leaders.

Before the Catalan elections, when asked about the good relationship between Pedro Sánchez and Salvador Illa, José Montilla commented that things might be different if the latter took office, as happened to him with Zapatero. Well, it seems the time has come, and Isla has realized that the interests of the PSC and the PSOE are often opposed. The issue of ordinality is paradigmatic of the Catalonia-Spain relationship. What generates a cross-party consensus in Catalonia provokes the same consensus in Spain... but in the opposite direction. What is seen as common sense here is considered an unacceptable privilege there. And not even the PSOE, which is most dependent on Catalonia, is capable of breaking with that hegemonic narrative.

José Enrique Serrano, who was chief of staff to former Socialist presidents Felipe González and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, died this Tuesday at the age of 75. The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) recognized Serrano as "a servant of Spain and a socialist committed to the deepest values of this party." "This country will always be indebted to José Enrique Serrano," they stated on social media, as reported by Europa Press. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared that he was an "unrepeatable" person.

It is not difficult to corroborate that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has some role in the negotiations between the PSOE and Junts The only current members of the party who have a reserved seat in the front row at the presentation of his latest book are Santos Cerdán and Juanfran Serrano, Ferraz's main interlocutors with Carles Puigdemont. The PSOE and the former Spanish president have been very careful in recent months not to confirm their role in the talks. Discretion is a maxim for the negotiated resolution of conflicts, as Zapatero explains in The peaceful solution (Penguin Random House, 2025), where he addresses the international scene and the many open wars. Therefore, he makes no reference to Catalonia.

On the day that Junts presented the immigration agreement with the PSOE to delegate the powers of the Generalitat, former president Carles Puigdemont admitted that at this time his distrust of the Spanish government had diminished, but made it clear that in no case were they paving the way for the Spanish budget. The idea remains the same for Junts: to act folder by folder. However, beyond this skepticism that marks the relations between socialists and junteros, there is a politician with whom Puigdemont has forged a bond of trust in recent years: former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. A key piece, for both the PSOE and Junts sources consulted, of the machinery that makes the Spanish legislature work.

Today we have a two-ring circus. On ring number 1, the Catalan and Spanish governments are reaching around twenty important agreements today and during this week, including the authorization for Expand the Mossos staff up to 25,000 agents by 2030, an increase in the number of judges, a consortium to monitor compliance with the State's investments in Catalonia, and it is likely that an agreement will be reached for the State to forgive the Generalitat's debt of 15 billion euros from the liquidity fund it financed during the Mas and Mas-Colell era, and the Generalitat's bank will become the Spanish State.

A new threatening letter has been sent during the elections in Madrid, this time against ex president of the Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. This makes it six, after the ones received by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the Minister of Industry, Reyes Maroto; the PP and Unidas Podemos candidates, Isabel Diaz Ayuso and Pablo Iglesias; and the director general of the Guardia Civil, Maria Gamez. The Ministry of the Interior has confirmed this morning that the security systems of a post office in Vallecas have intercepted a letter addressed to Zapatero that contained "two possible firearm cartridges". The case is already in the hands of state security forces.