If the latest events of the 21st century don't have you confused or distracted, it's because you live outside of everything. And if you're still operating with 20th-century codes, you'd better get a move on, or the tsunami will catch you by surprise. Because in the midst of the era of "fake news, trying to fit what happens into the logic of reality is a useless task, as useless as trying to live without an internet connection.

Juan Carlos Peinado once again defends tooth and nail having had Begoña Gómez's passport withdrawn and preventing her from leaving Spain to avoid her fleeing. He does this in a report he has presented to the Madrid High Court in response to the appeal by Pedro Sánchez's wife's lawyers against the precautionary measures. He acts as if he hears nothing and "reaffirms and reiterates" all of them. Two days ago,another judge, who replaced him, prevented that Gómez traveled to Turkey for accompany Sánchez to the NATO summit, but it allowed him to go to London for his daughter's graduation. “This would not be the first time that a prime minister of a European Union member state has fled to an African continent country to avoid a corruption plot proceeding,” Peinado maintains in the document, to which ARA has had access.

When I imagined that love was eternal and that all couples would grow old hand in hand, not just the delicate, sweet, and admirable ones, and that one could do as in that song I liked so much ("we'll never sleep in separate beds"), the job of prime minister and wife, or queen and consort, traveling the world, going to boring events, seemed fun to me. "What a drag, today we'll inaugurate such and such a thing," I thought they must say, slyly, because they knew there would be a "dress up" for work, do it, bump into each other under the banquet table, and go to the hotel, finally, at night. Telling themselves "it's better than working."

Juan Carlos Peinado has shaken off the pressure and gone on vacation without resolving Begoña Gómez's request to be allowed to leave Spain. The judge who had to step in has ended up being Antonio Viejo Llorente, the same one investigating Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner. His decision has been not to allow Pedro Sánchez's wife to travel to Ankara to attend the NATO summit, which will be held from July 7 to 8, mainly because Turkey does not belong to the European Union and, therefore, he considers that a hypothetical extradition would be more complicated. However, he does allow her to travel to London to attend her daughter's graduation, which will be on Friday the 10th.

First consequences of the withdrawal of Begoña Gómez's passport. Pedro Sánchez's wife, who Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has provisionally withdrawn her document and prohibited her from leaving the country, has had to make a first request to the magistrate to lift the measure. In a written statement, to which ARA has had access, Gómez asks for permission to accompany Sánchez to the NATO summit to be held from July 7 to 10 in Ankara, Turkey, and also to take advantage of the trip to attend her daughter's graduation, which will be held in London.

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 General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has opened the way to open proceedings against judge Juan Carlos Peinado, arguing that the bodyguards of the president's wife, Begoña Gómez, could help her flee. Despite the media noise, history shows that sanctioning a magistrate is almost a pipe dream. Recent examples support this: in 2024, the CGPJ ended up filing the proceedings against a judge who called the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a "psychopath", and in February 2026, the conservative majority turned a blind eye to magistrates Eloy Velasco and Manuel Ruiz de Lara, who called the president's wife "Barbigoña", invoking freedom of expression.

The school year has ended, tomorrow is the eve of Sant Joan and summer has begun in the midst of a heatwave, which reminds us that the prophecies about the consequences of climate change in Catalonia are unfortunately being fulfilled on time.And with all, today's news is not this, but that of judge Peinado, who this weekend has requested the passport from Begoña Gómez, the wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez. The judge considers (hold my drink) that the police escort for the Sánchez family could collaborate in an escape from Spain. See how big a mess Judge Peinado has made that this morning the CGPJ has met again to see if they open a file on him.There is no doubt that Begoña Gómez has had her passport confiscated to humiliate her and her husband, to see if she finally abandons the presidency of the Spanish government. They are after her. They want her to resign. Even more, they want her in prison. Let's see, corruption within the PSOE has already led to three of Sánchez's collaborators being imprisoned, but this is not incompatible with Sánchez being the subject of political persecution by elements of the judiciary, obedient to the Aznar-era war cry “he who can, do,” who believe they have a corporate and patriotic duty to prevent the amnesty from correcting what the Supreme Court ruled. Especially since, thanks to the amnesty, Sánchez has managed to govern despite losing the elections. And he has been president for eight years now. And it's becoming eternal for them.

The General Council of the Judiciary has decided to open proceedings to open an investigation into judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is investigating the Begoña Gómez case, for arguing that the bodyguards of the wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, could help her flee. This justification, for which the magistrate decided to withdraw her passport as a precautionary measure, is the reason why the judicial body has decided to open an investigation. According to the CGPJ, the judge's words may constitute a "serious lack of consideration", provided for in article 418.5 of the organic law of the judiciary. Now there will be a promoter of the investigation who, after various informational proceedings, will decide whether to definitively open the investigation or issue a resolution to close the case. Sources consulted at the CGPJ assure that there are other pending complaints against Peinado that could also be analyzed this same week.

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.

In a book published at the beginning of the year (On the Rule of Law), its author, Javier Cremades, warns about the fragility of the rule of law.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado sends Begoña Gómez, wife of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, to trial and revokes her passport. The magistrate resolved this Saturday the request for precautionary measures made by the popular accusers in Monday's hearing. Thus, Gómez will not be able to accompany Sánchez on international trips. In addition to the passport revocation, he also prohibits her from leaving the State and obliges her to report to the court every fifteen days. These are the measures requested by Hazte Oír, the ultra entity that groups the popular accusers, because they considered there was a risk of flight. However, they did not request preventive detention. Peinado also accepts the same precautionary measures for Begoña Gómez's advisor, Cristina Álvarez.

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.

While everyone was waiting for Juan Carlos Peinado to decide whether to send Begoña Gómez to trial and whether to revoke her passportdecide whether to send Begoña Gómez to trial and whether to revoke her passport, the controversial judge has made an unexpected move and has decided to open a new line of investigation in the case concerning Pedro Sánchez's wife. It is a separate piece for the crimes of prevarication and fraud against the interests of the European Union for a contract that was awarded to a company owned by Juan Carlos Barrabés. In a resolution of just over 200 words, the magistrate limits himself to citing the decree of the European Prosecutor's Office and avoids giving any minimal explanation of who intervened. It is, therefore, a very embryonic first step. Four hours after it became known, Peinado had to issue a new resolution to "clarify" that the piece is opened "solely" with respect to the businessman and, therefore, excludes the Spanish president's wife.

Spanish political life has a quite explicit calendar this week: yesterday Begoña Gómez, President Sánchez's wife, declared before the judge; today the director general of the Civil Guard declares in the Senate about her contacts with Leire Díez, and tomorrow Zapatero has to declare for influence peddling and money laundering for having acted as an intermediary in the rescue of the airline company Plus Ultra, even though the former Spanish president has asked the judge for more days to defend himself regarding the origin of the jewels, which now turn out to have a value exceeding one million euros. It is a hellish moment for the PSOE.The judge must decide whether to withdraw Begoña Gómez's passport, because he does not want her to leave Spain as he believes there is a risk of flight, while from the Civil Guard's investigation into the PSOE's sewers it appears that Santos Cerdán ordered all of Leire Díez's trips to be approved without any verification and that “nobody knows what was happening in Cerdán’s office”. Contacts in Madrid tell me that most ministers are devastated, and that Sánchez is holding on because he is risking his life or, at least, his freedom. You already know the Catalan drift of this panorama: Salvador Illa is a close friend of Sánchez and, right now, he is the only socialist leader with weight in Spain.And in the meantime, what is Illa doing? Yesterday the president signed a new pact of these that he likes so much, this time with employers and unions, to relaunch industry, so that in three and a half years, by 2030, industry represents 25% of Catalonia's GDP. It does not currently reach 20% in an economy, like ours, heavily tilted towards the service sector.Catalonia is still an industrial country, and it began to be so more than a century ago. I mean that there are realities that are not improvised, and now Illa returns to a very Pujolista narrative of Catalonia as an engine through industrial growth. On Friday I heard the president in La Seu d'Urgell, at the Business Meeting in the Pyrenees. He spoke to them about that association of the Four Motors for Europe from Pujol's era, created in 1988: Catalonia (Barcelona), Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart), Lombardy (Milan), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Lyon). Illa spoke to the businessmen about confidence, about the value of a public health system like Catalonia's, and even about Christian humanism. It was a speech of institutional and constitutional normality, without political adventures, very focused on reviving the country's economic potential through innovation, external openness, and exports, in a tone reminiscent of Pujol's, with the difference that 23 years have passed since Pujol stepped down as president. Illa speaks of the country's economic future like a convergent, perhaps because he aspires to win re-election from convergent centrality, now that the rose on the fist is withered and threatened and that the heirs of Convergence are trapped with the leader still in exile.Good morning.

A bus from Hazte Oír passes in front of the instruction courts of Plaza Castilla in Madrid announcing the good news: Begoña Gómez, wife of Pedro Sánchez, indicted for four crimes. A dozen people with Spanish flags and banners of "Corrupt Sánchez" shout and applaud as it passes, while about twenty journalists keep watch at the doors of the building with a large police presence. This Monday was a key day for the judicial case affecting the wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez: Judge Juan Carlos Peinado has summoned Begoña Gómez for a hearing prior to a possible jury trial and, furthermore, has asked the parties if they wanted to take precautionary measures. Hazte Oír, which groups the popular accusations, has requested the withdrawal of the president's wife's passport and that she be prevented from leaving the country because they believe there is a risk of flight, in addition to the obligation to report to the court every fifteen days and financial measures to prevent her from using the companies under suspicion. However, it has not requested preventive detention.

It was April 24, 2024, on the eve of the campaign for the Catalan Parliament elections, when Pedro Sánchez dropped a bombshell on social media. A letter to the citizens in which he confessed to being "deeply in love with his wife" and wondered if it was worth going forward after learning that proceedings had been opened against Begoña Gómez in a court. He took five days to reflect, during which many assumed he would resign... but he stayed. He decided to resist. The reader may wonder why this episode is being brought up now, but there is an explanation: it was during this period of reflection that Judge Santiago Pedraz places the beginning of the new judicial front that since this Wednesday the PSOE faces.

While Begoña Gómez trusts that the Madrid Court of Appeal will prevent Regulation on the creation of extraordinary chairs includes the "possibility" that, "exceptionally and for justified reasons," someone "without a labor link" to the university may be appointed as director.

After the investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado has closed the investigation of the case and has left Begoña Gómez one step away from trial, it is the turn of the accusers to request the sentence. This is what the ultra platform Hazte Oír has done this Monday, which acts as a popular accuser in the proceedings along with Manos Limpias, and demands 24 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement, influence peddling, business corruption, and misappropriation. This is evident from a document to which ARA has had access and which the lawyer for Hazte Oir has presented to the court. Precisely because of the high request for a custodial sentence, it asks for the passport of Pedro Sánchez's wife to be withdrawn due to the risk of flight.