Brexit is a representative example of how a demagogic idea (less than an idea, barely a slogan) can come to condition an old, stable, and respected democracy like the British one, and by extension, international politics. More than anything else, Brexit was a huge, colossal stupidity, and as happens with stupidities, its effects were — and still are — devastating. Keir Starmer became prime minister with a striking Labour absolute majority as has not been seen for a long time, and now abandons power mid-term, with discredit earned through hard work: to implement neoliberal policies, the others were already there, there was no need for a Labour politician as right-wing — and as anti-European — as the Tories themselves. Starmer has had to experience from power the explosion of the far-right in the United Kingdom, represented by Reform UK, Nigel Farage's party, an old populist who had always played a residual role in British politics and who now has solid possibilities of gaining power.Starmer's resignation has coincided with the conviction of former minister and former organization secretary of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, and the Spanish right sighs: may Pedro Sánchez follow the example of his colleague Starmer, who after all is also one of them, they say. Starmer was made to step down, as he himself has acknowledged, by his own party. The Spanish right wants to play Pedro Sánchez the trick we already know from Lula da Silva in Brazil or António Costa in Portugal: to set up a judicial siege around a president and his government (with true and false causes, and with an arbitrary and discretionary use of the justice administration) until the president in question resigns or ends up in prison (this would be the most desired outcome with Sánchez).Those who will go to prison, with sentences that surely must be adjusted to their crimes, are Ábalos and Koldo. The exemplary nature of the sentence should be celebrated, as well as the speed of the process: let's hope the example also applies to the PP, a party that according to the Gürtel sentence has been organized to commit crimes at least since 1988 and occupies headquarters paid for with black money, without anything happening. The two speeds, the different yardsticks: Kitchen has reached trial thirteen years late, and it seems that justice is also in no hurry with the Montoro case, of structural gravity for the powers of the state. Nothing that we do not know, on the other hand, since the offensive of the robes against the Process. Finally, the one who will not go to prison will be Víctor de Aldama, one of those characters who seem to be taken from Santiago Segura's films and who abound and move at high speed among the high powers of Madrid. A hustler, a betrayer, a liar, and an almost confessed swindler who gets away with the laughter of the triumphant scoundrel. "Thanks to justice," says the subject, with all the cynicism, and encourages "those who come behind" to follow his example. Spanish democracy does not need any Brexit, it creates it every day.

From the sentence of 24 years in prison for Ábalos and 19 years for his assistant Koldo, it stands out that the corrupter of both, Aldama, has been given 4, will not go to prison and will keep the money he received in commissions.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling against the former minister and former organization secretary of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, and his advisor Koldo García, which aims to be exemplary with public officials, with sentences of 24 years and three months for the former and 19 years and 8 months for the latter, but it is suspiciously lenient with the businessman who was the main beneficiary of the scheme, Víctor de Aldama, who has only received 4 and a half years. A sentence that the Court suspends in exchange for community work, arguing that thanks to his collaboration, the depths of the so-called mask case have been reached. In other words, some have sentences comparable to those who have committed murder and will have to spend a minimum of 15 years behind bars, while others, in this case the corrupting businessman, will not have to set foot in prison.

"An organic, organized, and continuous corruption from the highest instances of political power." By unanimous decision, the seven judges of the Supreme Court have upheld the sentence requested by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and have sentenced José Luis Ábalos to 24 years and three months in prison in the first trial of the mask case. The former strongman of Pedro Sánchez for three years in the PSOE and in Moncloa, and who has been in Soto del Real for seven months, has ended up convicted of belonging to a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.

That the Popular Party has a patrimonial conception of justice (of institutions in general, but of justice in particular: let's remember Ignacio Cosidó in his stage as a senator, boasting that the party controlled —it's just an example— the second chamber of the Supreme Court “through the back door”) is a well-known fact. This week, however, the PP has taken, in its capacity as a popular accuser, a step on this hitherto unprecedented path: dictating what the prison sentence should be for an accused person in an ongoing trial. And accusing the Prosecutor's Office of being “subject to the government” when it refuses to comply with its dictate.This is what happened with the businessman (we accept businessman as a euphemism) Victor de Aldama. The PP made it known to the public that it considers the appropriate sentence for this character to be five years in prison, a sentence that would precisely allow him to avoid entering a penitentiary institution by resorting to a couple of technicalities (technicalities, and pardon the joke). The Prosecutor's Office immediately replied no, that it requests seven years, as it had already established in its brief. The PP's response, in the words of Feijóo himself, is that the Prosecutor's Office has thus dashed the right of any person who collaborates with justice to obtain penal benefits in exchange for this collaboration.The “collaboration” of this Aldama with justice has so far consisted of appearing before judges and operating a fan for seven hours that spread lies, fabrications, half-truths, and some true facts, all mixed in any way, with a whiff of a biased and prefabricated narrative that is astonishing, and verbalized with an unacceptable and barroom language. That Feijóo (and not someone of lower rank within the party) comes out in his defense means that Aldama is a VIP, a piece considered key within the strategy that the PP has designed to harass and bring down the hated Pedro Sánchez, and with him his government. Aldama, let's remember, is an accused person in an ongoing trial: that a political party goes to the extreme of indicating what sentence can be imposed on him is a serious attempt to interfere with justice.We must assume that it does not come from here: in the case for which Aldama is accused, the former minister and former organization secretary of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, faces a request for 24 years in prison for crimes very similar to those committed by Isabel Díaz Ayuso's partner, who not only did not go to prison but also caused the dismissal of the State Prosecutor General Álvaro García Ortiz and received compensation of ten thousand euros for damages to his honor. The conclusions are self-evident, and the socialists have no right to complain much, because the practice of judicial dirty warfare dates back a long way and the PSOE did very little to prevent it.Be that as it may, for a party to dare to say what sentences should be handed down in a judicial process that is still open, even as a popular accuser, is more than worrying. If this is a party that claims to be fit to govern (and it is), the ways of its future government can only be authoritarian.

Seen for ruling. The trial of the mask case in the Supreme Court, which began a month ago, has come to an end. It has been the moment for the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the PP – which leads the popular prosecutions – and the three defense teams to verbalize their conclusions. The first to speak was the prosecutor. "The number one was not the president of the Spanish government, as, to Aldama's notable relief, he attributes to him," he said in the initial part of his speech. It was the businessman's new accusation, and prosecutor Alejandro Luzón has distanced himself completely. That said, he has highlighted that José Luis Ábalos was at the "top" or in the "essential cog" of the organization. In his opinion, he, Koldo García, and Víctor de Aldama – along with other individuals – formed a "true criminal organization" that was born from a "corrupting pact that interested everyone" as a result of "insistence" and "little resistance" and that it did not "dissipate and exhaust itself" until Ábalos was dismissed as minister in July 2021.

José Luis Ábalos finally declares this morning in the trial for the mask case before the Supreme Court. The former Minister of Transport, who the judge has kept in preventive detention for almost half a year, appears as an investigated person after two morning sessions in which the court had to modify the initial schedule that set the interrogation of the former socialist leader for last Wednesday.

"A high-profile case judged a long time ago with a clear conviction." This is how José Luis Ábalos has summarized the face mask case, for which he faces a sentence of between 24 and 30 years in prison. The former Minister of Transport, who has been in Soto del Real for five months, has been the last of the accused to testify, after Víctor de Aldama and Koldo García did so last week. The former strongman of Pedro Sánchez in Moncloa and Ferraz testified for almost six hours and, exhibiting meticulous knowledge of the Civil Guard's reports, denied having received money from Aldama: "To say that it was handed to me in person seems gross. I understand why it's being done. I tell you no, and there is absolutely no evidence." He also criticized the Civil Guard's "permanent bias" and denounced a "certain intentionality" throughout the investigation: "I am struck by the eagerness to implicate me and to find something.

Key day in the mask case trial at the Supreme Court. After ten sessions, it is the turn of the declarations of the three defendants: José Luis Ábalos, Koldo García and Víctor de Aldama. The only one who could be interrogated this Wednesday was the businessman and alleged facilitator of the plot, who agreed to collaborate with justice a year and a half ago when he was in preventive detention –"what a invention", replied Pedro Sánchez– and for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests a much lower penalty than for the rest of the defendants. Just as he did at that initial moment of the investigation, he has decided to elaborate, stretch the blanket and point directly to Pedro Sánchez. Without providing evidence and relying solely on his word, he has given meticulous details to try to accredit his privileged access to the spheres of power, has detailed the roadmap of the alleged corruption and has expressed "remorse". "If there is a hierarchy of a criminal organization, Sánchez is in the first echelon", he said. "I was told that the president knew everything", he added in a statement that lasted more than six and a half hours.

The key witness in the third session of the trial against José Luis Ábalos was Carmen Pano. And her statement followed the script: as she said at the Audiencia Nacional, during the investigation at the Supreme Court and at the Senate's investigation committee, she reiterated and to the Senate's investigation committee, But there was a second delivery that raises more doubts. Carmen Pano first said that the "operation" was that Claudio Rivas made transfers to her accounts and she withdrew the money in cash. And it wasn't until half an hour later that she admitted that in the second case she didn't directly withdraw the money from the bank, but rather a certain Lolo, a "worker or friend" of Claudio Rivas, brought it to her home. She didn't get to count it, but – in theory – there were also 45,000 euros. She took it back to Aldama's office, but later he called her "quite angry" and told her that 10,000 euros were missing. "Therefore, I deduce that there were 35,000 euros," the businesswoman acknowledged. This is a point that only came to light at the end of her statement, after spending a long time equating the two deliveries and without having mentioned this unforeseen event.

“An agreement that had as its object the future commission of crimes as opportunities to commit them arose”. After a year and a half of investigation, 30 years in prison. On the table will be nine crimes, including membership in a criminal organization, bribery, influence peddling, and embezzlement.

Pedro Sánchez's government is increasingly dependent on the courts. Anxiety is spreading among the Socialist ranks, especially after a week that has brought two new developments: five arrests These events have brought to light two new cases—which remain secret—and a Civil Guard report that once again implicates José Luis Ábalos. These are ongoing investigations into issues that strike at the heart of the Spanish president's political roadmap and the origins of his rise to power. Of the five arrested, the National Court has released former Socialist Party member Leire Díez, Vicente Fernández Guerrero, former president of SEPI (State Holding Company for Industrial Participations), and Basque businessman Antxon Alonso, owner of the company Servinabar and a friend of Santos Cerdán, former PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) organizational secretary. All five were released with precautionary measures (passport confiscation and periodic court appearances) after the prosecution did not request their imprisonment.

The Supreme Court is demanding a €60,000 bail from former minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García. both in pretrial detention for the past two weeks, and sends them to trial along with businessman Víctor de Aldama for organized crime. This was ordered in a ruling this Thursday by Judge Leopoldo Puente, who is investigating the case of alleged irregular commissions in the purchase of face masks during the pandemic. The judge, according to the ruling, has agreed to open oral proceedings against the three defendants for the crimes of membership in a criminal organization, continuous bribery, use and exploitation of privileged information, influence peddling, embezzlement, falsification of documents, and abuse of power. This comes after the appeals court rejected Ábalos and Koldo's appeals this Wednesday and upheld their indictment. In parallel with the opening of the oral proceedings, the investigating judge ordered that Ábalos and Koldo remain in prison and demanded that they pay 60,000 euros to "guarantee any financial liabilities that may ultimately be imposed on them." If this amount is not provided within five business days, the Judge orders the seizure of assets equivalent to the bail. In Aldama, the alleged facilitator of the scheme, Puente maintains the obligation to appear in court every fifteen days, the confiscation of his passport, and the prohibition against leaving Spain.

The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard published this on Monday the report on the alleged involvement of the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, in the Koldo/Ábalos plot related to the purchase of face masks and antigen test kits during the pandemic. The text pointed to the "influence" that commission agent Víctor de Aldama had on the purchase of medical supplies by the Canary Islands government, which Torres presided over during the pandemic. However, it does not confirm that the current Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory received any commission. This is precisely what Torres has been boasting about this afternoon: "Nowhere in the report is there any criminal activity by the government I had the honor of leading," he stated at a press conference. The minister, in this regard, announced a lawsuit against De Aldama for intrusion into his honor and that of his family, his privacy, and his image.

A new report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard points to the "influence" that commission agent Víctor de Aldama may have had on the Canary Islands government of Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE), the current Minister of Territorial Policy, in the purchase of contracts for masks and antigen tests during the pandemic. Specifically, the UCO report, presented this Monday to the National Court and accessed by ARA, indicates that Aldama's influence was exerted through the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, and his former advisor, Koldo García. Thus, the Canary Islands government of Ángel Víctor Torres would be implicated, according to the UCO report, in the alleged corruption scheme surrounding Aldama, Ábalos, and Koldo, which originated in alleged illegal payments for the purchase of masks during the pandemic. For this reason, the People's Party (PP) has called for the minister's immediate dismissal.

The strategy of spite is one of the most useful for bringing corruption to the surface in the media, and Telecinco has its hand broken. Mayte Zaldívar has been the leading figure since she went on air live in 2004, explaining how her ex-husband, Julián Muñoz, kept garbage bags full of bundles of bills at home. Resentful of the cuckolding the mayor of Marbella had put on her with Isabel Pantoja, she raised the hue and cry in one of the most high-profile cases of embezzlement of public funds and urban planning malfeasance in Spain. Two years later, Cachuli was imprisoned. On Monday, it was the turn of José Luis Ábalos's ex-wife, who opened her mouth, fed up with the deception and harassment of her former husband. The former Minister of Transport unsuccessfully tried to stop the broadcast through legal proceedings. Carolina Perles told a sordid and terrifying story of commissions, prostitutes, Viagra, parties, and drugs to supplement the precarious management of her portfolio as minister.

In the plot of the Montoro case There is a key element that investigators are trying to unravel: how Equipo Económico, the law firm linked to the former Minister of Finance, diverted money allegedly paid by large companies so that the PP could pass laws tailored to its interests. To do so, according to the judge, the firm created a network of shell companies that issued invoices but, in practice, had no other commercial activity or partners other than those of Equipo Económico. Thus, the money did not leave the perimeter of Montoro's collaborators, who took over the business when, supposedly, the former PP leader disengaged (something the investigator also questions). And this is where the figure of Luis Miguel Triguero López, a businessman and expert in the creation of commercial companies, comes into focus. He is no stranger to those who have followed the fine print of scandals linked to economic and political corruption in Spain in recent years.

"I have neither lied nor withheld information." This is how the Speaker of Congress, Francina Armengol, responded when asked by the Senate's Koldo case investigation committee why, in her last appearance, she claimed not to know businessman Víctor de Aldama, even though she now admits she met with him there in November 2020. After Aldama said he had been at the headquarters of the Presidency of the Balearic Islands Government, the former island president explained that she reviewed the agenda with her team and that it "only" makes sense to her that Aldama accompanied Air Europa executive Pepe Hidalgo at the Consolat de Mar as an advisor on one occasion.

They landed in a dark, damp, and debris-filled space: the trash compactor. Dirty water covered the floor, and the air smelled of rusty metal. Pieces of junk, broken circuits, organic remains... That was the end of the things forgotten by the Empire. And perhaps the people too. With a dry, mechanical noise, one of the compartment's walls began to move inexorably. Then the other. The compactor was activating. The walls were beginning to close together. There was no way out. The room would become a metal tomb.

The most sordid week in Spanish politics is still in its infancy, with the spectacle that Leire Díez, Javier Pérez Dolset, and Víctor de Aldama staged on Wednesday in a Madrid hotel. Three figures who were virtually unknown until recently.