"What do you want me to do? We have to defend him until the last minute." That was how lawyer José Aníbal Álvarez responded to his colleagues in the awkward scene that unfolded this Wednesday at the Supreme Court. Despite being José Luis Ábalos's lawyer, the rift between them was evident. Two days earlier, the former Minister of Transport had informed the high court that he was resigning from Aníbal Álvarez's services due to "irreconcilable differences." However, the investigating judge in the alleged corruption case, Leopoldo Puente, considered the last-minute resignation a maneuver by the suspect to avoid testifying and rejected it. Thus, the lawyer was forced to appear before the Supreme Court even though all ties with his client were broken.