Before the summer holidays, José Luis Calama has made a move to deepen the patrimonial investigation of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. After a new report from the UDEF, he has given the green light to a battery of information requests to follow the trail of money related to the alleged “organized and stable structure aimed at the exercise of illicit influences”. The order, which ARA has had access to, authorizes the Spanish police to access 57 accounts in twelve banks. 25 belong to the former Spanish president, his two daughters and his secretary – who are also under investigation– and Julio Martínez Martínez. The other 32 belong to companies linked to the alleged scheme. In Zapatero's case, the request is to Banco Santander, CaixaBank, and BBVA, three banks where he has six bank accounts.

Zapatero granted an interview to TVE to give explanations, as far as he is willing to give them for reasons of procedural strategy. It is legitimate: he is the first former Spanish president to be judicially investigated, and he is so on important charges, such as criminal organization, influence peddling, and document forgery.

These are probably the most anticipated explanations in recent times. Both by public opinion, as well as by the PP and Vox opposition, and also by the Spanish government, which maintains its confidence in former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Two months after being indicted, the former PSOE leader broke his silence this Thursday in the first interview he has granted since being investigated by the National Court. And right from the start, he was clear: he maintains that he is innocent, that he has not "corrupted" himself, and that the jewels were a "courtesy gift," the origin of which he will explain to Judge José Luis Calama. In other words, Zapatero has reaffirmed that he did not exert any kind of influence over the government presided over by Pedro Sánchez for them to rescue the Plus Ultra airline during the pandemic and, in parallel, has defended that he has had no profit motive in possessing jewels valued at 1.3 million euros. Even, at one point in the interview, he went so far as to say that they were simply "there," in the safe, mixed with the family's inherited jewels.

Despite Julio Martínez's change in strategy, which implicates former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the Plus Ultra rescue, Moncloa sticks to its script. In the press conference following yesterday's council of ministers, spokesperson Elma Saiz defended the credit granted to the airline during the pandemic and, furthermore, assured that the Spanish executive "continues to maintain the presumption of innocence" of Zapatero. Saiz did not want to deviate from this: she refused to comment on the statements of Julio Martínez Martínez (alias "Julito") and also of the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, who point to the former president as a key figure in the rescue, as the National Police does through UDEF, and limited herself to saying that the judicial investigation is in an early stage.

Julio Martínez Martínez has become one of the key figures in the investigation into José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. They both met in 2011, when the former president sold him a house in Almeria, they became friends and got fond of going out running together. The UDEF believes he was his frontman. 24 hours after disrupting Zapatero's defense strategy by assuring that he was the one who “marked the steps to follow” in the Plus Ultra rescue, the businessman has spent four hours testifying before Judge José Luis Calama as a suspect and has fully ratified the confession about the former president's intervention. Despite this, he said he does not know who he influenced or with whom he spoke for the airline to receive public aid. Sources present at the declaration explain to ARA that he recounted that he simply relayed to Zapatero what clients told him, that he did not get involved in the actions he took, and that he did not report to him if he was going to see anyone.

On May 19, early in the morning, a piece of news exploded like an unexpected shell: a judge from the National High Court charged José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero as the alleged leader of an influence peddling scheme. A month later, he, who in recent years has been Pedro Sánchez's loyal squire and guardian, testified before José Luis Calama for almost three hours and denied all suspicions root and branch. But he left one topic unaddressed: the jewelry worth 1.3 million euros that the Spanish police found in the safe of his office. A week later, the UDEF opened a new avenue and suggested that Zapatero received 200,000 euros for influencing in Bolivia in favor of a Peruvian company. Since then, leaks and complaints from the former Spanish president's defense have been the only news in a case shrouded in many unknowns. From that moment on, and despite the lingering questions, Moncloa maintains its unwavering support for the former Spanish president and Pedro Sánchez reiterates his "confidence" in him.

In recent days, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has deployed his defense strategy on multiple fronts: four written statements in four days. The latest step taken by the former Spanish president has been to lash out very harshly at the UDEF, whom he holds responsible for his diaries and conversations with his secretary having ended up leaked to the media.having ended up leaked to the media. He denounces it as an “authentic outrage”, an “indiscriminate dissemination” with a “devastating result” and “the most serious attack that can be made” against the rights to honor, privacy, self-image, and secrecy of communications. This latest request, which ARA has accessed, is added to the other moves he has recently made to try to invalidate the chats that incriminate him. They are all conversations between third parties who speak about him and which were the basis of his indictment. So far, his roadmap focuses on attacking the origin and legitimacy of the evidence.

The day after they came to light the private conversations and diaries of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Judge José Luis Calama, the investigating judge of the Plus Ultra case at the National Court, has requested that the leaks be investigated. Calama has sent the request to the courts of Madrid, urging them to identify those responsible for the leaks, which he considers potentially criminal. The magistrate emphasizes that the facts have "gravity" and could fit into criminal offenses of revealing reserved proceedings. In parallel, the former Spanish president has requested Calama to nullify all actions in the case due to the violation of four fundamental rights. According to the document, to which ARA has had access, Zapatero claims that an "illicitly analyzed piece of evidence" has been incorporated into the proceedings.

The defense of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has launched an offensive to annul as evidence the conversations that led to the imputation of the former Spanish president in the Plus Ultra case. His lawyer has sent a letter to Judge José Luis Calama stating that if the conversations were not intercepted with judicial approval, "they must be excluded from the proceedings" and that, therefore, this would entail "promoting an incident of nullity." The validity of this evidence is seen as the great legal battle between the former president and the investigating judge that will determine the future of the proceedings.

The weekly The Economist, with a hard-won reputation for rigor and liberalism, also excels – like The New Yorker or Libération– on its covers. A few years ago, one was dedicated to Prime Minister Tony Blair, who had just arrived at Downing Street, asking: "Is Bambi a carnivore?”. Over the years and the Iraq War, the British Labourite proved to be not only a carnivore but also an anthropophage.

The day after José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero declared himself investigated, Judge José Luis Calama makes a move and takes a further step: he indicts his two daughters –Alba Rodríguez and Laura Rodríguez– and his secretary –Gertrudis Alcázar–. The magistrate did so after the PP requested it, as leader of the popular prosecutions, pointing to the crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling and money laundering. It was an initial request from Hazte Oír that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office subsequently endorsed. Why are they being investigated?

The PSOE was holding its breath following the indictment of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero this Wednesday, and while it is true that the worst imaginable scenario, which was pre-trial detention, did not occur, and the judge did not even order his passport to be revoked, doubts about his case remain the same. This is partly also due to the former president's defense strategy, which has requested more time to explain the origin of the jewelry found in his office – valued at 1.3 million euros – and has also refused to answer about the mobile phone messages of the main shareholder of the company Plus Ultra, Rodolfo Reyes, which are the trigger for the investigation, because his defense is trying to invalidate the evidence. At the end of his statement, the judge made it clear that the testimony had not managed to "discredit the indications" against him, although he admitted that the investigation is in an "embryonic" phase.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero reiterates his innocence and denies before the judge José Luis Calama that he influenced in any way the rescue of Plus Ultra, the loan of 53 million euros that the airline company received from the Spanish government in March 2021. According to what ARA has been able to learn, this is what he said during his declaration at the National Court this Wednesday, which began shortly after nine in the morning and has made him the first former president of the Spanish government since the restoration of democracy to declare as an accused in a judicial investigation. He is accused of influence peddling, money laundering, tax offense, and smuggling. Zapatero said that he "never" had direct contact with Plus Ultra and denied asking any authority or official to facilitate the rescue. He specified that the only person he has dealt with is Julio Martínez Sola, the president of the airline, whom he did not know until 2024. However, his explanations have not convinced Judge Calama, who believes that Zapatero "has not managed to dispel" the indications of criminality against him and that they "derive from various and different sources of evidence".

The procedural situation of former Spanish president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero worsens with each passing day and threatens to become a ordeal for him and also for the PSOE. The episode of the jewels found in a safe in his office, which his entourage initially downplayed and valued at around 50,000 euros, but which have now been appraised at 1.3 million, leaves the former president in a very difficult situation. The judge has decided to open a separate piece of the Plus Ultra case to investigate him for alleged smuggling and tax offense, as he considers that there is no record that they have been declared or that they have a clear origin.

The PSOE has been forced to get used to surprises. The latest jolt of a stormy legislature has been caused by the jewels that the Spanish police found in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's office almost a month ago. The Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) searched it on the judge's orders, who places the former Spanish president at the forefront of an influence peddling scheme. But the judicial horizon is becoming even more difficult after the appraisal of the jewels valued them at 1.3 million euros and has led to a separate case to investigate him for smuggling and tax evasion. So far, the investigation pointed, among other crimes, to criminal organization, influence peddling, money laundering, and document forgery. Zapatero's spokesperson stated a few days ago that they would be valued at 50,000 euros at most, and the former president's secretary told the Spanish police that they came from Zapatero's wife's inheritance and from gifts from trips.

On February 23, 2026, a judge from Madrid sent the case that led to the impeachment of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to the National Court. The case had resurfaced after France and Switzerland sent information about an ongoing investigation in which Plus Ultra appeared as a "client" of a criminal organization dedicated to money laundering. The magistrate pointed out that Rodolfo Reyes – majority shareholder of the airline and in the crosshairs of the United States– and other airline executives allegedly orchestrated a plan since 2020 to "appropriate clean money from public subsidies." As the alleged crimes were reportedly committed outside of Spain, the National Court is competent to investigate them, which is why José Luis Calama is now leading the investigation.

Plus Ultra is the company at the epicenter of the investigation against José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for the public bailout of 53 million euros that he allegedly received thanks to the influence of the former Spanish president. However, the airline is not the only client of Julio Martínez Martínez's corporate network, supposedly directed by the former socialist leader from the shadows. Both the UDEF in its police reports and the National High Court judge José Luis Calama in his indictment order speak of a consolidated organization that sought to profit thanks to Zapatero's "direct intervention" in "high-value international operations." The commission allegedly received from the Venezuelan directors of Plus Ultra would be just one of the plot's income streams.

Today we will have new revelations about the judicial investigation into the lobbying activity of former Spanish president Zapatero, because the judge will deliver to the parties everything that is in the initiated summary. And, of course, with new revelations the pressure on Sánchez's government to step down will increase. On this front there is a significant novelty: the PNB, through its president, Aitor Esteban, said yesterday that it would be “irresponsible” for Sanchez to want to exhaust the legislature in 2027, that is to say, that in view of everything that has emerged (the Zapatero case, but also the Cerdán and Ábalos cases) it would be imprudent to want to go beyond this year.What Esteban is telling Sánchez is that he should not abuse his patience and the deadlock in which the parties that voted for the socialist president's investiture find themselves: it is unlikely that the PNB, Junts, and not to mention the so-called "plurinational lefts" will vote for Feijóo as president of the government with Vox in a motion of censure, but if corruption continues to tarnish Sánchez, it is the Spanish president who should be obliged to call early elections. After all, Sánchez came to power with a motion of censure after corruption drowned Rajoy and the PP government.As always happens in these cases, now there are voices demanding that the law better define the limits between lobbying and falling into the crime of influence peddling. And the convenience of rescuing the airline Plus Ultra during the pandemic is also reviewed in hindsight, because it was not essential for air traffic between Spain and Latin America. If it wasn't, why did they rescue it? The PSOE is crossing its fingers so that the judge hasn't found anything else and can recover the discourse of "lawfare" (a possibility that, given what we have seen in the Spanish justice system, would not be so dismissible), but everyone you talk to tells you that, at the very least, Zapatero acted very much on the edge.While the socialists are crossing their fingers that nothing else comes up, in our country, tomorrow there will be another meeting between the Government and the education unions. The teachers' strikes are more than a stone in the government's shoe, they are a boulder in the road that doesn't let it continue to move with confidence and optimism after having been able to present a budget that will be approved. We are at the end of the sports seasons, and Catalonia has lost a team in the First Football Division, Girona. After having reached the Champions League, it drops to the Second Division: the team could not withstand the departure of key players who had made a name for themselves. Not all news is bad. Two Catalans succeeding in the world: the Barça women's football team, which tonight was received in Barcelona by 10,000 people after having won the Champions League, the fourth in the Club's history, in a perfect season that includes all three Spanish titles. And wait, because Alexia Putellas, after Saturday's Champions League, could very well win the Ballon d'Or again. For the visibility of professional women's sport, the service Barça is providing is extraordinary. And Pep Guardiola, who yesterday was bid farewell at City's stadium after 10 years as its manager. The mark Guardiola has left on football can only be defined by "a before and an after"; this can be said of very few managers in history. By the way, both celebrations, that of the Barça players and that of the Santpedor coach, were united by the estelada:

4,079,799.04 euros. This is the amount that Spanish former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would have taken in five years, from 2020 to 2025, according to the UDEF report, for intervening in the rescue of the airline Plus Ultra and other companies. The receipt of these incomes is one of the two key affidavits that have served as the basis for Judge José Luis Calama to indict, for the first time since the return to democracy, a former head of government.

The Unitat de Delinqüència Econòmica i Fiscal (UDEF) [Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit] of the National Police concludes – at the end of one of the two leaked reports from the investigation into the public bailout of Plus Ultra and the alleged collection of commissions by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for having interceded – that there are "sufficient indications" against the former Spanish prime minister. It is 185 pages in which the UDEF analyzes the communications intercepted on computer terminals of businessmen linked to both the airline and the former socialist leader, as well as the movements of Zapatero's bank accounts — whom they consider the leader of the organized network— and his circle. But what exactly does the UDEF have against the former Spanish prime minister to make this statement, which has led to his indictment in the National High Court case?