A far-right agency called Manos Limpias has denounced the wife of the President of Spain for corruption (using newspaper-cuttings as proof). The Court, surprisingly, has taken up the charge.
Pedro Sánchez said late on Wednesday that he had had enough of the bulos and attacks from the far-right and is considering resigning as president.
His final decision on Monday.
I wrote about the background to this in my Business over Tapas weekly bulletin -
‘The spreader of fake-news Pilar Baselga, a regular in the far-right media and circles, availed herself last week of her right to not testify before the judge investigating the falsehood she launched in November 2022, when she said that Begoña Gómez, the wife of Pedro Sánchez, is a transsexual and was part of a drug trafficking network. As elDiario.es has learned from sources familiar with the statement before a Madrid magistrate, Baselga has now preferred to remain silent…’ Nevertheless, and despite the above, Manos Limpias (a far-right Christian agitator group) has successfully managed to find a judge able to launch an inquiry into Begoña Gómez for corruption. Pedro Sánchez said in the Cortes on Wednesday that “Despite the news that I have just received, despite everything, I continue to believe in the justice-system of my country”.
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But late on Wednesday Pedro Sánchez said that he was cancelling his engagements for the next few days and would give his answer on Monday.
He has written a letter to the Spanish public -
Madrid, April 24, 2024
Letter to Citizens
It is not usual for me to address you through a letter. However, the severity of the attacks that my wife and I are receiving, and the need to give a calm response, make me think that this is the best way to express my opinion. I thank you, therefore, for taking a little
of your time to read these lines.
As you may already know, a court in Madrid has opened proceedings of charges against my wife, Begoña Gómez, at the request of a far-right organization called Manos Limpias, to investigate alleged crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business.
Apparently, the judge will call those responsible from two digital newspapers that have been publishing on this matter to testify. In my opinion, they are media with a marked right-wing and ultra-right orientation (El Objectivo and probably OKDiario - Lenox). Logically, Begoña will defend her honour and will collaborate with Justice in everything required to clarify facts that are as scandalous in appearance as they are non-existent.
In effect, the complaint by Manos Limpias is based on alleged information from that constellation of ultraconservative headlines referred to above. I emphasize the 'supposed information' because, after its publication, we have gone to some length in denying the falsehoods expressed at the time while Begoña has undertaken legal actions so that these same digital companies rectify what, we maintain, are spurious information.
This strategy of harassment and demolition has been going on for months. Therefore, I am not surprised by the overacting of Sr. Feijóo (PP leader) and Sr. Abascal (Vox leader). In this outrage which is as serious as it is crude, both are necessary collaborators with the far-right digital 'news' galaxy and the Manos Limpias organization. In fact, it was Mr. Feijóo who reported the case to the Office of Conflicts of Interest, calling for me to be disqualified from holding public office for 5 to 10 years.
The complaint was filed twice by said organization, whose officials were later disqualified by the leadership of both the PP and Vox.
Next, they exploited their conservative majority in the Senate promoting a commission of investigation to, as they say, clarify the facts related to this matter. Logically, judicialization was lacking in the case. This is the step they have just taken.
In short, it is a harassment and demolition operation by land, sea and air to try to weaken me politically and personally by attacking my wife.
I'm not naive. I am aware that Begoña is being denounced not because she has done something illegal, they know there is no case, except for being my wife. As I am also fully aware that the attacks I suffer are not my fault as a person but what I represent: a progressive political option, supported election after election by millions of Spaniards, based on economic progress, social justice and democratic regeneration.
This fight started years ago. First, with the defence that we made of the political autonomy of the organization that best represents a progressive Spain: the Socialist Party. A fight that we won. Second, after the motion of censure and the successive electoral victories of 2019, the sustained attempt to delegitimise the progressive coalition government in the heat of the ignominious meme of '¡Que te vote Txapote!'. That couldn't break us either.
The last episode was the general elections of July 23, 2023.
The Spanish people voted overwhelmingly for progress, allowing the return of a progressive coalition government, against the coalition government of Sr. Feijóo and Sr. Abascal that the conservative media and demographic batteries predicted.
Democracy spoke, but the right and the extreme right, again, did not accept the electoral result. They were aware that political attacks would not be enough and now they have crossed the line of respect for the family life of a President of the Government and attacks on his personal life.
Without any embarrassment, Sr. Feijóo and Sr. Abascal, and the interests that they
move, have set in motion what the great Italian writer, Umberto Eco, called "the mud machine". That is, trying to dehumanize and delegitimise their political adversary through accusations that are as scandalous as they are false.
This is my reading of the situation that our beloved country is experiencing: a coalition of
right-wing and ultra-right interests that do not tolerate the reality of Spain, that do not accept the verdict of the polls, and that are willing to spread mud to: first, cover up their obvious corruption scandals and inaction before them; second, hide their total absence of a more political project beyond insults and misinformation; and third, to use any means at their disposal to reach and personally and politically destroy their political adversary. This is all about a coalition of right-wing and far-right interests that extends across the main Western democracies, and to which, I guarantee, I will always respond with reason, truth and education.
At this point, the question I legitimately ask myself is, is it worth all this? Sincerely I don't know. This attack is unprecedented, it is so serious and so gross that I need to stop and reflect with my wife. Many times we forget that behind the politicians there are people And I, it doesn't make me blush to say it, I am a man deeply in love with my wife who suffers with her the impotence of the mud that they spread on her day in and day out. I need to stop and reflect. I urgently need to answer the question of whether it is worth it, despite the mud into which the right and the extreme right try to turn politics into. My doubt is whether I should continue at the head of the Government or resign from this high honour. Despite the caricature that the right and the extreme right in politics and the media have tried to make of me, I have never been attached to the position. Yes I have it to duty, to political commitment and public service. I do not go through positions, I assert the legitimacy of those high responsibilities to transform and advance the country that I love.
All of this leads me to tell you that I will continue working, but that I will cancel my public agenda for a few days so I can reflect and decide which path to take. Next Monday, April 29, I will appear before the media and announce my decision.
Thanks for your time. Sincerely,
Pedro Sanchez