The true strength of the “Aldama doctrine” lies not so much in the expectation of a penal incentive for those who cooperate with justice as in the certain threat that there will be no mercy for those who do not. It would be more accurate to call it the “Ábalos doctrine”. 24 years in prison if you dig in or go against the grain. And a ray of hope if you spill the beans. As has always happened, but more so. The Supreme Court doesn’t speak for the sake of speaking.
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Julio Martínez Martínez, alleged partner and front man for José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, has chosen to cooperate because, strictly speaking, he cannot do otherwise. His confession contradicts the former Prime Minister’s account and demolishes his criminal defense strategy. If Zapatero categorically denied, before National Court judge José Luis Calama, having mediated in the rescue of the Plus Ultra airline, his friend revealed that he did, and not as a mere link in a chain of responsibilities, but as the intellectual and material author of the plan.
In political terms, Zapatero’s fall was already discounted, but the Government clung to the burning issue of the criminal derivative. That path is now almost completely blocked. In Moncloa they know it, and they know that Zapatero’s damage to the PSOE’s acronym is “enormous,” even greater than that of the sewers that orbited around Ferraz: “This, for our people, is even worse than Leire’s thing”. Why? Because it means the collapse of one of the central figures of Pedro Sánchez‘s project. Zapatero was the load-bearing pillar of plurinational Spain and the catalyst that galvanized the bases from the highest echelons of the new socialist pantheon. And from there he has fallen.
What Martínez said – Julito to his friends, and Zapatero even claimed he was more than a friend, family – is, do you see this blanket? Well, I have more. So much per kilo. Something, by the way, that did not catch Zapatero or his entourage off guard, although the blow was no less hard for it. “Out of every 20 words Julito said, 19 were Zapatero,” a person close to the former president lamented with sarcasm. His closest politicians were not surprised by the move: they had been expecting it since at least May, when this newspaper published that Zapatero “feared” his friend would pull an Aldama, because he was “the weak link” in the process.
His suspicions were confirmed this week, and worsened with the testimonies of Plus Ultra owner, Julio Martínez Sola, and CEO, Roberto Roselli, who simultaneously hammered two nails into his neck by revealing that they had to pay “a bribe” for the former president’s dealings. That he charged commissions for objectives and not remuneration for work.
Checkmate. No more. Or yes, but it can only get worse, because the three writings show loose ends that they do not develop. They will do so before the judge, as soon as they remember Ábalos.
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While Zapatero burns silently on the pyre of the news carousel, the Government is left with little room to introduce topics on the agenda and despairs over his lack of explanations. It continues to await a phrase, just one, that magically explains the jewels worth more than 1.3 million euros that the National Police found in a safe in the PSOE office used by the former president. “Every day he doesn’t give explanations wears us down a little more and demoralizes our people more, but it must be understood that it is his defense strategy”.
Moncloa and Ferraz can only hold on, but while some PSOE officials are already asking to break ties with Zapatero, the Prime Minister keeps his hand in the fire and “Argentinizes” his defense strategy, with some ministers delighted to play the role of Paredes. Or Nahuel Molina. And this despite the fact that some of Sánchez’s bishops privately acknowledge that the “blow” of the jewels is “lethal” for Zapatero’s credibility and is “unbearable” for the party, in general terms. They don’t believe there was influence peddling, but they also don’t doubt that in many years the former president’s trousseau will still be talked about.
There’s no turning back from that, no matter how much the spokeswoman, Elma Saiz, assures that the Executive “continues to believe in his innocence,” and no matter how much Minister Óscar López also assures that the “behavior” of the accused former president was “impeccable”.
Not even this time has the temptation to think that holidays will come and they will wipe the slate clean taken hold. September will arrive and Julito Martínez’s blanket will still be there. So much per kilo.
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