The latest scandals surrounding the government of Pedro Sánchez focused on the traditional groups of the Royal Palace on the occasion of the October 12 celebration. Above all, the Koldo Fieldfollowing the revelations of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, which discovered that Sánchez was aware, a few days earlier, of the arrival of Delcy Rodríguez in Barajas.
Despite the controversy, the socialist tried to throw everything away and avoided taking responsibility and giving explanations. Sánchez defended his actions in relation to Koldo affair and former minister José Luis Ábalos, and assured that he was not concerned by the revelations in the UCO report. According to him, his government acted “quickly” and “correctly”. Likewise, he attacked Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as well as the leader of Vox, whom he called “Torquemadas”.
“It took us five days to request the minutes [a José Luis Ábalos]”Sánchez said. The socialist went to the Royal Palace without the company of his wife, Begoña Gómez, accused of crimes of influence peddling and corruption in business, to which could be added another accusation of misappropriation of software created for Complutense . That same week, the Madrid Court approved the investigation by judge Juan Carlos Peinado, who is investigating Gómez’s businesses, his professional activity at the public university and the contracts awarded by the government to his associate – and promoter of his chair – Juan Carlos Barrabes. Also these days, Complutense has decided to cancel the last master’s degree that Gómez directed at this university, citing the lack of students.
Feijóo, for his part, criticized the fact that “never has a corruption plot been so close to Moncloa” and said that Ábalos was Sánchez’s “firewall.”
“There is no one to stop this,” he predicted, referring to the investigation carried out by the Civil Guard. Feijóo also stressed that “never has a corruption plot been so far and so close to Moncloa.”
Another very tense moment occurred when the president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT), Maite Araluce, took advantage of Sánchez’s presence at the reception of the Royal Palace to reproach him for the recently approved legal reform, which will benefit ETA. members serving their sentence outside Spain. “You have left us abandoned,” said Araluce, demanding immediate rectification from Sánchez: “You have one day to do it,” he insisted.
Sánchez attended the October 12 party weighed down by the corruption cases surrounding the government. The socialist had to listen to the whistles, cries and demands for resignation from citizens, both when he arrived at the parade and when it ended.
The President of the Government tried to silence these boos, by moving the area intended for the public away from the authorities’ platform and by delaying his arrival as much as possible, just three minutes from the Kings. But none of this has dampened citizen criticism.
Nor the heavy rain that fell on Madrid all morning and forced the cancellation of the aerial display portion of the October 12 parade, the jump of the Air Force Acrobatic Parachute Patrol and Space (PAPEA) and the passage of the Eagle Patrol.
