Latest political news, live | The UCO states that the Leire Díez operation sought to “protect the interests” of the Government or its president

The UCO took emails and files from the Civil Guard Directorate

On the day of the searches, UCO agents appeared at 9:20 a.m. at the General Directorate of the Civil Guard to request reserved information and administrative files “of any nature” from January 1, 2024, to the present that had been opened against UCO personnel. 

Investigators suspect that the leadership of the armed institute sought to investigate leaks to guards who were investigating corruption involving members of the Government or the Socialist Party. According to what they seized, they took files dated December 2, 2024; January 11, 2025; and September 1, 2025. They also seized emails with subjects such as “proposal office matters,” “UCO discredit campaign,” or “order initiation of reserved information general courts.”

Extension | Cerdán’s agendas, Díez’s travel invoices, and PSOE emails among the UCO seizures at Ferraz

Agents from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard who last week raided the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street in Madrid, by order of National Court Judge Santiago Pedraz, took several handwritten agendas of former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán, travel invoices of Cerdán himself, former socialist member Leire Díez, and businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, as well as the contents of several PSOE email accounts.

This is detailed in the part of the Leire Díez case file accessed by EL PAÍS, which details the results of the searches and information requests made by the UCO as part of the investigation into the alleged existence of a plot led by Cerdán, with Díez as his lieutenant, dedicated to seeking sensitive information that could undermine judicial and police investigations affecting the party and the Government.

Regarding Cerdán, the PSOE informed agents that all material related to their former number three was stored in seven boxes and two containers “in a locked room located in the basement” of the building. They went down there and took two agendas and another notebook with handwritten notes about the 2023 electoral campaign, loose sheets with more handwritten notes, a folder with the initials of Oliver Lawyers, a laptop, and two hard drives.

They also gathered information about the PSOE’s “commercial relations” with former socialist official Gaspar Zarrías and lawyers Jacobo Teijelo – one of Cerdán’s defenders – and Ismael Oliver, who represented Koldo García, former advisor to José Luis Ábalos at the Ministry of Transport.

The agents also took all digital documentation related to the mailboxes of the persons requested; information about email accounts of certain people in the PSOE management’s email mailboxes; and digital copies of access controls.

Additionally, the UCO took documentation on internal contracting rules, the “policy on allowances and travel,” compliance rules, and the PSOE budgets for 2024 and 2025. They also conducted selective searches in the daily books of those same years, without revealing positive results.

The Civil Guard’s operational chief closed the internal investigation to clarify a leak to the press

A Civil Guard agent testified before the UCO that Supreme Court magistrate Leopoldo Puente threatened to open proceedings against him and the deputy operational director (DAO) if the internal investigation opened to clarify the leak to the press of news related to cases involving José Luis Ábalos and Koldo García continued. After this warning, the DAO closed that investigation. This was stated by the Head of Arms, Explosives, and Security before the UCO agents who on May 27 went to the General Directorate to take statements from three agents as part of the National Court’s judicial investigation into an alleged plot to “destabilize judicial proceedings” affecting the PSOE and the Government.

According to the statement of one of them, accessed by EL PAÍS, the guard explained that the DAO of the Civil Guard entrusted him with the instruction of reserved information for “clarifying a possible leak by the UCO.” He took on the task and met with the head of that unit, who warned him that the internal investigation “would not be to the liking” of the magistrates responsible for the investigation in the Supreme Court (Leopoldo Puente) and the National Court (Ismael Moreno) and that if it was launched, he would be the person to testify, would not provide “any data” related to the investigation, and no other member of his unit could be questioned.

According to the agent’s testimony, the DAO told him he had to meet with judges Moreno and Puente. The National Court instructor told him he had no problem as long as it did not affect the judicial procedure; Puente, however, told him “flatly that he did not authorize it and that if the reserved information was opened, he would proceed to open proceedings against both the witness and the person who ordered the opening.” The agent, according to his statement, informed the DAO, who ordered the internal investigation to be closed.

A suspect in the hydrocarbon plot points to Koldo’s lawyer, Leticia de la Hoz, as Leire Díez’s mediator

Antonio Rodríguez Estepa, convicted in a VAT fraud case related to hydrocarbons and also investigated by the National Court for similar acts, pointed to Leticia de la Hoz, lawyer for former Transport advisor Koldo García, as mediator for Leire Díez before the UCO. He is not the first declarant before the Civil Guard to claim that De la Hoz was involved in the plot investigated by the National Court: Carmen Pano, a businesswoman who claimed to have taken 90,000 euros in cash to the PSOE headquarters, testified that she received an offer of 50,000 euros from the lawyer to change her version. The lawyer has provided documentation to the OCU to deny Pano’s version.

According to Rodríguez’s version, De la Hoz offered him that “there were people who knew everything affecting him in the case” and that they offered “procedural benefits” on condition that he provided compromising information about Repsol, the UCO, Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, and senior Treasury officials. The lawyer told him that the person who could make this offer was Leire Díez, who was related to the Government “at a second level”: if he accepted the proposal, he had to meet with her.

The former UCO agent under investigation described Leire Díez as a “show-off” 

Juan Sánchez Yepes, who was a UCO agent between 2008 and 2022, decided to testify before the agents on May 27, the day of the searches. Yepes explained that he went to see his lawyer, Jacobo Teijelo, about his matters (he is under investigation in a hydrocarbon case at the National Court) and in the office “coincided” with businessman Javier Pérez-Dolset and Leire Díez. 

The meeting took place on October 12, 2024, and according to Yepes’ account, Leire Díez did not present herself as a representative of any person or organization, but “as a journalist.” There she spoke with Dolset about “a video game matter,” but at no time about Santos Cerdán. 

Yepes assured the UCO that the former socialist member did not request information about investigative or anti-corruption departments within the Civil Guard. The UCO also wanted to know if Leire Díez offered him any kind of benefit, and Yepes replied: “That lady was a ‘show-off’.”

Villarejo’s lawyer says Leire offered to meet with the Prosecutor’s Office because the accusation against the former commissioner was “unfair”

During their investigations, the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard (UCO) interrogated a good number of witnesses related to Leire Díez and her dealings. Among them, lawyer Antonio José García Cabrera, attorney for former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. According to García’s statement on May 28, the former socialist member contacted him to offer a meeting with the Prosecutor’s Office and told him that the accusation against the shady former commissioner was “unfair.” In a message intercepted by the UCO, Díez informed him that she had been at the State Attorney General’s Office: “When you can, we talk,” she concluded. 

In exchange for a reduced sentence, according to a draft agreement intercepted by the UCO on Leire Díez’s phone, Villarejo had to deliver “audio material, emails, and compromising documents” about former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, María Dolores de Cospedal, former Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz, and others, as well as any documents related to Operation Catalonia, matters related to the PSOE (“especially Andalusia”) and Podemos. The lawyer defended before the UCO that he had never seen that document. 

However, the lawyer stated in the interrogation that no meeting with the Prosecutor’s Office took place. At the end of a hearing, he approached prosecutor César de Rivas, in charge of the Villarejo case, and told him he thought they were going to have a meeting with him thanks to Díez. He replied that “he knew nothing and not to get him into trouble.”

The complainant of a prosecutor testified to the UCO that she met with Cerdán and Leire Díez to talk about the case

M.S., a woman who filed a complaint against anti-corruption prosecutor José Grinda for a sexual offense, testified before the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard that she met with former PSOE Organization Secretary Santos Cerdán and former member Leire Díez to discuss the case against that public prosecutor, who was ultimately acquitted of the accusations. This is stated in the transcript of the statement she gave on May 27, which is in the case file accessed by EL PAÍS. 

The Civil Guard specifies that the woman appeared “voluntarily” as a “witness” at the Jaén province offices. The complainant told agents that a “foreign person who would reside in New York” contacted her in 2021 regarding the facts she reported about the prosecutor. The woman added that this person later appeared at her home, without telling her who sent him, to offer her legal services to reopen the case against Grinda. 

According to the complainant’s account, in April 2024 that lawyer introduced her to Leire Díez at the Radisson Red Hotel in Madrid. M.S. said the former PSOE member told her she was interested in the procedure against Grinda and that she “would try to go after him to bring the case to light.” The woman added that “the next day” she met with her again “at the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz.” “There they introduced her to Santos Cerdán,” the UCO record states. 

The complainant added that she had a “brief meeting” in which the former socialist Organization Secretary also participated, where they spoke “exclusively” about the case against Grinda.

The UCO seized the mobile phone and a computer from Serrano, Sánchez’s chief of staff before coming to government

The UCO seized from Juan Manuel Serrano, who was Pedro Sánchez’s chief of staff at the PSOE before coming to government, a mobile phone and an Apple computer. According to the case file documentation, on May 27 agents appeared before Serrano because he had been “a participant and aware of the evolution of the activity carried out,” receiving “queries” from Leire Díez. 

Serrano decided not to testify before the agents who took his electronic devices, for which he provided the unlock pin. The former Correos executive is not listed as a suspect in the National Court case, but the agents did read him his rights as a suspect.

The UCO points out that the “ultimate goal” of the operation was to “protect the interests that directly or indirectly affect the Government or its president”

The report from the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard points out that the “ultimate goal” of the socialist operation was to “protect the interests that directly or indirectly affect the Government or its president.” This is evident from the case file accessed by EL PAÍS. 

“In both cases,” the report continues, “the political party proceeded to hire professional consulting services aimed at advising and analyzing various legal matters, through the provision of verbal notes, informational notes, action proposals, reports, and opinions, etc.” They also add that the contracts would have been signed “merely instrumentally,” to simulate a professional relationship between both parties.  And it adds: “The funds released by the PSOE, according to the respective professional contracts, would have been used to finance the allegedly criminal activity attributed to the organization, as well as to channel payments that ultimately would have been directed to third parties…”.

Businessman Javier Pérez Dolset claims he met twice with Cerdán at the PSOE headquarters

Businessman Javier Pérez Dolset, investigated in the ‘Leire case,’ stated on May 27, during the search of his home, that he met twice with former socialist organization secretary Santos Cerdán in April 2024 and once, in 2021, with Gaspar Zarrías, also investigated in the case. Regarding whether Leire Díaz, known as the plumber of the PSOE in the case, acted under Cerdán’s orders, he told the Civil Guard that “he does not know.” During the home search, agents found four laptops, an iPad, and a mobile phone in the living room, as well as five USB drives and four hard drives.

A Civil Guard commander charged in the ‘Koldo case’ claims Leire directed the defense of Koldo and Ábalos

Civil Guard commander Rubén Villalba, investigated in the Koldo case, claims that Leire Díez directed the defense of former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and his former advisor Koldo García: in a record of a meeting held with Díez. Villalba states that “the current lawyers of Koldo and Ábalos were appointed by Leire and the strategy is set by her, although she considers Ábalos lost.” “She talks a lot with them,” he emphasizes.

Additionally, the guard notes that the former socialist member assumed Ábalos “was going to fall” and had full confidence in Cerdán. The meeting took place on March 10, months before the Supreme Court opened trial against the former minister, his advisor, and commission agent Víctor de Aldama for mask contracts.

Díez stated at that meeting, according to Villalba, that the head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Alejandro Luzón — who led the accusation in the Supreme Court trial for the Koldo case — “is aligned with the PP” and that when Feijóo comes to government, he will be appointed attorney general, “which according to Feijóo will be in 2017 or earlier if Ábalos wants.” In her meetings with the charged Civil Guard officer, the former socialist member boasted of having links “with the top of the Government.”

The Civil Guard points to Cerdán’s lawyer for having “facilitated” meetings between the organization 

The UCO points out that lawyer Jacobo Teijelo, defense attorney for Santos Cerdán, may have provided “legal documents that were part of judicial cases in which he performed his professional work related to proceedings” in which he was involved, for example, on hydrocarbon issues.

According to the Civil Guard, Teijelo also facilitated meetings “between the organization and certain persons investigated in proceedings of this nature” with a “dual purpose,” they say. First, to provoke nullities in the cases and, second, to gather “compromising information about some members” of the UCO “with the aim of discrediting and undermining” the Unit. 

Among the meetings stands out that of Civil Guard captain Juan Sánchez Yepes who, according to the agents, may have made “revelations of information classified as secret” of the UCO. The PSOE allegedly paid Teijelo 125,000 euros. Agents searched his office and took a “professional engagement note” dated and signed January 20, 2025, signed by PSOE manager Ana Fuentes, as well as various invoices.

Carmen Pano told the UCO that Koldo’s lawyer told her there were “people from the PSOE” interested in “talking” with her

Businesswoman Carmen Pano told the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard on May 27 that lawyer Leticia de la Hoz and her partner, Ángel Fernández, told her that “there were people interested in talking” with her “about money deliveries at Ferraz.” According to her account, when she asked if they were “people from the party,” the lawyer replied yes: “People from the party, people from the PSOE.” And immediately, De la Hoz added that it was to “save the ass” of former minister José Luis Ábalos and former ministerial advisor Koldo García. 

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This is stated in the case file accessed by EL PAÍS, of the case led by Judge Santiago Pedraz at the National Court regarding the alleged criminal activity supposedly carried out by former socialist member Leire Díez between 2024 and 2025 to hinder judicial cases affecting members of the Government or the PSOE. According to the investigations, Koldo’s lawyer even offered 50,000 euros to Pano to change the statement in which she said she had taken 90,000 euros in cash to the Ferraz headquarters. Pano told agents that at that moment De la Hoz added that they wanted to contact her to “save the ass” of former minister José Luis Ábalos and former ministerial advisor Koldo García.

On Wednesday, De la Hoz denied trying to bribe the businesswoman.

The UCO found 19,850 euros in cash at Zarrías’ house

The Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard found a total of 19,850 euros at the home of former senator Gaspar Zarrías on May 27. According to the entry and search record, accessed by EL PAÍS, the agents explain that they found in a chest in the living room inside a black bag three bundles of 50 and 20 euro bills.

The PP cedes to Vox the ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Deregulation, and Family and Culture

The acting president of Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, has announced that the government pact reached with Vox includes ceding to the far-right the ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Culture, Tourism and Sports, and Deregulation, Family and Social Aid. One of them will have the rank of first vice presidency and will be occupied by Vox’s candidate for the elections, Carlos Pollán.

Mañueco assures that the government agreement will offer “stability” and Pollán has confirmed that national priority will be applied in housing aid and social aid. “It is the same text as in Extremadura and Aragón,” Mañueco said, describing this measure imposed by the far-right as “a priority allocation of public resources to those who have a real and verifiable connection” with Castilla y León.

Óscar López denounces the PP and Vox pact in Castilla y León: “Behind national priority there is a national shame”

The Government has already reacted to the latest coalition pact between PP and Vox in Castilla y León following the agreements signed in Extremadura and Aragón, which, as in previous cases, includes the “national priority” that relegates foreigners in access to public services and aid. “It is regrettable that in the 21st century pacts called national priority are signed that are actually a national shame,” criticized the Minister for Digital Transformation and Public Function and Secretary General of Madrid, Óscar López.

“Behind national priority there is a national shame. There cannot be a more selfish, less supportive discourse. What is conveyed is a xenophobic message, a racist message, the worst of human nature,” he reproached.

Tellado insists that “the dilemma is with PNV and Junts: whether they continue supporting the mafia or return the word to the Spaniards”

The PP secretary general, Miguel Tellado, has insisted on pressuring the PNV and Junts to agree to a motion of no confidence against Pedro Sánchez, despite the fact that Carles Puigdemont’s party has set an impossible condition for the PP, that Alberto Núñez Feijóo travel to Waterloo (Belgium) to meet with the leader of the independence party. “The dilemma is with PNV and Junts: whether they continue supporting the mafia or return the word to the Spaniards,” Tellado stressed on Cuatro, while ruling out Feijóo’s trip to Waterloo. “That question was answered yesterday,” he said referring to Feijóo’s words on Tuesday in Barcelona, when he dismissed the matter asking to talk about “serious things.” “The PP is willing to an instrumental motion to call elections, but we are not willing to shortcuts,” Tellado concluded.

The PP will summon Salvador Illa, Leire Díez, Antonio Hernando, and the PSOE manager to appear before the Senate commission on the Koldo case

The Popular Party group in the Senate, where it has an absolute majority and controls the parliamentary agenda and timing, will call several people related to the investigation opened by Judge Santiago Pedraz in the framework of the Leire case to appear before the Koldo case investigation commission, as reported by eldiario.es and confirmed by this newspaper from sources in Génova. Those summoned will be Salvador Illa, president of Catalonia; Leire Díez, former member and suspect in the alleged operation to sabotage judicial actions against the PSOE; Ana Fuentes, PSOE manager and also suspect in the procedure; and Antonio Hernando, Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures.

Borja Sémper rules out Feijóo going to Waterloo to seek Junts’ support: “If not now, it will be in six months, but change will come”

PP deputy secretary Borja Sémper has ruled out Alberto Núñez Feijóo traveling to Waterloo to meet Carles Puigdemont to seek possible support for a motion of no confidence against Pedro Sánchez.

“The PP’s position is clear, we need new elections and neither Feijóo nor any PP member will travel anywhere.” Thus, he ruled out Junts’ proposal and assured that “if not now, it will be in six months or a year, but change will come,” Sémper said in an interview for Antena 3 in which he presented the PP as the sensibility against the current political whirlwind: “I know that in this time when the extravagant is sought, this is hard to take root, but it is our position,” he concluded. 

“We want to move from political decay to political decency,” continued the popular deputy secretary, who assured that Spanish politics has become “a circus” and “scandals will continue to shock us.” “Everything will end up being known, fortunately,” he concluded.

Page insists that Sánchez submit to a vote of confidence and regrets that the PSOE “is roasting like Saint Lawrence on a grill”

Emiliano García-Page has again defended that Pedro Sánchez urgently submit to a vote of confidence in the face of the front of judicial corruption cases open against the PSOE, although he still thinks the Prime Minister should have called early general elections a year ago. “We are already late,” he said at a press breakfast organized by Europa Press in Madrid. “It is evident that we cannot govern. Power is power and if you cannot, it is not power. Power is Puigdemont,” who “does not rule Spain, [but does] the Government,” he added. 

The president of Castilla-La Mancha recalled that the final sentence of the Junts leader is expected before summer. “If the sentence is delayed, the situation can be assessed. If he returns to Spain, there will be no need to go to Waterloo,” he said, referring to Junts’ condition to Alberto Núñez Feijóo to travel to the Belgian city to meet Puigdemont if he wants support for a motion of no confidence. “By talking so much about the motion of no confidence, they risk losing it without presenting it. It seems like a strategy thought out in La Moncloa,” he joked. The socialist baron lamented that “many people are enjoying watching the PSOE roast on a grill like Saint Lawrence.” “The PP is in no hurry, I don’t think [the motion] will change people’s opinion; time does not play in favor of the PSOE because the debate is on the corruption cases,” he observed.

Puente emphasizes that “criticizing specific actions” of the judiciary “does not mean questioning the Institution”

Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport and member of the PSOE leadership, reaffirms and believes that the Judiciary “is subject to criticism, like the other powers,” a day after the governing body of judges issued a statement warning against the criticisms from the minister and other government members and prominent politicians about the various corruption cases affecting the socialists, stating that such pronouncements “contribute to eroding citizens’ trust in the Rule of Law,” thereby weakening “the foundations of an advanced democratic society.” The General Council of the Judiciary reminded that “the defense of constitutional values and principles, judicial independence, and the right to defense are pillars on which the Rule of Law rests.”

Puente, who last week denounced a conspiracy to overthrow the Government with “undemocratic methods,” responded on X that “those who undermine institutions are those who, being part of them, use them for purposes other than those provided by the Constitution and the Law” and stressed that “overthrowing governments is not among those purposes.” “Criticizing specific actions does not mean questioning the Institution. The vast majority of judges are serious professionals. The CGPJ should think more about them and less about protecting those who tarnish the good name of justice with their abuses,” concluded the heavyweight of the Executive and the PSOE.

Puente emphasizes that “criticizing specific actions” of the judiciary “does not mean questioning the Institution”

Óscar Puente, Minister of Transport and member of the PSOE leadership, reaffirms and believes that the Judiciary “is subject to criticism, like the other powers,” a day after the governing body of judges issued a statement warning against the criticisms from the minister and other government members and prominent politicians about the various corruption cases affecting the socialists, stating that such pronouncements “contribute to eroding citizens’ trust in the Rule of Law,” thereby weakening “the foundations of an advanced democratic society.” The General Council of the Judiciary reminded that “the defense of constitutional values and principles, judicial independence, and the right to defense are pillars on which the Rule of Law rests.”

Puente, who last week denounced a conspiracy to overthrow the Government with “undemocratic methods,” responded on X that “those who undermine institutions are those who, being part of them, use them for purposes other than those provided by the Constitution and the Law” and stressed that “overthrowing governments is not among those purposes.” “Criticizing specific actions does not mean questioning the Institution. The vast majority of judges are serious professionals. The CGPJ should think more about them and less about protecting those who tarnish the good name of justice with their abuses,” concluded the heavyweight of the Executive and the PSOE.

Page believes his party should sue Leire Díez and “all those who are tarnishing the PSOE’s name”

The president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, believes his party should sue former socialist member Leire Díez and “all those who are tarnishing the PSOE’s name.” “They are harming us,” he acknowledged at a Europa Press press breakfast. Page acknowledged that the party is going through “a tremendous credibility crisis.”

Regarding accusations from some PSOE ministers that there is a conspiracy against the party, the Manchego president recalled that the PP made similar comments when the Gürtel case arose and warned: “I would not like my party to imitate Cospedal or the PP, nor to consider tying in corruption. Let’s see if it turns out that the clever one in PSOE corruption is: as long as we don’t surpass the PP, we are happy…”. “What society should care about is whether the known cases are true or false. Against the truth, there is no hoax,” he added.

Pradales says there is “no room” for Feijóo’s proposed motion of no confidence

The lehendakari, Imanol Pradales, has said there is “no room” for the proposal by PP president Alberto Núñez Feijóo for an instrumental motion of no confidence to call elections. In an interview on 3cat, he said that this approach “starts from an equation that includes an actor, like Vox,” which makes it impossible for the PNV to join it.

Pradales explained that Santiago Abascal’s party is in Euskadi the “image of Francoism” and the expression of “antagonism with Basque self-government, identity, and language.” He insisted that Vox’s presence is a “red line” for the PNV, which will never participate “in any operation” in which it is present and highlighted that Basque society is “very critical” of this political movement and is “vaccinated” against formulas occurring throughout Europe.

However, the lehendakari considered that the current political situation and the response to his proposal should make the popular leader “reflect” and that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez must “take steps” in favor of transparency if he wants to continue the legislature.

He recalled that besides the PNV’s stance, the statements of Junts secretary general Jordi Turull must be taken into account, who urged Feijóo to present his proposal directly to Carles Puigdemont in a meeting in Waterloo.

Regarding what the Prime Minister should do in a “very delicate” moment of the legislature like the current one, the lehendakari said that in the coming weeks and months “critical moments” will occur that should be resolved “by giving explanations, being transparent, and facing the public opinion” on all matters. “When there are issues like those being revealed, exemplarity, giving explanations is fundamental,” Pradales stressed, who advocated that Sánchez maintain a “fluid” relationship with the parties that supported his investiture. He lamented the current political situation in Spain where “everything ends up reduced to a tweet and a headline, with very little exemplarity and respect,” which ends up causing “disaffection and distancing” of citizens from politics.

After stating that bridges between PSOE and PP are “absolutely broken” and that this is “very bad” for politics, Pradales explained that this polarization “so far” has not affected the PNV-PSE coalition that maintains its government in Euskadi, which has a “working climate that is going well.” (EFE)

Torres asks the PP to respect the Judiciary and the presumption of innocence of Zapatero: “They already had the sentence dictated”

The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has urged the PP to respect the separation of powers, the presumption of innocence, and the Judiciary because, according to him, they “already had the sentence dictated” after the indictment of former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero or the judicial developments of the Leire case affecting the PSOE.

In an interview on Cadena Ser Canarias and questioned about the reproach from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) to the Executive for questioning judges, Torres defended the separation of powers in a democratic state like Spain, noting that there have been “various criticisms,” but “not unanimous.” Thus, he claimed respect for the Judiciary from politics, mentioning the PP which, despite the right to presumption of innocence in “investigations that are just beginning,” already had the “sentence dictated.” “Those who are investigated are for them condemned,” he denounced, while reproaching the ‘popular’ party for demanding that the PSOE “remove any representative, simply because there is an investigation.”

“Therefore, presumption of innocence,” he concluded. That said, regarding the investigation of Zapatero for the ‘Plus Ultra case,’ the minister expressed confidence that the former socialist president “can prove his innocence,” while highlighting his mandates, which led “to equality in all areas.” “But there are those who use politics to judicialize public life and those who use justice to do politics, and I think that is a mistake,” he protested. (EP)

CASTILLA Y LEÓN ELECTIONS

The PP and Vox reach an agreement in Castilla y León to invest Mañueco that includes the “national priority”

The Popular Party and Vox reached a coalition government agreement in Castilla y León on Wednesday to invest the acting president and PP candidate, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The pact adds to the two previously sealed in Extremadura and Aragón and also includes the principle of “national priority” in access to aid and public benefits for Spaniards over immigrants. Thus, more than two and a half months after the regional elections on March 15, in which the popular party won by a simple majority — improving its results after almost four decades leading the community, with 33 seats — and the far-right slowed its growth — with 14 deputies — both formations have shaken hands. But, again, a popular baron yields: Mañueco, who intended to govern alone, will have the far-right in his team. Both parties will announce the content of the document at noon in a press conference at the Cortes.

You can read the full information here

Government of Spain

The Government sees the motion of no confidence as impossible due to rejection in Catalonia and Euskadi of PP and Vox

The Government is not at all worried about the possibility that Alberto Núñez Feijóo will succeed in his recent attempts to reactivate the possibility of a motion of no confidence, even if only instrumental, just to call elections. The Executive constantly surveys its partners, knows well the political situation of all of them, and is convinced that there is practically no chance that the motion of no confidence will succeed for a fundamental political reason that no tactical turn can change: Catalonia and Euskadi, the two key places for a no confidence, because the PNV and Junts operate there, are the areas of Spain with the greatest rejection of the PP but especially of Vox.

You can read the full information here

Good morning. The wait continues to learn the details of the investigation of the Leire Díez case, which last week led to the UCO entering the PSOE headquarters. The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has come out in defense of judicial independence, expressing concern about statements from political leaders questioning it.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will speak this Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Cercle d’Economia before political and economic representatives. Sánchez goes to Barcelona a day after Junts challenged PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to meet with Carles Puigdemont in Waterloo to discuss a motion of no confidence.

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