🫠 This Week in Spain: 'Y Tú Más' Gets Worse

Also: Catalonia wants more money and Alves is released on bail.

Mar 21, 2024

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | March 21, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #49

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Corruption’s the Word

Rhetoric Bombs in Parliament as the “Y Tú Más” (Whataboutism) and Finger Pointing Continue

Spain’s politicians will not look back on this week with pride. As in, like nothing edifying, thoughtful or even marginally true was said in the political sphere, Seriously, like nothing.

Instead of truth, we got the Spanish version of the American game ‘The Dozens’. That’s a game where two contestants insult each other until one of them gives up. In Spanish, that’s Y tú más (And you more). As in “You’re fat”…”You’re fatter”…”You’re as fat as a blimp.”
In fact, things got so tense in Spanish politics that it feels like we’re one insult away in Parliament from a fist fight.

Time to dive into the muck.

First, let’s check back into the scandal involving the boyfriend of Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP), who appears to have faked up some invoices to evade taxes when he had banner years selling COVID masks in Spain.

PSOE dig. Things got wild and personal this week as the socialists went after Ayuso’s romantic life with snide glee—Transportation Minister Óscar Puente (PSOE) referred to Alberto González Amador as “Ayuso’s frontman with benefits”. Classy!

But no, it gets better! The perfect way to illustrate the petty level of current political bickering is the brief exchange that PSOE and PP Madrid had on X (Twitter) about that scandal:

You read that right. The PSOE official account teased the opposition PP’s Ayuso by saying that, if all of the corruption cases around her boyfriend and family were a TV show, it would be called Family members (using typography in the style of 90s TV show Friends). The PP responded by posting the PSOE logo along with the words Prostitutes and Cocaine in the same style (in reference to a PSOE corruption case in which public funds were spent on, well, prostitutes and cocaine).

And on the PP side of that scandal, Ayuso’s chief of staff, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (aka MAR) has ~~led the charge~~ made an absolute mess.

Rodríguez is a controversial figure who’s been around the dark halls of power for a few decades (he was an MP and the national government’s spokesperson in the 90s until he was asked to resign by then-Prime Minister José María Aznar for being too “sectarian”). MAR’s also dabbled in journalism, which is ironic, considering the next bullet point.
Left-leaning news site El Diario broke the news last week about Ayuso’s boyfriend, and MAR didn’t like this one bit. So in a heated exchange via WhatsApp with one of the website’s journalists, Esther Palomera (who was not involved in the investigative piece), he told her: “We will destroy you. You’ll have to shut down. Fuck you, idiots”.
While left-leaning media and politicians condemned Rodríguez’s words, turns out MAR wasn’t done. On Tuesday, he said in a WhatsApp group he shares with journalists that reporters from El País had been “harassing residents in Ayuso’s building” (he even added names and photos of the journalists) and that “hooded journalists from El Diario had tried to break into Ayuso’s apartment”. Turns out it wasn’t exactly true on both accounts. His explanation? No big deal—it was “from his personal account, not an official account from the Madrid government”.

Next? This morning, Ayuso called on all political parties to be civil with each other.

We’re kidding, of course. She doubled down on MAR’s stories and added that “it’s not right to harass politicians (or their neighbors)” in the building they live in. She then proceeded to compare Sánchez to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and channel her inner Regina George by wondering why he’s so obsessed with her: “Sánchez is worried about where I sleep because it keeps him up at night and he has an obsession with me.”

Going after the wives too. Ayuso’s boyfriend wasn’t alone when it came to accusations and both Prime Minister Sánchez and PP boss Alberto Núñez Feijóo threatened each other with going after their respective wives.

Feijóo has repeatedly warned that the PP will launch a parliamentary investigation into Sánchez’s “surroundings” (i.e. his wife Begoña Gómez): If Sánchez thinks “he has closed the door on what happened at his home, he is mistaken.”
The opposition leader was referring to a complaint the PP filed with the Conflict of Interest Office (we explained it in last week’s issue) to determine if Sánchez had done wrong by not recusing himself from cabinet meetings in which ministers made “favorable decisions” for Air Europa, “a company that had ties of an economic and professional nature” with Sánchez’s wife. This week, the office responded that it saw no wrongdoing in Sánchez’s actions.

Then, of course, it was the turn of Feijoó’s wife.

First Deputy PM María Jesús Montero indulged in another round of “Y tú más-ism” in the same parliamentary session, asking about the PP leader’s significant other, Eva Cárdenas, who worked at the company Sargadelos in Galicia when it allegedly received financial assistance from the regional government while her husband was governor (this has also been proven false).
So they dropped it? No. Sánchez, who was seating besides Montero, gestured that they had more information on her.

Penultimately, an exchange in Parliament between Equality Minister Ana Redondo and PP MP Jaime de los Santos also got tense.

De los Santos questioned Redondo about a recent study conducted in Spain that says that young men seem to be becoming increasingly antifeminist. However, he digressed and started asking about the corruption accusations against Prime Minister Sánchez’s wife, Speaker Francina Armengol (the Koldo case) and the botched rollout of the “only yes means yes” sexual consent law that ended up releasing hundreds of sexual aggressors from prison (which we covered on our first issue of the Tapa.)
A furious Redondo jumped out of her chair and responded accusing him of “denialism and reactionary machismo”, especially in what has been a dark week in Spain when it comes to gender violence (two women were murdered by their spouses, and two girls killed by their father). Going full Game of Thrones on him (see video above), she screamed “Shame! Shame! Shame!” arguing that “denialism (of gender violence) kills”.
Speaker Armengol tried to calm things down saying that “people listening to us do not deserve this”. It didn’t work.

Finally, because anger and spite between our political representatives obviously trickles down to all of us peasants, last night nearly a thousand people gathered outside the PP HQ on Génova street to demand Ayuso’s resignation.

The protesters were motivated not only by the recent news about Ayuso’s boyfriend’s tax problems, but also by last month’s police reports that confirmed that Madrid’s senior residences were neglected by the regional government during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the slogan “My family died, yours got rich”, protesters chanted for her to resign, as well as “your apartment is a crime” (in reference to the property she lives in, which belongs to her boyfriend) and “they aren’t deaths, they are murders” (in reference to the many seniors who died in the first months of the pandemic).

Stay tuned for next week when this evolves into Battle Royale or The Hunger Games, whichever you prefer.

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week

1.🤑 Catalonia now wants more tax money

Just when things in Catalonia start to calm down, something new pops up to draw people’s ire. This week was no exception.

Last week the region’s separatist president (aka governor) Pere Aragonés (from leftist party ERC) had decided to call a snap election in May after his 2024 budget bill was rejected. This week, Aragonés (who is now in campaign mode) made waves by presenting a proposal to the national government meant to help Catalonia achieve “full fiscal sovereignty”.

Uh-oh! That sounds like jargon. What does it mean? Simple. Aragonés thinks the region should be in charge of collecting and managing (and keeping) all of taxes paid in Catalonia (such as VAT, income tax and corporate taxes)—and only kick back to Madrid a portion for a “territorial rebalancing” fund and expenses related to Justice and Defense services provided by the central government. As of now, the region only manages 9% of the taxpayer money and Aragonés insists that the current model results in Catalonia suffering from “chronic underfunding”.
Many, many moneys. According to the Catalonian government, if this plan were accepted, the region would go from receiving just over €25 billion in 2021 to getting €52 billion. Catalonia is also the autonomous community in Spain with the largest number of taxes. Aragonés says that people in his region are “paying more taxes than ever” and that they are “the third highest contributors in the country but fourteenth in receiving funding”.

Crazy idea? While Aragonés’ proposal may seem… unique, there’s actually two autonomous communities in Spain that already have that exact scheme in place: the Basque Country and Navarra, and they have been using it for decades. Catalonia now wants it too.

However, it’s not that easy. Catalonia operates within a system in which the central government collects the majority of the taxes and then transfers part of it to the autonomous communities. (You still with us? Good). But the Basque Country and Navarra operate under “a fiscal autonomy regime in which they collect all taxes in exchange for a so-called ‘quota’, which they later pay to the government for the competencies not transferred and as a gesture of solidarity with the rest (and poorer) of the autonomous communities.
Why this special treatment? It all goes back to 1878 and the Basque Economic Agreement, when it was established that the three Basque provinces would contribute to the common fund. Oh, and it’s also in the Spanish Constitution, which contemplates respect for and protection of "the historical rights of the territorial regions". Catalonia is not a part of it, and now it wants in but experts say they would need a constitutional amendment for that.
Money for the poor…if they work. Aragonés has warned that his proposal contemplates a “solidarity quota” for the poorest autonomous communities in Spain (such as Andalucía or Extremadura) but it will be “for a limited time only” (see video above) and as long as they “improve their productivity and competitiveness”.

Why now? This is the time to fight for this as the national government led by Prime Minister Sánchez is “weakened”, according to El Mundo, while the separatists are empowered and are in a position to make demands (ERC supports the coalition in power. If Sánchez says no, he can forget about passing any laws in Parliament).

And ERC knows this: On Tuesday evening, Aragonés appeared on national television saying he expected Pedro Sánchez to change his position. “Every victory for Catalonia begins with a ‘no’ from the Spanish Government. They also said 'no' to amnesty, and now we have amnesty,” he warned.

The rest of the country is not happy with this idea. Speaking before the Senate, Finance Minister María Jesús Montero said such an arrangement may not be constitutional if it does not include all 17 autonomous communities in Spain.

Not big fans: Other regional leaders are displeased. Murcia regional president Fernando López Mira (PP) called Aragonés’ proposal it’s “unjust, non-supportive and unconstitutional”. So, that’s a ‘no’?

New system. Montero explained that the government is looking to create a new “global autonomic financing system” that includes and benefits “all of the autonomous communities” and is in compliance with the Constitution and the autonomy (regional) statutes. In other words, we’ll get back to you.

For now, this looks like an uphill battle. But if Sánchez’s government needs some votes…

2. ⚖️ Dani Alves being released on bail. Lots of bail

You may recall that former FC Barcelona football (i.e. soccer) player Dani Alves was recently sentenced to four years and a half in prison for sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in a nightclub back in December 2022. We wrote about it several times.

Well, turns out he’s about to be released on bail. If you’re confused, you’re not alone so let us explain.

40-year-old Alves was found guilty by a panel of three judges on Feb. 22. The footballer, who has been in pre-trial (or preventive) detention in the Catalan prison Brians 2 for 14 months now, appealed the decision, which was preliminary, as did prosecutors, who want a longer sentence.
Alves’s defense asked that, while all parties await the final verdict, the footballer be released on bail arguing that he has “already served a quarter of the sentence”. He had been held without bail back since his arrest in January of 2023 because a) he’s rich (so he has the means to flee), b) he’s Brazilian (and Brazil has no extradition treaty) and c) he was likely going to get a long sentence.

Two of the three judges agreed to the defense’s request because “he has residence and ties in Barcelona”—but they added a few conditions and precautionary measures:

Alves has to post a bail of €1 million to be released.
Both his Brazilian and Spanish passports will be confiscated until the final verdict is announced to prevent him from fleeing the country . He also must appear before the Barcelona Court once a week.
He is prohibited from coming within one kilometer of the victim or communicating with her.
The third judge wrote a dissenting opinion. And the prosecution and plaintiff also (of course) opposed the decision, saying he has the means to flee the country.

Alves has vowed not to flee and the other two judges now believe that the flight risk has “diminished”.

They also think that, it could be a long time until there’s a final resolution on the sentence
That’s because it will first be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Catalonia and then, if any party appeals its decision, will head to the Supreme Court. And… the law says that the defendant can’t spend more than half of his sentence in prison while he awaits for a final verdict (which in theory means he would have been released in April 2025 anyway).

How did it get to this?

For those who forgot or never knew: Alves, who was playing at the Mexico City team UNAM, came back to Barcelona after Christmas 2022. During a visit to the Sutton nightclub, he and a friend had club staff invite three girls to their table in a VIP area.
What happened next was the crux of the trial. The woman says Alves shoved her into the bathroom, pushed her to the floor and, when she refused to perform oral sex on him, slapped her and then raped her. Her story has never changed.
Alves’s version was…less consistent. First, when he returned to Spain to answer police questions, he claimed he didn’t know the women. Then he said she came into the bathroom when he was inside but nothing happened. And then he said there was oral sex. Finally, he said they had sex, but it was consensual.
His justification for the changes? He didn’t want his wife Joana Sanz to know he had been unfaithful (she’s since separated from him).

3. 🍹 Pablo Iglesias’s bar relives the Spanish Civil War

Pablo Iglesias opened a bar in the Madrid barrio of Lavapiés Tuesday—yes, Spain’s former Second Deputy Prime Minister from the hard left Podemos is now a bar boss—but not before it got vandalized. You won’t guess by whom.

The bar is called Taberna Garibaldi, named after the 19th century Italian republican and national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi who later inspired leftist figures like Che Guevara.
Iglesias said Taberna Garibaldi was designed to be a “bar-restaurant only for reds, where we can go to have beers."
The bar menu is appropriately lefty. The bar offers drinks like the "Fidel Mojito", "Che Daiquiri" and "Mandela Zulú", and plates such as the enchiladas "Viva Zapata" or the "Brigada Garibaldi" carrilleras (pork cheeks…mmmmm).

Here’s where it gets weird. The day before it opened, someone tagged the bar’s facade with some threatening graffiti. But who?

Being a leftism theme bar, suspicion might naturally turn to the far right. Iglesias was a constant left-wing, republican voice in Spanish politics, once whose presence in the central government drove the right wing nuts.
But, but, but… The graffiti points to another source. It included an anarchy sign and the phrase (in Spanish, with spelling mistakes): “Former vice president: we demand the immediate withdrawal of the Durruti cocktail or the anarchist proletariat will take action - Durruti's friends."

The Judean People’s Front vs the People’s Front of Judea: Yes, in what almost seems like a remake of the fight between the two Judea groups in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (but is really a reflection of the Spanish Civil War), communist-leaning Iglesias was being trolled by anarchists.

Communists and anarchists fought amongst themselves (including some bitter fighting in Barcelona In May 1937) while they both fought against Franco in the 1936-39 war (for more, read George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia).
The problem? The “Durruti Dry Martini” (celebrated by left-leaning actor Willy Toledo) is named after Buenaventura Durruti, a revolutionary anarchist who died in 1936 from a gunshot received on the Madrid front. And apparently (though they didn’t exactly send out a press release), the anarchists objected to their hero being used to market drinks.

Warning! This could all be an elaborate scam by some highly creative mind on the right who wants to have a laugh and sow dissent (like we said—no press release from the anarchists), but that seems…elaborate.

4. ⚽ Spanish fútbol controversies—‘kissgate’, referee payoffs and now more!

Spanish football had one heck of a day Wednesday, with 7 arrests and 11 police searches—including one of Luis Rubiales’s house.

Remember Rubiales? He’s the bullet-headed dude who grabbed his testicles and made, um, gestures while in the stands after the Spanish women’s team won the World Cup final and, more importantly, gave Spain player Jenni Hermoso a big, wet (and nonconsensual) kiss on stage to celebrate said triumph.
Oops, he did it again. Rubiales is the center of another kerfuffle—this time over his role in alleged irregular contracts linked to the commissions received by former Barça star Gerard Piqué's company, Kosmos Global Holding, for the celebration of the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia. (Please note this is all alleged because the raids happened yesterday.)

Catch me up: Ever wonder why the Supercopa de España (a mini tournament between the leading teams in La Liga and La Copa) is played in Saudi Arabia? You’re right: 💸.

Back in 2018/2019: Rubiales and Piqué (who was becoming a sports impresario), were coming up with ways to make the TV rights of the Supercopa more valuable. What if instead of a home-and-away series between the Liga and Copa winners they made it four teams and three games (two semifinals and one final, involving the top two peach f the Liga and Copa)? And what if we did it in a country that would pay piles of cash?
Enter Saudi Arabia: The Spanish football federation (RFEF) then signed a deal with the Saudi public company Sela that would pay €40m to RFEF for each Supercopa played in Saudi. Bit sportswashy and weird (why Spanish tournaments in Saudi?) but fine.

Except…document drop. In an investigation inevitably called the “Supercopa Files”, El Confidential in 2022 published a series based on documents and audio recordings (Why are there soooo many phone taps and recordings in Spain? Remind us to never say aaaanything interesting on the phone). And there were revelations, like…

Commissions. It seems the RFEF/Rubiales pressed the Saudis to pay Piqué a commission. Like a serious one—€24m 😱.
…and an investigation. Since opening an investigation in June 2022, Spain’s anti-corruption prosecutors have been looking into this odd situation. And now it appears that they feel they have enough to move on the evidence.
Arrests, but no clarity…yet. It’s not clear what the charges are, whether they will be for corruption for diverting money that would have gone to the RFEF to Piqué, or if Rubiales will be charged with taking kickbacks from Pique´s gigantic commission. Which would have been, you know, tempting.

The raids and arrests at the RFEF headquarters, Rubiales’s house, and elsewhere were carried out by the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Unit (Unidad Central Operativa), which investigates serious and organized crime. But Piqué’s company (Kosmos) wasn’t raided. And guess who wasn’t arrested?

Rubiales himself! He’s been in the Dominican Republic since early February. In his first reaction to the raids he said he was shocked, SHOCKED! Actually he said, “I am absolutely amazed by all of this. I have been working in the Dominican Republic for months. My family was going to travel to spend Easter with me."
The Guardia Civil issued an arrest warrant for Rubiales Wednesday night.

The plot will thicken!

5. 👑 The royals: they’re just like us (not really)

It’s royal family sightings time! (Clearly it’s a slow news week.) This week has been chock full of royals wandering around Spain like they own the place. Oh, wait…

First up, Juan Carlos I: The abdicated ex-king, famous philanderer, and UAE resident was spotted last Friday back in his beloved Sanxenxo, in Galicia, where he likes to sail. He sailed his boat, the Bribón, for two and a half hours, and his daughter Elena (“La Infanta Elena” to you) followed him around in another one.
Ex-king, daughter and a friend of JC1 had dinner in some well-known seafood joint called Ribadomar and apparently no one in the area really cared because they were busy getting ready for Semana Santa.

It wasn’t just the fallen royal who was out and about. Sitting King Felipe VI (well, he wasn’t sitting, but you get the point) took advantage of his dad’s visit to Spain to…go way across the country to ski on the border with France in the province of Huesca.

Felipe VI visited Formigal with friends (and, you know, royal security) on Saturday and, in his best “they’re just like us” moment, apparently queued up for the chair lift like everybody else. He apparently was seen skiing with Antonio Gericó, the boss of Aramón, which runs Formigal and several other mountains, but not with Queen Letizia, who does not like to ski (or who is divorcing the King if you believe sort of dubious random reports)..

But Felipe VI wasn’t done pretending to be a normal person! He then schlepped over to Zaragoza to pay a surprise visit to his daughter Princess Leonor (aka the Future Queen) while she was on military exercises.

Felipe VI presents as a fairly convincing military dude, perhaps because he spent some time in his own youth training in the armed forces. The palace released a pile of pictures of him and Leonor (looking well-armed) in various exercises, and eating (reported lunch: shellfish paella, fish in sauce, and pear for dessert).

No shocking photos, but we were amused to see the nameplate that Felipe VI wore on his uniform: Borbón. Just curious: would Peter the Great’s version just say “The Great”? Asking for a friend.

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