The businessman in the frozen food sector arrested in the operation against a cocaine trafficking network through the port of Malaga supposedly controlled for “at least a year and a half” the scanner with which the containers in which the drugs were transported were checked. stashes.

Sources consulted by El Confidencial explained that most of this inspection work was carried out in the warehouse of the company of this investigator, where the suspicious containers were transferred to be reviewed by the device..

The businessman, whom investigators place at the “top of the network”, and who maintained close relations with port staff, “gave up a scanner he owned for the detection of narcotic substances”.

This gesture was supposedly altruistic.. But in the “spring of last year,” the aforementioned sources stated, a concession was obtained and the device was moved to the port so that it could operate in its facilities..

The National Police, Civil Guard and Tax Agency confirmed this Friday that the organization had the “connivance of a Customs official” who supposedly “facilitated the entry of drug consignments”. This person is the head of the Risk Analysis Unit, as reported by this newspaper.

The fact that the inspection of the containers of a critical infrastructure has depended directly on an individual linked to drug trafficking represents a serious security hole, since in this way the entry of weapons, explosives, people… could have been possible.

To this surreal situation we must add that the scanner was manipulated by a worker of this businessman who belonged to the staff of his refrigerated food company and which is based in Mercamálaga..

The three bodies indicated in a joint note that the Farewell-Goodbye-Bragalia operation began in February 2023, after the seizure of 611 kilograms of cocaine hidden among a shipment of bananas..

The intervention took place at the facilities of a company in the refrigerated fruits and vegetables sector, whose manager collaborated with the authorities through the provision of a powerful scanner for drug detection.. In this way, “he held a privileged position that allowed him to introduce other consignments of drugs from the criminal organization to which he belonged.”.

Initially, inspections of containers suspected of containing narcotic substances were carried out at the company headquarters, where the scanner was then located.. Later, the same “collaborating” company obtained a concession in the port, moving the device to the port facilities. There he appointed one of his own employees as “customs representative” and was in charge of its control..

After a first arrest, the agents detected suspicious signs of criminality in the businessman, so they focused the investigations on him, his closest family circle and the company's employees, as well as third parties related to drug trafficking.. During the course of the investigations, the investigators also found suspicions that would incriminate the Customs official..

In mid-June, in two other new seizures, agents from the three forces seized 25 and 381 kilograms of cocaine among a shipment of pineapples. And the suspected businessman and a transporter who was transporting the shipment to the company headquarters were arrested.. Extract cocaine inside.

In August 2023, members of the Armed Institute carried out a fourth drug seizure in Santa Fe (Granada): 805 kilograms of cocaine also coming from the Malaga port. On this occasion, the drugs were hidden behind a false partition, at the bottom of a container with legal merchandise – a camouflage procedure known as mirror bottom..

Family members, employees….

After several arrests, the agents tightened their grip on the members of the network, and managed to identify the rest of the members of the criminal network who had participated in the events investigated..

Finally, in the exploitation phase of the operation, nine searches were carried out: five in Malaga capital, two in Torremolinos, one in Sierra de Yeguas and another in the Granada municipality of Guadix..

The investigation concluded with the arrest of 13 people, all of them in the province of Malaga.. Among those arrested are, in addition to the businessman, some family members and several company workers, as well as a public official..

The last of the arrests occurred on January 29, 2024, in the case of one of the ringleaders of the ring and one of those directly responsible for the seized drugs, who remained on the run until he was finally located..

They are attributed, based on the participation of each one, the commission of the crimes of drug trafficking, membership in a criminal organization, revelation of secrets, bribery and money laundering..

The agents have seized 1,822 kilos of cocaine from South America in four interventions, although the suspicion – the sources consulted indicated – that the amount of drugs that would have been put into circulation through this route would be greater.. The seized items alone have an approximate value of 63 million euros.

The investigation has been carried out by members of the UDYCO Costa del Sol of the National Police, the EDOA of the Civil Guard and the Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) of the Tax Agency.

Last year, just over 2.5 million people took an exam to obtain a driving license.. The majority, 70%, did so to obtain a car driving license, known as a B permit.. In total, 1.8 million tests were carried out, distributed almost 50% between practical and theoretical exams, according to data from the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT).

In the case of the theoretical exam, the majority of those who took it passed, although the success rates this year have not been particularly high. Specifically, 52% of the tests passed the practical test. But in the driving exam, passing is complicated: only 46% of the trips taken by the candidates resulted in a license..

These data should not be interpreted as the percentage of people who pass or fail, since the same person who fails two or more times counts for each of them.. However, they do serve to measure the rate of passing or failing over the total number of tests carried out..

The DGT figures allow us to know the results for each of the more than 8,000 driving schools in Spain. Thus, the Luis Barakaldo center, in the province of Vizcaya, appears as the one with the highest passing rate in the last five years for the theoretical exam, on average. 95% of the exams taken by students of this driving school passed the first test to obtain the license.

Luis Javier is the director of this driving school that his father founded in 72.. Furthermore, he himself teaches the theory classes.. The good result does not come as a surprise to him, since he acknowledges following these data from the DGT closely.. “Since they were published, we are always among the ten best driving schools in Spain,” he says..

In the following table, you can consult the figures for each driving school. To avoid bias, those in which at least 50 exams were not carried out throughout 2023 have been excluded, so they are not all. In the cases of franchised centers (such as Hoy voy or Gala, for example), when the name is repeated in different establishments but in the same province, the grouped rate of all those in that province that have the same name is shown..

For Luis Javier, the trick is not to neglect training and to maintain face-to-face theoretical classes. According to his perception, the trend in recent years with the proliferation of low-cost centers has consisted of “eliminating theoretical classes and placing students in front of a computer to take dozens of tests.”. This translates into lower approval rates.. “They make you a very aggressive recruitment offer but, in the end, they make money with the renewals”.

“We think that classes are essential, because the better the rule is assimilated, the better it is followed later,” considers Luis Barakaldo's manager.. “This way, students better face the theoretical and also the practical,” he says..

The pilot is usually, however, the most complicated barrier to obtaining the license.. But some centers manage to obtain better results than the national average. In the following table, you can see the percentage of passes for each school with at least 50 presented in the last year.

In 2023, one of the driving schools that achieved the best pass rate in Spain was Sobre Ruedas, in Soria: 67% of those examined passed the practical. “I'm glad! It will be because of the new cars we bought,” jokes Ángel, manager of the center. He opened his driving school ten years ago and says that he has seen how in recent years the results, in general, have gotten worse..

According to his experience, in order to pass the theory there is more and more “laziness” on the part of the students, something that, in his opinion, the pandemic and online classes have not helped. Regarding the practical, he believes that achieving a higher or lower pass rate may depend on several factors.. “In summer here in Soria there is a boom of young people, with fresh minds…”. For him, sometimes the examiner and the way he gives the orders also influence, which can make the student feel more or less comfortable, although he explains that in the end the passing rates do not vary so much between one examiner and another..

Toledo, the province where approval is faster

In addition to each driving school, thanks to the DGT data you can also know if there are provinces where the number of approved students is higher.. Ceuta, Badajoz and Toledo are the places where the pass rate is highest. And another 22 provinces exceed the national average of 46% success in obtaining the practical. And on the opposite side of the scale, the Balearic Islands, Zamora, Almería, Las Palmas and Ourense register pass rates even below 40%, with the Galician province having the lowest figure in Spain.

For the proportion of people who get the practical on the first try, the ranking is similar to the previous one, although Toledo climbs one position, positioning itself as the Spanish province where getting the license is faster: almost 30% get it on the first try.

The DGT figures are monthly, which confirms that there is no “magic month” in which the number of approved people is higher.. Of course, the time of year when most students take the practical is July, giving way to August, the time when fewer people take the exam.

Catalonia is currently facing the worst drought on record, and it is more than just a natural phenomenon. This drought has political, economic, and cultural implications, and could have been prevented with proper action. Rather than relying solely on rainfall, preventative measures such as investing in infrastructure, managing water resources, and raising awareness among the population should have been taken. President Pere Aragonès may claim that this drought is an unavoidable catastrophe, but there is much that could have been done with proper foresight. The problem extends beyond the lack of rain; it is a lack of preparedness. We have known for months that we are facing one of the worst droughts in recent decades, and with the climate emergency, it is clear that we will have to adapt to living in a warmer country with less water. This requires rethinking our approach to water management in terms of flows, agriculture, and tourism. Urgent investment in new infrastructure that reduces our dependence on rainfall is necessary, as is a shift in mindset. We must inform people that they need to live differently and find solutions for those most affected by the drought. We should learn from countries like Israel, where treated water is extensively reused for agriculture and desalinated water is widely used in homes. Additionally, efforts to prevent leaks in pipes should be made, as they have been proven to be effective in reducing water loss. The Catalan government could have provided more support to municipalities responsible for water distribution, and more regeneration and desalination plants could have been implemented. Infrastructure plans made after a previous drought were not followed through due to short-sightedness. The Iberian Peninsula is drying up, and the solution to the drought will not magically appear. With the increasing frequency of extreme heat days, it is evident that water restrictions will become systemic and cannot be solved by individual territories alone. We need greater collaboration and coordination between regions and the central government. Spain is experiencing a prolonged severe meteorological drought, and political inaction is exacerbating the problem. We not only need more water; we need better policies to address this ongoing issue.

The Campo de Gibraltar region in Cádiz, made up of eight municipalities, can be considered one of the main industrial hubs in the region.. At the same time, it is one of the areas of Spain in which the most workplace accidents occur: 2,943 from January to November of last year.. The unions warn of this trend that they consider worrying, while the Labor Inspection confirms that the region receives preferential treatment in the planning of inspection activities and in the assignment of active inspection officials.

The answer to this high rate of workplace accidents in the Cadiz region is that “companies prioritize money over the health of their employees”. This is how blunt Pepe Gavilán, head of Occupational Health at CCOO in Campo de Gibraltar, is, who continually makes visits to the work centers to inspect that the regulations are complied with.. In this way, it ensures that in this petrochemical hub in which refineries and heavy industry prevail, one of the main ones in the province, safety measures are complied with..

According to the data managed by the union, from January to November 2023, 2,943 work accidents occurred.. That is, 8.81 each day. Of all of them, seven were serious and three were fatal.. Algeciras is the municipality hardest hit by this reality, with 1,564 minor accidents, two serious ones and the three that occurred with a fatal outcome.. The rest are distributed, from greatest to least presence, between San Roque, Los Barrios, La Línea de la Concepción, Tarifa, Jimena de la Frontera and Castellar de la Frontera. In San Martín del Tesorillo no accidents have been recorded in these 11 months.

As Gavilán relates, the most frequent accidents are due to entrapment, falls of suspended load and those related to musculoskeletal conditions.. “Many times, these accidents are the result of not having previously carried out an exhaustive evaluation of the risks faced by workers, who regularly carry out repetitive movements with loads,” specifies the union member..

Although there is a decrease in this type of accidents at the state level, the same does not happen in this dark corner of Spanish occupational safety.. Gavilán still remembers with some regret how two workers died when they fell into a high-voltage cistern dedicated to cleaning sewage, those composed of waste that arrive through the pipes of buildings.. “They fell in and were trapped, so they drowned in the mud,” he specifies..

The other worker from the Campo de Gibraltar region, who lost his life while carrying out his duties as an employee, died after being trapped in a generator 70 meters high, recalls the head of Occupational Health.. “As soon as we find out about this type of accident, we implement a protocol to try to gather as much information about what happened as possible, because many times the company denies us entry to the business premises,” he explains..

Gavilán summarizes the situation in which companies “prefer to save a few euros instead of investing that money in prevention, and this is what we continually detect after our evaluations,” as the CCOO member reiterates.. In this sense, the Confederation of Businessmen of the Province of Cádiz has declined to respond to the questions posed by El Confidencial..

“On repeated occasions, the middle managers in charge of reviewing the safety of the production processes do not do their job and, in the end, the workers are forced to perform functions that put their lives at risk,” denounces Gavilán.. His anger and astonishment increases when, once meeting with the businessmen, they tell him that they are unaware of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law, especially small and medium-sized businessmen..

The same risk assessments

The person responsible for Occupational Health for this region, hard hit by workplace accidents, considers that everything would be easier without the employers demanding compliance with safety plans and the application of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law, as well as carrying out a correct risk assessment. These evaluations, the specialist confesses, are a cut and paste from each other, copied word by word from one position to another, paraphrasing their terms..

The criticism increases when Gavilán realizes that the risk assessments are so generic that they repeatedly do not even address the possible accidents that a worker may have in his or her job.. “Risk assessments are a living thing. If you have to change them a thousand times, they are changed a thousand times, because not all of us have the same strength or physiognomy.. What we cannot agree to is that it has to be the worker who adapts to the evaluation, and not the other way around,” he says..

As is usually the case, men predominately stand out among women injured in their jobs or while traveling to them.. Without going any further, 1,327 men suffered a work accident in Algeciras during the period between January and November 2023, compared to 242 women.. In the eight municipalities there were 2,394 accidents compared to 549 accidents.

For Gavilán, this result is a consequence of the “masculinization” of the jobs that exist in Campo de Gibraltar: “If we talk about the steel industry, there are few women on the job, the majority are in offices or in positions of responsibility.. However, if I go to the hospital in the region, they completely rule,” he illustrates..

Outside of official data

The fact that there are almost nine workplace accidents every day in Campo de Gibraltar is worrying, but alarm bells go off if the statistics do not faithfully reflect reality.. “We are even investigating serious cases such as those that occur in a refinery, where if an employee of one of its subcontractors has an accident, instead of notifying the competent authorities, they send them home with paid leave,” criticizes Gavilán.. That is, this accident is outside the statistics and any type of investigation..

Given this situation, employees' fear of employer retaliation plays a key role.. “They are very afraid of being fired, which is why it is difficult to find witnesses to the accident who want to present themselves as such in the investigation of the case,” adds the expert.. In reality, as he says, it would not be the first time that a worker who demands security in his job finds himself with a veiled dismissal as a consequence..

Preferential treatment

The Ministry of Labor, and more specifically the Inspection, affirm that “Campo de Gibraltar represents in the province of Cádiz one of the main, if not the main, region from a business and economic point of view.. This means that it is given preferential treatment both in the planning of inspection activities and in the assignment of active inspection officials.”.

The sources consulted also emphasize that the Labor Inspection has “a delegate office in Algeciras to serve companies and workers in Campo de Gibraltar.”. Asked about the reason for this high rate of workplace accidents in the region, the Inspection responds that it is not their responsibility to “analyze the evolution or characterization of the accident rate, without prejudice to the fact that all the data and statistics referring to it are taken into account. consideration for better use of public resources”. On the other hand, they also emphasize that the autonomous communities and social partners play a certain role in the task of reducing accidents.. “It is worth remembering in this context that the prevention of occupational risks is an obligation of companies,” they conclude..

There are many voices in Compromís that periodically wonder what the political confederation agreement with Sumar is for.. An affiliate of the Valencian coalition looks in the mirror of ERC, the PNV, the BNG and even the Canarian Coalition and his face looks like a tolai. What if a custom-made reduction of the FLA's debt, passing through the criterion of underfinancing, what if the transfer of the management of Social Security… Of all the allies of the PSOE for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as President of the Government , the oranges, integrated into Yolanda Díaz's brand in the general elections, were the only ones left without their own pact. The deputy secretary and socialist negotiator, María Jesús Montero, even took a photo in November of last year with Ana Pontón, leader of the Galician nationalists, who won a solitary deputy in the June 23 meeting.. The deputy for Valencia, Àgueda Micó, had to observe from a second plan the staging of the government pact between PSOE and Sumar initialed in October.

In those elections, Compromís managed to double its representation in the Lower House. But of course, as before only the Joan Baldoví shirt was fighting, doubling (going from one deputy to two) is the minimum that could be demanded of the alliance with Sumar. Because that is the little that, for now, the Valencians have learned from that entente. The third of the four minutes obtained in the general elections went to Txema Guijarro, from Podemos. The fourth was for Nahuel González, in the orbit of Esquerra Unida-IU.

The agreement had two political objectives. Raise the options of improving results in a state-level contest, where Compromís has more waterways in voting loyalty than the Titanic in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, and close the door to the expansion of Sumar in the Valencian Community, arrogating the exclusive of its representation.

We will have to see what the latter turns out to be, because Guijarro already launched the first campaign last December suggesting an upcoming implementation of Sumar in Levantine lands, airing no small amount of dust in the compromising ranks, always in turmoil and in the midst of a process of reinvention, both politically as well as in its internal balance (read this Sunday's article by Joan Ribó and Manuel Álcaraz in Levante-EMV). Pay attention to the success or failure of Yolanda Díaz's party this February in Galicia, where the BNG is even stronger than Compromís, because it can show or blind a path to the dispersed forces of podemitas, esquerraunitaristas and even members of the Initiative of the Poble Valencià, the party founded by Mónica Oltra, now far from the decision-making core of Compromís.

This succession of antecedents is intended to explain the perception of invisibility that the role of Compromís is having in a legislature marked, precisely, by the absence of majorities and the dependence of the Sánchez-Díaz tandem on nationalist formations or with a strong identity and implantation component. autonomous. This circumstance is being especially pointed out by the most sovereignist sectors of the coalition to demand a change of course, even though electoral history has empirically demonstrated that the taronja brand grows when it adopts a social discourse (that was precisely the contribution of the Initiative of Contrary to the invention) and decreases when it enters the melancholic loop of nationalist essences.

In any case, it is evident that Compromís is not knowing how to take advantage of the state political situation as if other formations of a similar nature are doing so.. And it is not because the agreement with Sumar is poorly designed, but rather because of the constant trolling that the PSOE subjects the Valencians to, usually in the face of the indifference or lack of empathy of those from Díaz and the confusion of Micó and his fellow seat, Alberto Ibanez. They look like two stunned deputies without the ability to react. They are paying a lot for their inexperience.

The approval by the Council of Ministers of the expansion of the Port of Valencia or the exclusion of the recovery of Valencian civil law from the window of opportunity represented by the reform of article 49 of the Constitution are two notches of that indifference.. But the most significant episode, and one that could mark a turning point with future consequences, has been the impudence with which the Minister of Finance has cleared the corner of the leveling fund for underfinanced autonomies that Compromís has been demanding for years as a temporary solution. until the reform of the system, and which has now been enthusiastically joined by the popular baron, Carlos Mazón, along with his compadres Juanma Moreno and Fernando López Miras, with a fourth guest at the protest party, the socialist Emiliano García-Page. Subsection: How quickly the water wars and the Tajo-Segura transfer are forgotten when it is time to take an anti-sanchista approach!

In the negotiation of the PSOE-Sumar pact, Compromís emerged convinced that if the political text reflects, black on white, that the Generalitat Valenciana and the rest of the underfinanced autonomous communities will be guaranteed the provision of public services at the same level as the rest of the State”, that was synonymous with the equalization fund. But Montero never interpreted that. “There was no agreement in that regard,” he noted this week. Rather, what the Minister of Finance understands, like those rogues on the Benidorm promenade who show the ball on a cardboard box to unsuspecting tourists and then hide it, is that the syntactic construction does not say anything other than that you need money will be able to continue drawing on the FLA, with the consequent increase in its debt and interest costs. Trolley o trile, elija su own adventure.

The pitcher goes so far into the fountain that it usually ends up breaking and Àgueda Micó has already warned that without a leveling fund there will be no support from the two Compromís deputies for the PGE. He also said it for Sánchez's investiture and at the end they snuck in the magic phrase. The Valencians threaten, but never break, for fear of being left out of the progressive bloc and seeing themselves in the photo of the negative vote of PP and Vox. What happens is that it's one thing to go into unconditional antifa mode and another to make a political fool of yourself or be taken for the watchman's dick. Perhaps the two votes of the Valencians are not necessary for Montero's sudoku and the bluff ends in irrelevance. That is the risk for those from Micó and Baldoví. But, for their own political survival, it is very likely that the time has come for them to check it out.

The legal battle between Ginés Carvajal, a representative of soccer players, and the Tax Agency has come to an end, with Carvajal losing the fight. The Madrid Court of Justice rejected the arguments put forth by Carvajal regarding the tax payments for the services provided to former Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés. The debate centered around the company Aranca Sport, in which Carvajal’s daughter was the majority partner. The Tax Agency believed that Carvajal used this company to avoid paying the full amount of taxes he owed. Despite Carvajal’s arguments, the court ruled in favor of the Tax Agency, stating that there was no evidence to support his claims. The court also noted that Aranca Sport had minimal assets and its sole purpose seemed to be reducing Carvajal’s taxes. This ruling is significant as it may impact Carvajal’s parallel claim for personal income tax. Although the ruling can be appealed, the Tax Agency has emerged victorious in the first round of this legal battle.

“Spain, land of mediators”. If a Government decided one day to recover the Marca España initiative to improve the image of the country abroad and among the Spaniards themselves, that should be the national slogan that would accompany the rojigualda on its triumphalist walk around the world..

With whom the PSOE and the PP have agreed for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary, there are now three mediators landed in Spanish politics to help our representatives do the duties that due to age and responsibility they should deliver on time without the need to have reinforcement teachers. Mediator for the PSOE to speak with Esquerra, mediator for the PSOE to do the same with Junts and mediator for the PSOE-PP dialogue to solve the abuse that politics has been perpetrating to Justice for a whole five years.

We are required to make an effort so that, far from criticizing and considering the decision of the two major Spanish parties a serious anomaly, we consider it normal that PP and PSOE ask the EU for help to finally renew the governing body of the judges with the competition direct from the Commissioner of Justice, Didier Reynders. Propaganda tells us that at the end of the day the European Union is also Spain, which means we do not go beyond the limits of our own sovereignty, and that although the mechanism is a bit extravagant, it will serve to solve a serious problem of democratic quality.. The means and the end are, therefore, appropriate according to the most sweetened version of what was agreed that has been sold..

Both things, that the EU is not a strange actor and that the renewal of the CGPJ cannot be postponed, are true and, therefore, irrefutable.. And yet, there is a recognition in the decision of such magnitude of the own inability of popular and socialists to put into practice a minimum of what is called the vision of the State, that it is difficult to see what is positive in asking for help to fulfill something that is an inalienable part of the constitutional obligations of the party that governs and the party that leads the opposition.

You can see the glass half full, of course. At the end of the day, the PSOE and the PP have finally agreed on something. That something is the formal acceptance of their lack of interest in placing general interests above the very particular benefits of one party.. For the optimistic mood, this recognition of one's own limitations is great news. As is someone who, recognizing themselves in an addiction, finally assumes that they need outside help to get out of it..

For the pessimists, among whom we count ourselves, it is nothing more than the resigned naturalization of inability, irresponsibility and meanness.. The revelation of the low quality of the shaft with which our leaderships are made and the serious aluminosis that affects the main political organizations of the country.

From Felipe VI's Christmas speech, one of his main ideas has been highlighted that the Constitution not only requires that it be respected, but also that the identity that defines it be preserved, drawn as a collective pact of all and among all. for a shared purpose.

Well, it is that shared purpose that the monarch demands that is difficult to see in Spanish politics.. And the need to resort to third-party mediation for the renewal of the CGPJ is thus certified: “Hey, gentlemen of the commission, give us a cable because here about the collective agreement for a shared purpose we have forgotten how to do it and to that!”.

It is not the lack of trust between them, as our political provosts argue, that makes it impossible for substantive agreements to be reached without having to shout at the lifeguard to please throw a float in the form of mediation so that we do not drown in the pool of the institutional deterioration.

Lack of trust is nothing more than the natural consequence of something much more serious and substantive.. That is, the defense at all costs and to the last consequences of one's own and particular interest, without measuring the consequences that derive from it for a collective project that, although it is increasingly difficult to notice in the institutions, fortunately continues to operate for the most part. at street level.

But since it's Christmas, let's let ourselves be carried away by the spirit of the holidays and embrace without reservation the conviction that if the EU accepts the order, we will get something positive out of all this. Let's agree with those who celebrate how good it will be in the long term if our junkies in the division have finally accepted that they can't keep getting into everything.

“Hello, we are the president and the leader of the opposition and we recognize that we are hooked on the division and brutalization of political discourse in our country”. That's where it starts, champions, of course. You have been very brave.

We are saying goodbye to the 23rd year, very marked by politics. But I'm sorry to announce that the 24th will be no less so.. President Rueda announced the advance of the Galician elections and with them activates the Spanish electoral calendar. The result of the Galician elections will set the emotional tone of the next elections and will validate or not the national strategies of the parties.. These will be the most national autonomous regions in the entire history of the Galician community..

The Popular Party, led by Núñez Feijóo, is going to use its predicament and influence in its native community to take a bath in legitimacy. He wants revenge at home. For this reason, the Galician elections, which had always been an oasis in which the regional PP did and did things autonomously, were called and will be piloted from Génova Street.. In the national leadership of the PP, they seek an electoral victory that translates into an absolute majority that revalidates the Executive, and of all the upcoming elections, the safest is Galicia.

When Feijóo was the Galician leader, he wanted to celebrate Basques and Galicians at the same time, to avoid the national brand on the electoral posters, to equate himself with a historical community and to avoid the national leaders of the PP in Galicia, which he was already taking care of, so that they would go campaigning in Euskadi. However, now Feijóo is the national leader of the PP and seeks the opposite. The popular ones need to single out the election and center the entire national focus; Consequently, the first step was to separate itself from the Basque elections, in which the popular ones know that they cannot even aspire to third political force, and to carry out the most national Galician campaign in its history..

The advance is a strategic movement, which, in addition to the above, seeks to catch the opposition on the wrong foot, and has succeeded, in part. The BNG is the only party that presents the same candidate, Ana Pontón, who managed to beat the PSdG in the last elections and be the leader of the opposition. The most obvious sign that they were prepared for the advance is that, a few weeks ago, they already presented their campaign, which continues in the wake of the last one: positive tone, light nationalism and personalist commitment. The Galician nationalists intend to activate the useful vote for change, something that will be complicated if it finally becomes a national campaign in which PP and PSOE polarize the vote.

It is surprising that the PSdG has waited so long to relaunch its candidate, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro. And I use relaunch because Besteiro was already general secretary of his party, but his candidacy was frustrated when he had to resign due to a case of which he was later declared innocent.. The challenge of the Galician socialists is enormous. Their main objective is to be credible as an alternative to Rueda starting from third position. The PP strategy that nationalizes the campaign will help them; All the strength of Ferraz will be added to Besteiro, who will polarize with the PP, diluting the regional parties. However, Besteiro assumes the leadership of a party weakened by internal wars and the lack of its own narrative in Galician key, something that the BNG has been able to take advantage of..

It is also curious that Yolanda Díaz, being a national leader who constantly champions her Galician origin, has not planned a strategy for her native autonomy.. The worst story that a party can offer is the evident lack of foresight or interest in an election. Sumar, as of today, does not know if he is going to run in the four constituencies, if he will run in a coalition or who is going to lead the project.. All these variables do not lead to any positive scenario.. It is true that Díaz will devote himself to the campaign and that his national electoral asset is undoubted, but it is difficult to see a differentiated narrative from the rest of the left-wing parties and, above all, from his direct rivals: Podemos.

Podemos only has one objective in Galicia, to show that its votes (few or many) are essential for Sumar, imagine that Yolanda Díaz's party was left out of Parliament for votes similar to those obtained by Podemos. The purple party is aware that it has no options to obtain representation, but it will take advantage of the opportunity offered by a national campaign for Irene Montero to carry out her European pre-campaign.. Not even in the sweetest moments of Podemos did it have a very strong presence in Galicia; It was the tides who capitalized on the vote to the left of the PSOE. Now, more diminished than ever and with a civil war in their political space, these elections will be an opportunity to continue reaffirming their existence.

If Galicians expect Galicia to be talked about in their elections, I think they are going to be disappointed.. The PP will play with two candidates: Rueda and Feijóo, who will talk about how disastrous the amnesty is for Spain and how unfair the national budget distribution for Galicia. If Feijóo assured when he was a candidate: “I am not going to defend the acronym of a party, I am going to defend Galicia”, now Rueda will not have that option; because his predecessor will talk about Sánchez, the amnesty and the motion of censure with Bildu. It remains to be seen how the Galician voters will accept this change in registration, that their former president will sacrifice the debate about his community in favor of acronyms that he previously hid..

The rest of the parties will try to make an amendment to the entire management of a Rueda tied hand and foot by Feijóo. The popular candidate for the Galician regional elections will not have the capacity to carry out another project, because it would mean amending that of his political boss.. And it will only be able to strengthen the campaign proposed from Genoa. Only an absolute majority is enough for Rueda to revalidate the Government. If he obtains it, it will be due to the support of Génova and Feijóo; If he loses it, it will only be his fault, who in the best of times has not known how to maintain what he inherited from someone who could make his own strategies.. Feijóo wants revenge against Sánchez, in Galicia, at the expense of Rueda's autonomy.

The worst thing about Spanish politics is this drift of vulgarity. Even in devastation or annihilation, talent and competence are appreciated. Decadence can be gloomy when managed by mediocre people. Without excellence, everything is funnier, more bitter. The week has brought us the first ordinary plenary session of the legislature, which has been an exhibition of what awaits us, the decadent, low political level, which has the four caryatids next to the vault of the Hemicycle looking the other way, the poor , from so much embarrassment.

It must be noted, first of all, so that no one thinks that it is exaggerated, that the plenary sessions of Congress are more vulgar when they are seen from the room itself than when they are followed on television, which, even unintentionally, surround everything with a solemnity that does not exist. The very focus of the camera when the speaker is speaking already supposes a manipulation of reality, although it is inevitable.. Because it enlarges the figure and uproots it from the environment that surrounds it. Everything is more vulgar, more elementary, smaller, than what is transmitted.

The only thing missing from the plenary sessions of Congress was the absurdity of simultaneous translations between gentlemen and ladies who only have in common the possibility of speaking in the same language.. Well not even that. But well… Of all this group, the one who can give a name to this era is the PSOE spokesperson, Patxi López, increasingly less political and more caricature. As a colleague of his said years ago, he can boast of having the most brilliant downward political career in Spain.. But his thing, as we say, is to see it in its surroundings, like the other day, with the majority of the Government absent, which made it easier to identify the rest of the fundamental actors..

The Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, for example, plays a fundamental role in the coordination of the socialist group. She sets the times and the applause, with the discipline and perseverance of American rugby cheerleaders.. To begin with, his applause is the best in the Hemicycle. No one in the rest of the seats applauds louder than her, so she only has to clap three times, three, which resound thunderously throughout the chamber, for the rest of the socialist deputies to instantly second her..

Whoever pays attention to that detail will see how the minister applauds, how she places her hands, with what teaching, surely directly imported from a Fair booth in Seville. Next to him sits Félix Bolaños, another fundamental character, with a flea-filled smile, which is one of his most characteristic features.. Bolaños and Montero exchange whispers and laughs constantly. They also snort and pout, as if in disgust.. It is interesting to contemplate them with crossed glances towards another of the characters of this legislature, Santos Cerdán, the number two of the PSOE, who does not move a muscle in his face. This man increasingly looks like a Stasi agent.

It is curious how the order that Pedro Sánchez gave him to go and negotiate with Puigdemont in different cities in Europe has affected his personality, with the utmost secrecy, total secrecy, so that nothing would be known.. This Santos Cerdán is so faithful to his master Pedro Sánchez, he has immersed himself so much in his role, that he has come to believe he is a character from the Cold War, as if John le Carré had written the script for him.. And this is how this man's expression has changed… He walks and looks like an agent from East Germany, who were different from those of the KGB, it is worth specifying.

Behind the blue Government bench, right behind President Sánchez, is where our Patxi López sits.. The other day he made a sister-in-law defense of the Amnesty Law that catapulted him to another level. In that chamber there are good and bad deputies, aggressive or inane, great orators and bored with solemnity.. There are all those categories and there is Patxi López. When it is said that he is the representation of the political level of this legislature, ecce homo of sanchismo, it is because no one like him manages to be more transparent when it comes to showing us the impressive frivolity of this PSOE in the face of the amnesty law and the consequences it may have.. He simply doesn't give a damn about everything..

To defend the amnesty he used some delusional arguments, such as hope. The amnesty has the form of hope, he came to say, as if he had been inspired by Carlos Vives. He releases all that on the platform and, as soon as he gets off, the independentists come up to put things in their place.. “This is not about coexistence or forgiveness, because in no case do we renounce independence,” they say, puffed up, knowing they are feared and triumphant.. But Patxi López, like the other socialist deputies, continues doing his thing, adding arguments, increasingly strange, about the excellence of the Amnesty Law.

Like this persistent attempt to present the amnesty as just another pardon, like the thousand or so that Aznar granted when the Vatican requested this gesture to celebrate the arrival of the millennium. I wish we were facing the same thing, a thousand or two thousand pardons for the independentists, because the consequences would not be as disastrous as this amnesty, which establishes, for the future, that, when crimes are committed again to achieve independence, they will not they must be considered as such. “The law does not amnesty people, but events attributed to people,” the independentistas clarify to our López, but he continues with his hope-colored smile..

“Do you know what an amnesty is, Patxi?” Feijóo told him at one point in the debate, in memory of that question that López asked Pedro Sánchez, when both were competing for the general secretary of the PSOE.. “Let's see, Pedro, but do you know what a nation is?”. That is the level and, joining the two questions, we will realize that for these personnel the nation or the amnesty, or any other concept, are nothing more than words at the service of politics, as Zapatero said twenty years ago.. Anyway… Here I am, Patxi López, at the peak of her political decline; the man of sanchismo who serves as the image of the moment. Ecce homo representative like that of Borja, the town of Zaragoza. In both cases, the paradox is fulfilled that a fool becomes famous and triumphs. Well that.

One of the qualities that every good Government must possess is to be far-sighted, especially when it comes to economic matters.. Evil tongues say that in the 19th century there was an Executive who lacked this faculty, to such an extent that he ended up on the tightrope for a Lottery prize.. Santiago Alonso Cordero, a Maragato from Astorga (León), was one of the lucky ones who won El Gordo in a draw that was beginning to take its first steps in Spain. He encountered the problem when he went to claim his winnings.. At the moment he proudly showed the ballot that certified it, the Treasury Department informed him that there was a small problem: the amount of the prize was so high that the State coffers could not cope with that payment.. Santiago Alonso was not amused at all, but he was even less amused by the Government, which saw how the drums of bankruptcy resounded louder than ever..

In those tumultuous years when Elizabeth II reigned, it was not surprising that the Treasury was short of cash.. The incipient draw only made this situation worse. In its beginnings, the game was quite similar to the Primitive Lottery, in which you had to choose as many numbers as you wanted from 1 to 90.. Since there were different possibilities, the chances of winning a prize were much lower.. But luck knocked on Cordero's door, who did manage to get El Gordo. The amount was such that the State, which used this bet as a method of tax collection, found itself in the position of having no way to make the payment.. Your solution? Exchange money for property. The Executive gave Cordero a piece of land in one of the most exclusive areas of the capital: in Puerta del Sol itself.. Previously, the convent of San Felipe el Real was located on that site, which had become property of the state..

Cordero was clear: there had to be some way to make that land profitable.. The protagonist of this story did not hesitate to accept the offer and build the largest apartment complex that existed at the time with views of Calle Mayor and Puerta del Sol.. The house, designed by the municipal architect Juan José Sánchez Pescador in 1842, was dedicated mainly to housing and became one of the emblems of the city.. The Leonese gave this building its name, which centuries later retains the name of Casa Cordero or Casa del Maragato.

“Its seven interior patios supplied light and air to the comfortable and spacious suites.. […] The staircase that led to the main floor was ornately decorated with marble of different colors, as was the floor. The complex contained a total of one hundred sumptuous homes and, naturally, it was the talk of the gossip mills in Madrid, being one of the most prestigious and elegant buildings in the city,” say Marco and Peter Besas in their practical guide to Madrid. Hidden.

On the ground floor, shops and warehouses were installed, as well as one of the most characteristic premises of 19th century Madrid: the Fonda de la Vizcaína. This place was run by a woman originally from that province. It opened its doors to the public in 1846 and was characterized by being one of the first to offer a more European table d'hôte menu, adapted to the tastes of foreign travelers.. The Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen and the English traveler William George Clark, author of Gazpacho, or Summer months in Spain, published in 1850, stayed in this establishment in 1865..

Beyond his properties, Santiago Alonso Cordero also had a certain political relevance in the liberal sector.. What's more, he came to serve as a deputy in the Cortes, being the protagonist of the gossip of the moment.. In fact, this illustrious character was known for attending Parliament sessions dressed in the typical costume of his region.. Cordero stayed in the city where he had developed a large part of his career during one of the hardest times for the capital, which saw it lose a large part of its population to cholera.. Finally, he died in one of the four pandemics of this disease that occurred in Spain during that century..

Cordero, who was also a friend of Queen Isabel II, invited the monarch one day to his palace in Santiagomillas (León). Such was the honor, that the man from Leon offered to carpet the entrance patio with gold coins.. Isabel was not very happy, since if she placed the coins face up she would have to step on her own face and if she placed them upside down, she would have to do the same with the shield of Spain.. Cordero found the solution and assured the queen that “there would be no problem, since he would place them on edge.”.

Benito Pérez Galdós, in Los ayacuchos, the ninth and penultimate novel of the third series of the National Episodes, describes Santiago Alonso Cordero as a person who “does not abandon the popular label of his maragato panties for anything in the world.”. He is a smiling and fresh man, with the face of a bishop, with somewhat constricted manners, in harmony with the traditional dress of his land, speaking concretely, sticking to the issues.. He became rich, as you know, by hauling supplies, and today he is one of the first capitalists in Madrid.”.

While it is true that the history of his wealth has been linked in part to the Christmas Lottery, there is no evidence that this was the case.. The newspapers of the time do not mention such an event, so it is not ruled out that the Maragato made some political scam with the Public Administration to keep this plot of land.. “The story of the lottery could have been circulated to cover up the large sum of laundered money that was needed to buy the land that was obtained by bidding at a public auction for the sum of 17 million reais,” say Marco and Peter Besas..

Over the years, the first floor of Casa Cordero was occupied by the Grand Bazaar of the Union, while the Café de Lisboa was located on the ground floor.. One of the darkest episodes of this property occurred on September 13, 1974, when ETA placed a bomb in the Rolando cafeteria, causing an unprecedented massacre and causing the death of thirteen people..

And the origin of the lottery?

In the 17th century, a peculiar draw called lotto began to gain followers in several Italian cities.. Charles III, during the period in which he was king of Naples, learned about the lottery that existed there and decided to implement this game in Spain.. The motive behind this feat was to disguise tax collection under the guise of a social cause.. In the Royal Decree of September 30, 1763, the monarch indicated that he had “considered it opportune and convenient to establish a Lottery in Madrid [..] so that it could become the benefit of Hospitals, Hospices and other Pious and public Works, in “that many funds from my Royal Treasury are consumed annually.”.

A century and a half later, in the same year that the Constitution of Cádiz was signed, the first draw in its history was held. The bills were divided into quarters, instead of tenths as currently, each of which had a value of ten reales.. Its popularity was such that in 1818 a special raffle was organized to coincide with Christmas.. Since then, Santiago Alonso Cordero and thousands of people throughout history have dared and dare to dream every December 22.