The socialist militants who are voting 'no' to Sánchez's blind amnesty: "At some point you have to put your foot on the wall"

“At some point you have to put your foot down on some requests (…). My negative vote is not for the agreement with Sumar, it is for the amnesty, because I believe that it will not improve coexistence in Catalonia and will deteriorate it in Spain as a whole.”. Francisco Ocón, one of Pedro Sánchez's supporters in the reconquest of the general secretary of the PSOE after his defenestration in 2016, now refuses to endorse the measure of grace that the acting president of the Government is willing to grant to those involved in the illegal 1-O referendum in exchange for the essential support of the independentistas for his re-election.

The position that this former leader has adopted and the reasons for it have been outlined in an article published in the newspaper La Rioja, a community in which he was an autonomous deputy until last June and where he held the reins of the party between 2017 – when he replaced César Luena- and 2021. And you are not alone. Other colleagues in the ranks, some with positions and others rank and file, have also begun to raise their voices to express their rejection of the consultation that Ferraz has launched to try to obtain internal endorsement for his transfers to ERC and Junts.

In the literal question that has been asked to the around 172,600 socialists with a card, the controversial word does not appear: “Do you support the agreement to form a government with Sumar and obtain the support of other political formations to achieve the necessary majority?”. However, in the letter that Sánchez himself has sent them to ask for their affirmative vote, the amnesty is explicitly mentioned, arguing that its approval is the “correct path” to “overcome the still open wounds” resulting from “a crisis.” ” that they inherited when they arrived at La Moncloa.

The quantitative dimension of the internal rejection of judicial relief for those accused in the process – of which the only detail that has been given is that it will have “constitutional fit” – will not be known until Sunday, which is the day on which they leave to disseminate the results of a consultation to which members can respond electronically until Friday at 12:00 and in person in the groups between 10:00 and 20:00 on Saturday. However, the magma of disagreement has publicly spread beyond the limits of Castilla-La Mancha, where its president, Emiliano García-Page, had until now been practically the only active leader critical of the measure.

The reasons for rejection

Jesús Manuel Alonso, mayor of the municipality of Ágreda and former senator of the PSOE, has also announced that he will vote against the question posed to the bases of his party. “The amnesty is an imposition of a person who is technically a criminal and, therefore, the most democratic thing is for there to be an electoral call for people to decide whether they agree or not,” he said this Wednesday in an interview at the television channel La 8 Soria in reference to Carles Puigdemont, who fled from Spanish Justice after the unilateral declaration of independence of Catalonia in 2017.

The former leader of the young Basque socialists and current spokesperson for the Socialist Group of Galdácano (Vizcaya), Víctor Trimiño, has questioned, in turn, that the party is asking “the obvious” when the underlying issue is another.. “The debate is what price we are willing to pay. If it's worth it. What is the value we give to the word (…). The difference between agreeing with someone who is different and abdicating one's own postulates to assume those of the other,” he wrote in his X account.

More direct has been the general secretary of the party's Youth in the Jaén municipality of Martos, Álvaro López, who on the same social network has shown his “conviction and firmness” to say “Pedro, I vote no”: “I defend justice and equality, I will not swallow an amnesty. I am a socialist and I cannot vote against my principles and my values. “I have them and they don't change out of interest.”

The issue has also caused a former leader and historical militant of Valladolid, Zenón Ridruejo, to withdraw his membership this Monday after 40 years due to the “shame” caused by the “unforgivable ambiguity” of his party, which he believes that he is willing to give in to ERC and Junts without including the “renunciation of unilaterality”, that is, the commitment that they will not try again for the independence of Catalonia. “In another case, I am in favor of early elections,” he maintains.

And Odón Elorza, former mayor of San Sebastián and the only one along with Page who in the Federal Committee of the PSOE last Saturday was critical of the amnesty, has stressed his reservations in an article on his personal blog: “A political measure that It is debatable and is subject to partisan readings; it requires clear gestures and concessions from all parties.. “What does Puigdemont give in? What do the secessionists commit to in exchange?”