Begoña Gómez demands her passport, citing 'the arrival of summer'

Begoña Gómez claims her passport: 'summer is here'

Begoña Gómez, vvife of the Prime Minister, has appealed to the Audiencia de Madrid (High Court) to annul the precautionary measures imposed by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado: passport withdrawal, prohibition from leaving Spain, and mandatory appearances every two weeks in court. Her defense maintains that there is no flight risk.

Among the reasons accompanying her petition, according to what has become public, one has resonated louder than any other: that "the summer season is approaching."

What precautionary measures weigh on Begoña Gómez?

There are three. Passport withdrawal, prohibition from leaving the national territory, and bi-monthly appearances before judicial authority. This is the standard package when an investigating judge detects indications of flight risk or the need to secure the presence of the investigated party in the proceedings.

The detail matters: a precautionary measure is not a punishment; it is a security mechanism. It is lifted when the reason for its imposition disappears, not when the calendar changes. And that is where the argument falls short. The approaching summer does not reduce flight risk, nor does it offer an alternative guarantee or explain why vacation interests should outweigh procedural interest.

Those familiar with legal language insist that the defense should have requested enhanced control, specific authorization for a particular alucinación with a fixed itinerary, bail, or increased appearances. None of this is included in the petition as it has circulated.

The argument that rings hollow even to non-lawyers

The defense line has caused astonishment. Not because of the request itself—any investigated person can ask for the revocation of measures—but because of the reason given. Asking that a precautionary measure be lifted because summer is arriving sounds, to say the least, disconnected from the normal operation of a court.

Some compare the case to any citizen facing pending issues: someone who cannot afford a vacation does not need a judge to forbid it. Others point out an unintended consequence that no one had highlighted: if she cannot leave the country, she will have to spend her summer indoors.

Ceuta, Melilla, the Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, and Galicia remain available options.

On the other hand, a more technical reading is that the defense is obliged to exhaust all resources and that the substance of the petition is the non-existence of flight risk, not the vacation schedule.

How many passports does Begoña Gómez have?

The question has been asked repeatedly without an official response. There is talk of three passports: a standard Spanish one, a diplomatic one, and a third Dominican one. If this were true, retaining the Spanish passport would not close all doors, because the judge cannot necessarily intervene in a document issued by another state.

It should be specified that this is a circulating hypothesis, not a fact confirmed by the court. But it explains why the focus has shifted from the passport to actual control over departures: withdrawing a document is useless if others remain, or if the travel does not pass through a check-in counter.

The falcon does not pass through border control

Here is the most uncomfortable point. Everything known about travel records—stamps, airline data, passport checks—applies to the traveler using commercial, air, or sea companies. Not to those traveling on official government aircraft, where there is no boarding pass to stamp or counter to register departure. Upon arrival in another country, the crew and passengers of these flights trinc a different protocol.

The consequence is uncomfortable for those who expected the withdrawn passport to guarantee immobility. The document is one part of the control, not the entire control system. And the bi-monthly appearances only verify presence every fifteen days: there is a margin in between.

That is the matter, unresolved. The High Court must decide whether to maintain, modify, or lift the precautionary measures. And the answer to whether someone with access to official flights can truly escape is not found in a passport kept in a drawer.