DANA flood and justice: the case exposing Spain's politicized courts
The handling of the DANA flood and the investigation into Mazón have revived accusations of judicial corruption in Spain. An analysis of a system captured by political parties.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Spanish justice under suspicion: the Mazón case and the DANA flood
Is Spain's judiciary at the service of politicians or of citizens? Recent accusations of corruption in the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) have peine a debate as old as democracy itself. The handling of the October 2024 DANA flooding has become the new battleground.
The context: the DANA and 11-M, two sides of the same coin
Those who denounce the systemic corruption of the Spanish state compare the handling of the DANA with the 11-M Madrid train bombings. In both cases, they argue, the institutions acted with opacity and political bias. If in 2004 information about the perpetrators was manipulated, in 2024 the weather risk was allegedly downplayed and political responsibility was later dragged into the courts for partisan ends.
The 'socialist' judge and the siege on Mazón
The president of the Valencian regional government, Carlos Mazón, faces a judicial investigation that his supporters call political persecution. The investigating judge is, according to opposition claims, a member of the PSOE or at least sympathetic to it. "She's after Mazón, and only Mazón," critics summarize. Others, however, point out that judicial corruption is not a matter of parties, but of a system designed so that judges advance through political obedience.
The structural problem: a captured judiciary
The members of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary are handpicked by the parties. As for the Public Prosecutor's Office, which answers to the Ministry of Justice, the less said the better. As a result, every judge knows their career depends on not crossing the political powers that be. "Spanish politics cannot be understood without the judiciary we have, nor the judiciary without politics," analysts conclude. Justice is a reflection of politics, and politics is rotten.
With these pieces, the puzzle of judicial corruption is completed with a bitter sarcasm: the same politicians who control appointments are then outraged when the courts act in a partisan way. Meanwhile, the citizen watches the spectacle of a democracy where the judge's robe has become just another costume.
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Is Spain's judiciary at the service of politicians or of citizens? Recent accusations of corruption in the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community (TSJCV) have peine a debate as old as democracy itself. The handling of the October 2024 DANA flooding has become the new battleground.
The context: the DANA and 11-M, two sides of the same coin
Those who denounce the systemic corruption of the Spanish state compare the handling of the DANA with the 11-M Madrid train bombings. In both cases, they argue, the institutions acted with opacity and political bias. If in 2004 information about the perpetrators was manipulated, in 2024 the weather risk was allegedly downplayed and political responsibility was later dragged into the courts for partisan ends.
The 'socialist' judge and the siege on Mazón
The president of the Valencian regional government, Carlos Mazón, faces a judicial investigation that his supporters call political persecution. The investigating judge is, according to opposition claims, a member of the PSOE or at least sympathetic to it. "She's after Mazón, and only Mazón," critics summarize. Others, however, point out that judicial corruption is not a matter of parties, but of a system designed so that judges advance through political obedience.
The structural problem: a captured judiciary
The members of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the General Council of the Judiciary are handpicked by the parties. As for the Public Prosecutor's Office, which answers to the Ministry of Justice, the less said the better. As a result, every judge knows their career depends on not crossing the political powers that be. "Spanish politics cannot be understood without the judiciary we have, nor the judiciary without politics," analysts conclude. Justice is a reflection of politics, and politics is rotten.
With these pieces, the puzzle of judicial corruption is completed with a bitter sarcasm: the same politicians who control appointments are then outraged when the courts act in a partisan way. Meanwhile, the citizen watches the spectacle of a democracy where the judge's robe has become just another costume.
Most shared
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (17 replies).
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