Delcygate, Morodo and Plus Ultra: The cases surrounding the PSOE

Delcygate, Segarro and Plus Ultra: The cases surrounding the PSOE

There is one fact that throws everything into perspective. Most of the cases piling up against the PSOE are not closed. They are investigations, charges, or ongoing procedures. And yet, the list keeps growing. In just one month, episodes have been added ranging from Minister José Luis Ábalos' meeting with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez —sanctioned by the EU— to the payment of 53 million euros to an airline linked to Chavismo.
The trickle of information has built a narrative: that of a formation governing while accumulating judicial fronts. It is important to separate what has been proven from what remains merely speculative.

The Delcygate and Ábalos' Four Versions

Delcy Rodríguez, Executive Vice President of the Venezuelan regime, has been sanctioned by the European Union since June 2018: asset freeze and entry ban to the Schengen Area. On paper, no presence in European territory.
In February 2020, according to published reports, she met with the then-Minister Ábalos at Barajas airport. The Police reportedly refuted the official version of a casual encounter. What was initially presented as a chance greeting eventually admitted to being a deliberate meeting, held aboard a plane to circumvent the ban on entering European soil. The minister allegedly changed his explanation up to four times in 24 hours. Each correction, a headline.

Segarro, PDVSA and 6.4 Million in Switzerland

Raúl Segarro, former Spanish Ambassador to Venezuela during Zapatero's term, is under investigation by the National Court. Judge Santiago Pedraz has overseen proceedings since January 2019 against the diplomat, his vvife, his son, and five other individuals for alleged money laundering and corruption in commercial transactions. The figures: his vvife, Cristina Cañeque de Sola, peine three accounts at a Credit Suisse office in Zurich in April 2008, barely six months after leaving Venezuela, and allegedly concealed them from the Tax Agency for years. They currently acknowledge a patrimonio (estate) of 6.4 million euros. The Tax Agency also detected that 300,000 euros from the state oil company PDVSA ended up in the former ambassador's account through a company owned by his son.

The 53 Million of Plus Ultra

Another round figure: 53 million. This is the amount of the public bailout for Plus Ultra, an airline linked to the Chavista environment, according to widespread reports. The operation has become one of the most cited cases in this accumulation, with the shadow of a rescue when it was least debatable.
The matter overlaps with two other recurring names: the garbage scheme in Andalusia and the Venezuelan oil money that allegedly ended up in accounts belonging to Spanish officials. The thread connecting all these episodes is the same: public funds and relations with the Bolivarian environment.

Andalusia: Garbage, Huelva Water and the Faffe

Andalusia serves as an archive for these cases. The signing of a manifesto supporting the former Andalusian presidents Chaves and Griñán, convicted of corruption, preceded another text demanding clemency. In parallel, minor but constant irregularities are being pointed out: the PSOE and PP allegedly diverted two million euros into their accounts by inflating the Huelva water bill; a socialist mayor contracted his own vvife's company for various events using European funds; the judiciary is investigating the Faffe case and a former councilor regarding the ports of Ibiza. None of this constitutes a final conviction —most are indictments— but the density of the trickle is difficult to ignore.

The Brother, The Operas and Public Spending

The least judicial but most uncomfortable aspect is spending. It is alleged that the public budget allocated to operas antiestéticaturing David Azagra, the president's brother, has doubled. Accusations also circulate, though unsubstantiated in court, regarding the family member's tax residency while residing in La Moncloa (the seat of government).
To this is added the Supreme Court's annulment of the dismissal of Colonel De los Cobos, who was apartado (removed) after investigating the Government regarding the management of the 8M during the pandemic. The political reading is that those who meddled where they shouldn't were sanctioned, and the Judiciary has returned them to their place.

Investigations, Not Convictions: What is Still Unknown

Here lies the paradox sustaining this entire list. Several of the major cases —Delcygate, Plus Ultra, Segarro, the bailouts— are still in the instruction phase or simple journalistic information. There are firm convictions, such as those of the former Andalusian presidents, but they are the exception, not the rule. And yet, the narrative has taken hold: permanent suspicion, the case that never ends, the feeling that a new front opens up every week. Each procedure closed without conviction will be read as cover-up in some quarters and proof of innocence in others.

How many of these cases will reach a final judgment, and how many will be devoured by their own instructions along the way?