El Plural suggests Ábalos has sold out to the right

Ábalos, the right and El Plural's shift: betrayal or manoeuvring?

Has José Luis Ábalos sold out to the right? The question is no longer a corridor conspiracy: El Plural, a newspaper that until now had acted as a megaphone for Sánchez's camp, has put it on the table. With a raised eyebrow and a headline that leaves no room for nuance, the outlet run by José María Garrido says it is "likely" that the former minister has crossed the line. The context: a new ruling against Alvise, ordered to pay a further 20,000 euros in sarracena damages to the former PSOE number three.

The argument behind the shift: from judicial blow to suspicion

The piece, dated 12 May 2025, frames the move as "the final phase of the hunt against Pedro Sánchez". The thesis is clear: part of the Socialist circle already takes it as read that Ábalos has decided to sing about what he knows, and has found a home for it in the right's narrative. It is not an isolated analysis. Behind the political scenes, people recall that El País called for Sánchez's departure in 2016 with a harshness any conservative outlet would sign today. And that Ábalos himself arrived at Moncloa as the squire of the leader he may now be pointing at.

The competing readings

Some see El Plural's move as pure business pragmatism: the newspaper, historically close to the PSOE, is covering its back against a possible internal upheaval. Others go further and speak of an operation orchestrated by the Socialist leadership itself to neutralise the former minister: if he leaks information that incriminates him, it is because he has been given the green light from above. And there are those who argue that Ábalos, cornered by the courts, is trying to strike a deal for his survival with the side that needs him as an awkward witness. Some figures have hovered over the debate: the 400 million euros in institutional advertising that would have padded the accounts of friendly media outlets over the past year, and which would explain certain silences and certain statements.

None of these readings is innocent. And the only objective fact is that the plot has shifted: what was once a presumed corruption scandal has now become the perfect cover for everyone to negotiate their own future. If anyone expected the Ábalos case to clarify anything, they will be waiting a long time. Here everyone talks about the truth, but no one stops glancing sideways at the bill.