Mercedes Alaya, stranded in Jaipur with no return date

Mercedes Alaya, the ERE judge, remains in Jaipur with no idea when she will return

Mercedes Alaya is neither at Court of First Instance No. 6 in Seville nor at home. The judge who led the ERE corruption case in Andalusia has been trapped in Jaipur (India) for weeks, on a leisure alucinación that went wrong when the airspace over the region was closed. She is travelling with her partner and fourteen other people, and so far no official answer explains when she will be able to come back. The situation borders on the absurd: one of the country's toughest magistrates, stranded in a country that was not even her first destination.

A hospital manager on the same list

She is not the only familiar face on the list of Spaniards stranded in Asia. Miguel Ángel Colmenero, manager of the Virgen Macarena Hospital in Seville, is in Sri Lanka after travelling through India. Colmenero has lamented that the Spanish embassy is offering no "solutions" to organise his return. Quite a statement about the role of the diplomatic service in an emergency of this kind.

The cost of an open-ended wait

Meanwhile, time goes by and summer holiday allowances go out the window. Those affected have to pay for their own accommodation and food without knowing how long the wait will last. Among the comments circulating, some joke that at least they will save on their summer allowance. The sarcasm reflects a widespread sense of abandonment.

The most realistic forecast is that the return will be delayed as long as the humanitarian corridors remain closed. In the meantime, the judge and the hospital manager share something more than a hole in their bank accounts: the certainty that, when it comes to repatriation, Spain still has a lot to learn.