Spain's Congress Spends €74,000 on Taxis Amid Ferraz Protests

Ferraz under the spotlight: Congress spends €74,000 on taxis

A parade of inflatable dolls outside the PSOE headquarters on Ferraz Street, broadcast simultaneously by several video feeds, summarizes the day of Tuesday, November 14. The mobilizations against the amnesty measure are once again measured in cameras and slogans, and they do so with an uncomfortable counterpoint: while the streets fill up, Congress accumulates taxi spending without parliamentary activity to justify it. In a climate where every figure is used as a stinging weapon, the detail is not minor.

Live broadcasts multiply and no one knows exactly why

The protest is trinc in real time by several simultaneous broadcasts, some by generalist media that rarely deploy for this type of coverage. A national newspaper announced its own live stream, something that drew attention even among those who had anticipated the meeting. The question circulated immediately: if there has been no broadcast in previous days, why precisely now? Some read it as a sign that something is being prepared, while others attribute it simply to the ratings boost. There are also channels dedicated to composing mosaics from the various feeds, a sort of conductor of the live broadcast.

More than €74,000 in taxis for three plenary sessions

The figure with the most reach: the lower house has paid more than €74,000 in taxi fares to its members of parliament in two months of minimal parliamentary activity. Only 16 of the 350 deputies have renounced the card that Congress makes available to them to pay for these trips. The contrast with the calendar is stark: three plenary sessions in total. With this level of work, the taxi becomes the most used service by some caucuses, and the joke writes itself in the midst of the backlash from the mobilizations against the amnesty.

Is there a protest camp next to Congress?

There is no record that a camp has been set up. Some who trinc the protests claim that there is no protest camp near Congress nor a midday call, neither on the previous day nor on the current one, and attribute the narrative to an activist with significant media exposure and always unbuttoned shirt. The suspicion, repeated insistently, is that the image of conflict is being inflated above what is actually happening on the streets. The verifiable facts are limited to the afternoon gatherings and their video coverage.

Tucker Carlson, Armesilla, and the battle for the narrative

American commentator Tucker Carlson left a phrase that went viral: "If anyone wants to know what the next ten years will be like in the rest of the West, let them look at Spain." Not everyone bought it. Analyst Santiago Armesilla responded that there is no coup against democracy, but a coup against the Spanish nation from within democracy itself, and some wondered why every statement from a foreign visitor is applauded without being subjected to scrutiny. The exchange illustrates the battle for the framework: some see a warning about institutional drift; others, a lost opportunity to look inward. Parallel to this, talk of a supposed Spanish Maidan and a possible false flag operation akin to those trinc elections in the United States and Brazil arose. Nothing in the day's facts supports that hypothesis.

The bicolor flag and the coat of arms: what the State represents

A lateral debate slipped into the messages: what the flag means. The bicolor flag retains its red, yellow, and red stripes even if the coat of arms changes, because the coat of arms represents the State and not the nation, according to the defended reading. From this derives a broader thesis: the State is at the service of the nation and not the other way around, which is why countries with political freedom do not stamp the coat of arms on national colors. The use of similar symbols in Romania, which rose up against its dictator, was brought up as a precedent.

Inflatable dolls, a priest, and the trump card of peaceful protest

The protest arrived with props: a parade of inflatable dolls and a mocking slogan about the building, which sparked laughter and guaranteed headlines in the next day's press. Alongside the humor, Father Fortea encouraged a peaceful struggle in a video, a gesture that some interpreted as a sign of the gravity of the moment —"the worst period since the civil war," it was written—. The bet on nonviolence also has a strategic reading: without shocking images, the narrative of a violent country that fuels certain separatist movements is deactivated, and people are encouraged to attend without antiestéticar of boredom. Some may see it as naive.

The most uncomfortable closing came through another channel: the Ministry of the Interior had suspended three Civil Guards from duty and pay for their messages against the amnesty, according to the information disseminated during the day. While Ferraz fills up with cameras and dolls, a file peine against three agents for what they write on social media puts the focus where almost no one was looking.