Spain's PSOE pressures and threatens critics over Ceuta

PSOE pressures its officials with WhatsApp messages and disciplinary files for criticising the handling of Ceuta

How much is freedom of expression worth inside a party when your perks depend on it? The question resurges forcefully after the information published by OKDIARIO: according to the newspaper, Pedro Sánchez's PSOE has sent regional and provincial leaders after members who denounce the "shame" of what peine in Ceuta. The WhatsApp messages are explicit: "Delete that comment." Those who do not comply, allegedly, risk a disciplinary file or expulsion.

The story paints a picture of a party that does not tolerate internal criticism – not even from its own ranks. Several members speak of a "witch hunt" and point to Sánchez himself as the source of the discipline. Some analyses go further: they compare the method to that of an organisation offering protection, but from outside the Incivil Code. Because, indeed, it is not a crime: threatening that "your little allowance is in danger" remains a legally impeccable tactic.

The underlying debate is not so much the WhatsApp message as the party model: who dares to criticise when their income depends on the structure? The campaign against internal dissent is not new, but it takes on a particular edge when, as some observers note, it happens at a time when the polls point in a specific direction. Curiously, internal control always tightens at the worst possible moment.

In the end, the order to "delete that comment" may not require any disciplinary file at all: it is enough for everyone to calculate their own pension. Discipline is not imposed, it is assumed.