The News
Thursday 18 of April 2024

An Incredible Show


Husband of Spain's Princess Cristina, Inaki Urdangarin, testifies in court in this still image from video in Palma de Mallorca
Husband of Spain's Princess Cristina, Inaki Urdangarin, testifies in court in this still image from video in Palma de Mallorca
Spain suffers from the wear of corruption and the destruction of public credibility

In the last few days we were able to see, through the media, that the inhabitants of Spain are witnessing an incredible show.

Now, news providers dedicate the majority of their space to following corruption cases.

In this sense, last week Jaume Matas, ex-president of the Balearic Islands and former secretary for the Popular Party (PP) under José María Aznar’s rule, gave an interesting declaration about the collaboration agreements that existed between Noós Institute of Iñaki Urdangarin (Former King Juan Carlos I’s son-in-law) and the Balear Government.

The declaration was calmly delivered before the judges who monitor the Noós case (a case about political corruption which  involved Spanish royalty). He considered the case to be normal to cooperate with the Royal Family, but that there has to be  some sort of price, even though this implies charging Princess Cristina’s husband with millions.

Seeing on the news how naturally Spain’s procurement laws can be violated and how easy it is to do favors to get along with a family that reigns but does not govern, are some of the causes of the existing fury and shame that explain the current Spanish political crisis.

And if that wasn’t enough, in the same week, while Mariano Rajoy tried to find necessary support to continue being the president of his country, based in an anti-corruption program, the Spanish police decided to search the Popular Party offices of businessman Javier López Madrid, son-in-law of the president of the construction company Obrascón Huarte Lain (OHL), Juan Miguel Villar Mir, because of corruption accusations.

In this context, when the Spanish news sources dedicate a big part of their coverage to corruption cases, it is impossible to not  accept that the situation is hitting rock bottom.

It merits the thought: perhaps corruption, like sexual instinct, forms a part of the tendencies of human beings?

But in any case, what is very evident, independent of who forms the government, is that Spain, a country that was capable of causing a great change for Latin American countries, suffers from the wear of corruption and the destruction of public credibility, where the main topic of the news is corruption.