Spain: the director of intelligence dismissed following the Pegasus scandal

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's phone has itself been infected with Pegasus spyware.

Here in Brussels, July 20, 2020. AP - John Thys

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Continuation of the soap opera Pegasus, this computer system of an Israeli company which spied on members of the Spanish government and about twenty Catalan separatist leaders.

To get out of this security and political crisis, the head of government Pedro Sanchez dismissed Paz Esteban, the director of the intelligence services, the CNI. 

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With our correspondent in Madrid

,

The dismissal of Paz Esteban, the first woman to lead the Spanish intelligence services, was expected.

In the eyes of all, it appears as the price to pay to find a way out of what has become a nightmare for the socialist government.

Pedro Sanchez cornered

Because with

, the name of a system which makes it possible to infect mobile phones to carry out listening almost

, Pedro Sanchez was accused on all sides, cornered, obliged to act.

By dismissing Paz Esteban, the socialist leader makes him pay for two major criticisms: on the one hand, the fact of having been unable to do anything against the hacking of his own mobile phone and that of his Ministers of Justice and the Interior .

The weakened Spanish state

On the other hand, the fact of having authorized

Who are now threatening to sever all relations with the central government.

Starting with Catalan President Pere Aragonés, whose support for Pedro Sanchez is crucial.

The question today is whether this dismissal will be sufficient for a way out of the crisis.

In the eyes of right-wing opposition leader Nunez Feijoo, the dismissal weakens the Spanish state.

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• Spain

• pedro sanchez

• Pegasus