Sánchez tries to protect his mandate despite the wear and tear of the Koldo case: "It is serious, it is not the best scenario, but it is a specific case of corruption that can be stopped"

Raúl PiñaSpecial envoy Brasilia

Brasilia special envoy

Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2024-12:38

• Armengol investigation hid the report on the 'fake' masks of the Koldo plot from four controls

• Politics The PSOE declares its "absolute support" for Armengol and expresses its "contained rage" against the PP

Pedro Sánchez

faces a tour of Brazil and Chile this week to strengthen political and economic ties with the progressive governments of these countries.

A trip that was not without turbulence on the way from Madrid to Brasilia, which made it necessary to fasten the seatbelt on more than one occasion.

Like during the legislature.

A journey, at least for now, full of ups and downs where the Government buckles up so as not to derail.

The 'Koldo case' has plunged the PSOE into unrest because it involves a case of corruption that concerns an Executive who arrived at La Moncloa with a motion of censure championing the speech against corruption.

Pedro Sánchez assumes the wear and tear of this plot in the midst of a pandemic emerging from the

Ministry of Transportation

, but maintains his roadmap: he does not believe that the legislature is in danger.

The Government has been shaken by a case that not only hurts the PSOE due to its severity and when it happened - in the Covid-19 pandemic, with a country in shock locked at home and citizens dying by the thousands - but because it concerns a figure like

José Luis Ábalos

, who for years was the person who controlled the party apparatus.

A wound that bleeds, but to which Sánchez wants to apply a tourniquet to prevent his wound from bleeding out.

"The legislature is going to move forward," Pedro Sánchez expressed in an informal conversation with the journalists accompanying him during his tour.

The conviction in the presidential complex is that the "noise", which is how they define the succession of news about the Koldo case, will pass and what will remain "will be the response on our part."

"Zero corruption does not exist, what exists is zero corruption against corruption. The days of

M. Rajoy

are over," defends Sánchez, who knows that

Alberto Núñez Feijóo

will maintain full focus on this matter.

The President of the Government admits the adverse nature of the situation, which has also given the opposition a window of opportunity to try to make a breakthrough.

"This is serious. It is obviously not the best scenario," he admits, but denies that it is a crisis that represents a derailment of the Executive.

"Crisis is a pandemic. Crisis is structural systemic corruption. This is different. It is serious, but different. There is nothing systemic or anything that is protected or justified. It is a specific case of corruption that is stopped and nipped in the bud. Before there was institutionalized corruption," defends Sánchez.

In the Government, what they defend is that the legality of the mask contracts that are in the spotlight is not in question because "they were made from a legal point of view."

In La Moncloa, at least for the moment, and based on that approach, they show their support for Francina Armengol, president of Congress, shaken by the purchase of masks by the then Balearic government that presided over from the company in the Koldo plot.

Sánchez supports it and, at least today, is not considering measures, as he did decide in the case of Ábalos.

If at first they opted to give margin, the criteria changed and they began to demand that he leave the record - to which Ábalos refused - and the match.

In the PSOE they argue: "We do not accuse anyone, but Ábalos's political responsibility is clear."

Sánchez maintains that he was unaware of the plot established in the Ministry of Transport and that the dismissal of Ábalos in July 2021, which not only implied his dismissal as minister, but also as Secretary of Organization of the party, was not linked to this.

And if he had known, he would have brought it to the attention of Justice.

He defends that that remodeling involved more ministries and that after overcoming the pandemic, both the Council of Ministers and Ferraz needed a new boost.

The Chief Executive's approach is that "every moment has its desire" and that the approval of the Amnesty Law and the purpose of trying to carry out a Budget for 2024 are arguments to stay afloat.

Although the Koldo case may involve a missile on the waterline.