Pedro Sanchez He described the exclusives published by the newspaper EL ESPAÑOL as a “lie”, which revealed that the then opposition leader W Santos Cerdan They met with Arnaldo Otegi To approve the motion of censure Mariano Rajoy In May 2018.
After this secret meeting in a small village located in the Basque Country, Cerdan met with Otegui twice more to finalize the details of the agreement. He also intervened Anxon AlonsoPNV’s trusted man and the builder investigated in Koldo case.
The government’s denial contradicts the testimony Koldo Garciawhich on Monday confirmed the authenticity of the information published by EL ESPAÑOL newspaper on Sunday.
This is direct testimony. Because it was Koldo who drove Sánchez and Cerdan by car to the meeting with Otegui, since he was appointed as a driver by the PSOE and Sánchez’s personal escort. Despite this, the president confirmed to the Senate investigating committee that he had a “entirely anecdotal” relationship with the former Abalos adviser.
On the one hand, we have confirmation from someone who witnessed the beginning of the encounter, and who lacks a direct motive or personal interest to lie about the encounter. On the other hand, the government denies the incident Arnaldo Otegiwho were always careful to keep the terms of their political agreement hidden.
In this case, knowing that the information was confirmed by Koldo himself, It is surprising how lightly the government accused this newspaper of “lying.”. Especially when the PSOE party had the opportunity to deny this when EL ESPAÑOL asked it on Saturday for its copy before it was published.
The response from Moncloa’s official sources was: “We will not comment.”
Moreover, in his press conference from South Africa on Sunday, the President neither mentioned nor denied the news that had already been reported for twelve hours.
Only more than 30 hours after publication (enough time to arrange a denial with Beldo) did they appear to deny the news. Oscar LopezWho confirmed that “this meeting did not take place,” and Arnaldo Otegiwho, although he acknowledged the meeting between Antsun Alonso and Santos Cerdán’s dialogue with Beldo, stated that it was “completely wrong to have such a meeting” with the current president.
Not only does the government’s denial contradict Koldow’s belief, it is also supported by logical reasoning.
Because Hamlet’s charter The sequence of movements that preceded and followed Sánchez’s inauguration in 2018 makes it entirely appropriate.
It is therefore understandable that the PNV, which only a few days before the proposal had supported the budgets RajoyHe decided at the last minute to support Sanchez.
Because although Beldo’s two votes were not decisive in making Sánchez president, they allowed the PNP to be surrounded and drag down its five seats, which were necessary for the PSOE to reach La Moncloa.
Beldo’s support for Sánchez’s censure motion (which we now know was agreed upon in that village) It was therefore crucial for the Philippine National Party to change its abstention Yesafter a tense meeting in a Madrid hotel and a call from Pedro Sanchez to Andoni Ortuzar.
These talks, which both the PSOE and Baldo maintained, and still try to maintain, secrecy, marked the beginning of a seven-year relationship with ETA’s political heirs, which turned Otegui into Sánchez’s most loyal ally. The only one of his inaugural majority who never let him down.
After knowing this Hamlet’s charterIt can also be inferred that the price agreed there for Otegui’s support for the censorship proposal was to hand over the city council of Pamplona to Beldo, after Otegui’s supporters supported the government of María Chevete in Navarra. Most important is the release of ETA prisoners (whom Santos Cerdán himself was supervising, as the Spanish newspaper reported today).
Yes, even after Sánchez’s normalization policy, ingratiating himself with Bildó is still very embarrassing, especially in 2018, when only a decade has passed since the last assassination of a socialist official. and What the information published by EL ESPAÑOL shows is that Sánchez arrived in Moncloa with the emissaries of the assassins.
Moreover, there is no shortage of reason Figo When he confirms that, with the inclusion of Anxon Alonso in the equation as an intermediary with Beldo, he confirms that “the convincing agreement was not only political, but also economic.” Because in Hamlet’s charter The moral corruption that brought Sanchez to the presidency and the economic corruption in the country Cerdan conspiracybeneficiary of contracts awarded by socialist administrations and of the collusion of PNV sectors.