This could sound like a criticism, a recrimination. But the PP senators who were present at the appearance of Santos Cerdan They quickly sensed an obvious threat. They weren’t the only ones. “Are you in a position to reproach me with this?” asked the former secretary of the Organization of … PSOE to the parliamentarian of his own party who participated in the interrogation, Alfonso Gil, in the middle of his speech. There was another one that set off even more alarms. “Better to be alone than in bad company,” Cerdán said at another point, when he had to respond to the fact that no member of his party had supported him in the Upper House.
Gil, who belongs to the Socialist Party of Euskadi and knows very well the man who weaved the pacts of this legislature to elevate Pedro Sánchez, tried to show temperance. I didn’t want to crash. Nor make the person who presents himself angry. He asked no questions and avoided the trail of opposition senators who tried to pin Cerdán on his role in the corruption plot, the company Servinabar and its contracts with Acciona, the execution of public works – including the Belate Tunnel-, the expenses charged on the card that the PP senator, Gerardo Camps, recounted one by one; those that his wife made, the Paqui; and even if there was a meeting between the president of the government and Arnaldo Otegi, which Cerdán did not deny.
The former number three of the PSOE even asked his training colleagues to “open their eyes” to defend themselves. But within the PP, which promotes precisely this commission with its absolute majority in the Senate, the appearance showed that Cerdán – as also does José Luis Ábalos, now out of prison – “It contains a lot of information” and finds a way to “send very clear messages” to La Moncloa. “The threat against the senator was direct. But also the silences», they say. Not a word on the case of Leire Díez and the former president of SEPI, Vicente Fernández, who were detained last week for 72 hours.
In Genoa, they insist that the appearance of Cerdán, “loneliness exposed” and “messages” to his party They confirm that “a new front has opened” for the president of the government, they say, who now has “doubt” that his former secretary of the Organization “could start to speak more than necessary”. In the hard core of Alberto Núñez Feijóo, they are convinced that “at any moment” Cerdán, Ábalos or the third protagonist of the plot, Koldo García, can open Pandora’s box.
Some senators noticed that in another part of the room, the lawyer for the appearing party, Jacobo Teijelo, was gesturing to ask him to answer or not, depending on the thorny question. Or the consequences that this could have had on your legal situation. “He preferred to keep quiet and not lie. But everyone knows what happened here,” they say.
The most popular influence the “loneliness” exposed and the sensitive information he has, such as Ábalos.
Electoral strategy
The PP is also waiting to be able to resummon Cerdán’s wife, who a few days ago declared that she was ill to avoid attending the declaration in the Senate. “As soon as she is recovered, we will call her,” they joke in Genoa, specifying that it is a bone that they do not intend to let go. The popular leaders repeat that the way of acting of the former head of the socialist apparatus, with expenses directly charged to the card, “can only respond to the most absolute impunity with which he acted. Insisting, as well as all the previous ramifications of prostitutes and women placed in public companies in Ábalos and Koldo, which are the details that most penalize society. “Everyone understands Paqui bags,” they repeat.
In Feijóo’s party they insist on using the tools at their disposal – such as, for example, this senatorial commission so much questioned by the government and which helps them to put pressure on Sánchez and obtain information from certain protagonists of the conspiracy – assuming that the judicial investigations “They will last a long time.” They reiterate that they must be “patient” as cases continue to proliferate. The PP’s strategy continues to be to coincide key appearances like that of Santos Cerdán with electoral stages, such as the final stretch of the campaign in Extremadura. In the coming months, it will be the turn of Aragon and Castile and León, then Andalusia.
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