The case of the adventures of Leire Díez is an episode revealing a way of exercising power which has taken hold within the PSOE and which combines systematic denial, deliberate confusion and worrying tolerance towards opaque practices. At first no one knew her, … The president of the government and several ministers claimed not to know who he was. Later, the PSOE leadership said he had abandoned its ranks and had no ties to the party, although he was part of a small circle of activists rewarded with highly paid positions in state-owned companies. The latest evidence indicates that Díez acted under the directives of the former Organizing Secretary, Santos Cerdán, and that his activity was not marginal or improvised, but rather integrated into a network of operators with access to offices, sensitive information and state resources.
This is not an isolated case. The government has already resorted to the same strategy of denial with businessman Víctor de Aldama, who was also said to have heard nothing from him. Later, photographs of Pedro Sánchez appeared and it became clear that the initial refusal was not due to a mistake, but a political decision. The pattern repeats itself with discipline: deny everything, discredit uncomfortable information and correct only when the reality is impossible to hide.
Beyond the particular case, what is truly worrying is the profile that this socialist plot draws. Ostensibly, Díez’s mission was to facilitate or direct state resources to specific offices and companies, operating in the bureaucratic shadows, designing and executing political and media maneuvers to pressure adversaries or facilitate administrative decisions. These are elements of a partisan machine that confuses the State with its own assets.
This phenomenon is not new in Spanish socialism. In the 1990s, Juan Guerra and Aída Álvarez symbolized a form of power based on proximity and favor. Later, the ERE plot in Andalusia transformed an instrument of social protection into a clientelist system. Today the names are different – Koldo, Secretaries of the Organization, Discreet Operators – but the pattern repeats itself.
In this context, a recent statement by the President of the Government takes on particular gravity. In his political report for 2025, he assured that he could guarantee that known episodes of corruption did not indicate illegal financing of the party. This is a political statement of great importance that raises a contradiction that is difficult to avoid: with what authority can a president who claims not to know his organizational secretaries, who claims not to know who Leire Díez is, who claims to have ignored cases of corruption and who has made ignorance his main line of defense, offer this guarantee?
Politics is not exercised from a proclaimed innocence, but from an assumed responsibility. The most serious thing is not only the repetition of these behaviors, but also the absence of political responsibilities. Nobody resigns. Nobody gives convincing explanations. No one specifies how these people gained access to public companies or who supported them. Everything is entrusted to a defensive narrative that underestimates public opinion.
Leire Díez is no exception. It is the symptom of a PSOE that has normalized the confusion between party and state, loyalty and merit, power and sewers. Until this pattern is broken, new Leires will continue to appear. And with them, new denials which no longer convince anyone.
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