Adamuz: a government that spread hoaxes about the railway sector is now warning against them

The tragic train accident in Adamuz has prompted a now-customary reaction from Pedro Sánchez's government.

The Sánchez government's hoaxes about infrastructure chaos and what they tell us
Pedro Sanchez's government resorts again to hoaxes to exonerate itself from its rail chaos

Sánchez: “Hoaxes and disinformation are spreading and generating anxiety and pain”

We saw that reaction just yesterday. Sánchez stated: "Hoaxes and disinformation are spreading and generating anxiety and pain." The Prime Minister made these statements during a visit to Adamuz and at a press conference in which he did not take questions from the media. A common practice of the socialist leader that contrasts radically with the usual practices in other democratic countries.

Marlaska asks people to get their information through “official channels”

This Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior spoke about misinformation, stating the following: "The Security Forces and Corps constantly monitor all social media, and in times of crisis and emergency like these, with the obvious aim of countering it, because it has an absolutely negative impact on something as important as the safety of society and also trust in institutions." During this statement, broadcast by TVE, Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska asked citizens "to get their information through official channels".

Press conferences without questions and an official channel that blocks journalists

As I have been emphasizing for some time, the best way to combat misinformation is with information, and of course, that information must be truthful. In a democratic country, the media plays a fundamental role in scrutinizing government actions, subjecting its actions and statements to critical scrutiny that goes beyond simply disseminating what the government says. The function of the media is to expose any falsehoods emanating from those in power. That is why the media are often referred to as the "fourth estate" (the other three being the executive, legislative, and judicial branches). The media are yet another democratic check on power.

Therefore, every time the Prime Minister refuses to answer questions from the media, he sows distrust in the State, because a leader who respects democratic processes, tells the truth, and has nothing to hide should have no qualms about holding press conferences with questions. And of course, these will often be uncomfortable questions, because the role of the media is not to flatter political power, but to hold it accountable, and this implies examining the government's potential responsibility in an accident like the one in Adamuz, since the railway infrastructure is under the State's control through the public company ADIF.

Special mention should be made of the habit of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, of blocking anyone on Twitter who says something he doesn't like, blocks that even affect journalists, who are thus unable to question the minister through that channel or even follow any information published by Óscar Puente in recent days. In fact, the Socialist minister is using his Twitter account to communicate information about this accident while he has blocked many thousands of users simply for disagreeing with him. In October, Puente even blocked an artificial intelligence for disagreeing with him. How can we be asked to follow official channels if a minister blocks our access to one of those channels for not sharing his opinion?

In 2025 the government spread hoaxes about fake railway sabotage

But without a doubt, what most erodes trust in the State is when our leaders lie. That is more devastating to trust in institutions than any hoax. That is why it is important for the government to always tell the truth and to be rigorous in its reporting: because that is how credibility is obtained, which plays an important role in our daily lives, but especially in times of crisis such as a train accident. In Spain we have a government that repeatedly resorts to hoaxes, as the newspaper El Debate pointed out in a comprehensive report published two days ago, a few hours before the Adamuz accident.

The railway sector has not escaped these official falsehoods. In the summer of 2025, faced with problems in railway infrastructure and criticism for the lack of maintenance, the government spread false rumors about which there was no evidence or indication. In fact, it was discovered that the government circulated a slogan talking about a "sabotage by the right wing" to coordinate its ministers in the face of criticism for the state of the railway network, fueling a false conspiracy theory to blame the parliamentary opposition.

Those hoaxes are what generate the most distrust in the government

Certainly, hoaxes spread by private citizens on social media can cause some damage to the credibility of institutions, but what most damages trust in the government is when it lies in this way to evade its responsibility on matters that fall within its purview. Let us recall, in fact, that Minister Óscar Puente has played an active role in spreading hoaxes via Twitter, a very serious matter for which he would have been immediately dismissed in any other democratic country. Now, a government that spreads fake news is now warning against it while appealing to a trust in institutions that it itself has destroyed with its disinformation campaigns.

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Photo: La Moncloa. From left to right, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez; and the First Vice President, María Jesús Montero, during their visit to Adimuz on January 19, 2026.