The paltry message from socialist Minister Óscar Puente attacking a victim of ETA

The government of Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE have entered an increasingly toxic drift that does not allow any kind of disagreement.

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Yesterday, Socialist Eduardo Madina criticized the Sánchez government from Cadena SER radio, stating that "the legislature is more than over," after referring to the political corruption and sexual harassment scandals affecting the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Madina added: "The legislature is closed insofar as two organizational secretaries of the Socialist Party have been in jail; two relevant figures in the party's organizational and political leadership, which is the most important position after the general secretary."

Madina was a PSOE deputy until 2017, when his differences with Pedro Sánchez led him to resign his seat and leave politics. Yesterday, the Minister of Transport, the socialist Óscar Puente, responded to Madina from his Twitter account in his usual manner on that social network, that is, with a cocktail of pettiness, arrogance, and bad manners:

"You're the one who's finished. You have been for a long time. Now you parade your resentment around radio talk shows. Oh, you, who thought you were the great hope of Spanish socialism and you've ended up as a commentator, but without your own channel."

Madina made a legitimate criticism regarding objective facts and their repercussions for a political party that holds the presidency of the Spanish government. In contrast, Puente resorted to his usual practice of personal attacks, displaying a lack of tact and manner unbecoming of a minister who receives a public salary paid by all Spaniards, including the man he is attacking. It is the daily practice of his government to turn public debate into a political cesspool. Perhaps that is where they feel most comfortable.

Puente's response is especially despicable considering one fact: Madina suffered a terrorist attack by ETA on February 19, 2002. That criminal gang placed a limpet mine under his car. When the device detonated, the explosion caused him serious injuries, including the amputation of part of his left leg.

Of course, having suffered that terrible crime doesn't mean one can't disagree with Madina. I have expressed my disagreement with some of his opinions on several occasions, but always without insulting him and without forgetting that having different ideas shouldn't lead to treating others like vermin. Puente's petty personal attack on Madina is especially repulsive considering that his government is allied with EH Bildu, an ultra-leftist party led by Arnaldo Otegui (convicted of kidnapping and of being a leader in ETA) and which has never condemned ETA's terrorist crimes, including the one that left Eduardo Madina mutilated.

One has to wonder if the "resentment" Puente attributes to Madina is simply the understandable disgust at seeing the PSOE shaking hands with the bloodied hands of those who mutilated his body. In any case, it is outrageous that a member of a government that has committed the disgrace of allying itself with those who do not condemn terrorism now has the audacity to attack a victim of terrorists in this way.

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Photo: La Moncloa. Spain's Minister of Transport, the socialist Óscar Puente.