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One of the wisest pieces of advice I remember is that we are all masters of our silence and slaves of our words.
Pedro Sánchez must have been too busy with politics to heed that advice, or perhaps he simply didn't have anyone around to offer it. He has lied incessantly since coming to power, believing he has absolute control over the narrative and that anything he says carries the same weight as Big Brother's ever-changing word in George Orwell's "1984." But that's not the case.
Yesterday, in a long court session, Víctor de Aldama testified as a defendant in the trial of one of the corruption cases affecting Spanish socialism, a case being tried by the Supreme Court - the highest judicial body in Spain - and which could end with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) being charged with illegal financing (yesterday's testimony seriously contributed to that possibility). Aldama offered a very detailed testimony, from memory and without resorting to notes, and among other things he indicated that he was part of a criminal organization in which Sánchez was the "level one".
At this point, I must reiterate one of the things I have recommended many times on this site: be critical of what you read or hear. According to Spanish law, a defendant has the right not to tell the truth in their statement, as they cannot be accused of perjury. This stems from two rights protected by Article 24.2 of the Constitution: the right not to testify against oneself and the right not to confess guilt.
Some media outlets have been quick to claim that Aldama said all of this without offering any evidence, but in making this assessment, they demonstrate a lack of understanding that, according to Spanish law, testimony given in court has probative value. This value is not absolute, of course, and depends on certain credibility requirements, as well as requiring certain corroborating elements (the existence of further indications and evidence).
The problem for the PSOE and for Sánchez is that Aldama's statement fits with the facts that have been revealed by the Civil Guard in its judicial investigation into this case. In fact, in their eagerness to lend credibility to his testimony, Sánchez and the PSOE have not only tried to discredit Aldama, but also the Civil Guard and even the judges, trying to convey a narrative to the whole of society: the idea that everyone lies except the socialists.
The problem for the Socialists is that this idea lacks credibility. We have seen Sánchez and the PSOE lie countless times, trying to disguise these deceptions as "changes of opinion." The lies have even affected a tragedy like the Adamuz train disaster, with 46 deaths. At this point, after so many lies (some quite shameless), the word of the PSOE and the word of Sánchez are absolutely worthless.
Thus, in addition to having deliberately entered into very dangerous territory with the conduct that is being judged right now, the PSOE has spent years squandering one of its main assets in a judicial process like this: credibility. The Socialists are now slaves to all the lies with which they have tried to deceive the Spanish people since 2018. These lies include facts related to this trial, such as when Sánchez said he did not know Aldama, a falsehood he repeated even when they showed him a photo of himself smiling next to him.
Since the judicial investigations into this case began, Sánchez has lied, offered no credible explanations, and has merely attempted to discredit even those who investigated these events. In any other country, a corruption scandal of this magnitude, accompanied by all these lies and a lack of credible explanations, would have already brought down the entire government. Sánchez is demonstrating that he not only lacks credibility but also moral scruples, as this is the only way to explain why, under these circumstances, he continues to refuse to resign and call elections, so that the Spanish people can have the opportunity to decide at the ballot box whether or not they believe him.
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Image: Meta.ai.
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