Like in a dictatorship: a minister wants El País to fire two columnists for criticizing him

There are politicians who would be much happier if Spain were a dictatorship of their ideological persuasion, and they no longer bother to hide it.

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This Thursday, the newspaper El País, which for many years has been aligned with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), published an opinion column by Daniel Gascón entitled "The Usefulness of Óscar Puente." The author makes the following assessment of the rudeness, disrespect, and arrogance displayed daily by the socialist Minister of Transport on social media:

"Being a troll—to use David Mejía's description—is the main function that Minister Óscar Puente has in the Government: he is not in his position despite these characteristics, but precisely because of them. His outbursts only raise one question: are they a distraction tactic or, as is most often the case, the path that others should follow? His presence in office is eloquent proof of the institutional degradation of our country, and an example of adverse selection in our politics."

As usual, the minister has taken the criticism badly and responded by attacking the columnist from El País, even offering this assessment of opinion journalism: "If journalism is in a catatonic state, opinion journalism is enough to make you cry." A very cynical statement from a politician who receives a salary paid by all taxpayers and who dedicates a large part of his time to insulting those who don't share his opinions. A minister, let's not forget, who is politically responsible for the Adamuz train accident, which left 46 dead. A terrible tragedy about which Puente lied by accusing two media outlets of publishing "fake news", when the information was absolutely true. And he still dares to lecture journalists.

Yesterday, another columnist for El País, Diego S. Garrocho, expressed his support for Gascón after the minister's attack, stating the following:

"If you dedicate yourself to writing columns, it must be an honor to be singled out by the most bullying and rude minister for something you have published."

The minister's response to this columnist from El País was, indeed, that of a bully. Óscar Puente responded to Garrocho by criticizing "the fact that both you and he have a space in El País," a newspaper in which, apparently, the Socialist minister doesn't allow columnists who might criticize him. This is a display of the minister's anti-democratic tendencies and also the result of years of that newspaper's subservience to the PSOE, to the point that the party now believes it has the right to dictate who can and cannot write for that publication.

Garrocho responded to Puente this morning in a message in which he states the following:

"Minister Óscar Puente presumes to suggest who we should publish in El País, a newspaper that is, fortunately, open and pluralistic. Disciplining the press in full view of everyone is a totalitarian practice. But he will not succeed."

As is typical in these cases, the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE) and the Madrid Press Association (APM) have remained silent. Perhaps they consider it normal for a minister to pressure a media outlet to fire its critics?

What Óscar Puente is doing is what one would expect from a minister in a dictatorship, the kind of regime where journalists write in fear that some politician might issue an order that could cost them their job. In a democracy, a thug like Puente should have no place not only in government, but in any public institution, since in a democracy the State is at the service of the citizens, and not the citizens at the service of despotic politicians. Óscar Puente has chosen the wrong country: he would be more comfortable as a minister in communist China, Cuba, or Venezuela, dictatorial regimes where journalists don't dare criticize any minister for fear of reprisals.

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Photo: La Moncloa. The Minister of Transport, the socialist Óscar Puente, during a press conference at the La Moncloa Palace on April 14, 2026.