The Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar has signed a letter stating that the corruption-tainted government of Pedro Sánchez, his country’s prime minister, is under attack from a right-wing conspiracy.
Almodóvar and a hundred others, including artists, judges and politicians, issued the statement of support as the Socialist leader fought for his political survival after a sleaze scandal at the highest level of government.
Sánchez’s minority government was buoyed by another corruption case emerging in the opposition’s ranks, stoking further concerns for the reputation of Spain’s democracy.
The letter states that the government has been victims of “an attack from all conservative and reactionary fronts”. It describes a conspiracy to overthrow the government by “a right-wing group that has questioned the election results, following the path of Trump and Bolsonaro”, referring to the US president and the former Brazilian president. The signatories criticise the language used by the conservative opposition Popular Party (PP) as they have referred to Sánchez as the head of a “criminal government” and as a “mafia boss”.
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Sánchez has been under fire since Santos Cerdán, his right-hand man, was held without bail on suspicion of bribery, criminal conspiracy and influence peddling last month. The former number three of the ruling Socialist party was detained as part of a wider investigation into kickbacks on state contracts detailed in a police report.
Pedro Sánchez has been facing calls from within his own party to call elections
PABLO SANHUEZA/REUTERS
The embarrassment has been worsened by audio recordings allegedly of two of the accused, José Luis Ábalos, a former Socialist minister who was Sanchez’s former right-hand man, and his aide, discussing sharing prostitutes, whose services and attributes they discuss in detail. They deny wrongdoing.
The letter states: “It is evident that the alleged crimes committed by [Ábalos and Cerdán] are serious and denote gross errors … However, it is unacceptable that a democratically elected government should fall because of a police report before a fully fair trial has been held in which the responsibility of the prime minister or the affected party is established.”
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Almodóvar is a staunch Sánchez defender. He admitted to having shed tears “like a child” when the prime minister published a letter online last year announcing a five-day break from duties “to consider his future” after a criminal judicial investigation was held into allegations that his wife used her position to peddle influence.
The PP’s efforts to oust Sánchez have been overshadowed by a corruption scandal in its ranks. A judge has charged Cristóbal Montoro, the PP’s former finance minister, with creating “a network of influence” to benefit and profit from energy firms between 2011 and 2018, under the government of Mariano Rajoy. The judge has charged Montoro and 27 others with bribery, fraud against the public administration and influence peddling. Montoro has denied any wrongdoing.