📣 This Week in Spain: Them's Fighting Words!

Also 'Only Yes Means Yes' redux, growing wetlands and another nonconsensual kiss.

Sep 14, 2023

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | September 14, 2023 | Madrid | Issue #28

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🥜 This Week in a Nutshell: Rubiales’ kiss seen around the world finally ends his job, people on the right (and some on the left) are increasingly upset by all this talk about amnesty for the Catalan separatists and more bad news for Equality Minister Irene Montero.

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This one goes to 11

Just When You Were Hoping for the Calm Before the Storm

Hoping for a calm stretch after Spain’s abnormally action-packed summer of 23J elections, the Women’s World Cup win, and Telly Savalas-wannabe Luis Rubiales going full auto-destruct (and, finally, quitting in an interview with Piers Morgan of all people)?

Well, your wish has decidedly NOT been granted.

The country’s political parties have spent the week before the start of the investiture process, a time when one might expect them to—just spitballing here—work on coalition building and polishing their speeches, instead lobbing over-sauced accusations at one another and in other ways imitating the U.S. political system, where—to paraphrase the headline of a recent Wall Street Journal editorial—impeachment is the new way of saying “I respectfully disagree.”

The water began to simmer last week when, as we noted, two members of the PSOE’s far-left partner Sumar made a pilgrimage to the Brussels suburbs to have a klatch with Catalan separatist leader and former regional president Carles Puigdemont, who moved there to avoid prosecution after 2017’s unconstitutional independence referendum.
Puigdemont offered a list of demands, centering on the requirement that pretty much everyone involved in the referendum be given amnesty.
Spain’s right-leaning parties then went predictably (low level) apeshit, with PP leader Alberto Nuñez Feijóo calling the meeting “unacceptable” and suggesting the PSOE’s caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was willing to do awful anti-Spanish things that could tear apart the country in order to get the votes from Puigdemont’s Junts party he needs to continue as PM. (The PP then quietly added that it was no longer open to talking to Junts.)

But that was so last week! We've got new outrage now. PP leader Nuñez Feijóo announced that his party would introduce anti-amnesty measures in regional and local parliaments to force PSOE politicians to stand up for amnesty (unpopular for many—including some in their own party) or split with the PSOE on the issue (dangerous for their political careers). But that wasn't the spark that set up this week’s conflagration…

Rather, it was former Prime Minister José María Aznar who set off this explosion in a Tuesday speech at the inauguration of an event at the PP-linked FAES foundation.
Breaking his silence on the 23J elections, Aznar said the PSOE had “lost its mind” and appealed to Spanish society to come together and reject the PSOE’s dalliance with offering amnesty to Catalan separatists in exchange for votes with the same determination with which they rejected ETA terrorism, with the phrase “¡Basta ya!” (roughly, “Enough already!”).
Aznar basically called for Spaniards to stand together against the PSOE. Specifically, he said Spain has the “civic energy, institutions and national critical mass” to stop the PSOE’s “project of national dissolution”. It is necessary, he added, to stand up “to a plan that wants to finish off the Constitution, because it is seen as an obstacle to materializing the power of an irresponsible and unsupportive left.” Yowza! Them’s fighting words! (Part 1)

The PSOE did not like this one tiny bit. And their reaction was really, really strong. Inflammatory, even. Okay, yeah, definitely inflammatory.

Using a tone El Confidential called “severe and indignant”, the caretaker government’s spokesperson Isabel Rodríguez compared Aznar’s words to a “call for a coup” (and thus him to a golpista, or coup plotter) and an example of “behavior typical of undemocratic systems”: “What’s next, the call for an uprising?“ she asked. Yowza! Them’s fighting words! (Part 2)
Shocker: These words, in turn, further fired up the PP. “This is the world upside down,” PP sources said, according to El Español. “They call a democrat [Aznar] a golpista for calling for people to mobilize to stop amnesty for a golpista [Puigdemont]."

This does not bode well for Feijóo’s (doomed to fail) attempt at becoming prime minister next week. Expect lots more over-spiced rhetoric and little meaningful discussion in Parliament starting next week.

But at least there will be memorable quotes!

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week

1. 🧑‍⚖️ ‘Only Yes Means Yes’ is back in the news

Last year’s Ley ‘Solo sí es sí’ (‘Only Yes Means Yes’ law) reform of Spain’s sexual assault statute has led to a sentence reduction for one of the members of the Manada (the ‘Wolf Pack’) who gang-raped a woman at the San Fermín festival in Pamplona in 2016.

The superior court of Navarra reduced the sentence of Ángel Boza, one of the five men convicted of rape in the case, from 15 years to 14.
The reduction comes after over 1,000 other such cuts due to court interpretation of the ‘Only Yes Means Yes’ law passed last year. The new law eliminated the requirement of violence for a rape conviction (and thus the requirement that a woman fight back, explicitly say ‘no. etc), but in creating one category from two (violent and not) and lowering the minimum sentence, many prisoners (accidentally) became retroactively eligible for shorter sentences.

The reduction of one year is small compared to the length of the sentence, but the irony of it is cruel.

The Manada rape was what inspired PSOE Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s then coalition partner Podemos (in the person of Equality Minister Irene Montero) to push the new law.
The members of La Manada were originally convicted by a Navarran court of the lesser crime of sexual abuse because the regional court ruled the men had not used coercive violence and the victim had not resisted.
The Supreme Court later elevated the crime to rape and increased the punishment. But by the time of the corrected sentence, the political machine, and public outrage, was such that the modification was not rethought.

That the new law has benefitted the very people it was meant to punish has inspired recriminations against those behind the poorly written law (Montero, specifically) and the courts.

PP boss Feijóo slammed the PSOE and Podemos coalition: “There has not been a Government that takes sexual abuse and rape more as a joke than the current one,” he said. “Unfortunately, Mr. Sánchez listens little, he has too much pride and lacks the humility to accept mistakes."; Madrid’s PP Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida called for the resignation of Montero as well as that of Sumar boss Yolanda Díaz.
Montero for her part said, “This decision by the TSJN is very painful, especially for the victim. We take on her pain and know that all victims deserve reparation,”; Podemos party head Ione Belarra called the decision “incomprehensible.”
The victim of the Manada said, "Once again they’ve left me at the horses' feet, I will never be able to rebuild my life," while her lawyer, Teresa Hermida, said, “She does not understand that a law that almost bears her name, even though she never asked for it or championed it, has ended up benefiting one of her rapists. She feels disappointed and, most worryingly, victimized again."

Sadly, more of such sentence reductions seem inevitable, as everyone convicted before the ill-fated “Only Yes Means Yes” revision was itself amended to close the loopholes will be eligible.

2.😙 The non-consensual kiss strikes again

Luis Rubiales’ unwanted kiss is not be the only one making the news, as this week a male National Police officer who was present in Barcelona on Oct. 1, 2017 (the day of the illegal independence referendum—which the National Police tried to stop) has filed a complaint about “an unwanted and sudden kiss” that he received from a female protester back then (see video above).

The officer, who filed the report in Barcelona this week, is saying the woman’s action, “an unwanted and sudden” kiss on the mouth, is a crime against sexual freedom.

"A lady in her sixties approached me, insulted me, and upon realizing that a camera was close to both of us, she grabbed me with both hands by the neck and the riot helmet I was wearing as part of my uniform, immobilizing me unexpectedly, and bringing my head close to hers, then kissing my mouth with hers," he explains.
He also explains in his report that he was “insulted” by the unknown woman. “My reaction, besides disgust, was one of restraint due to the extreme violence,” he added.

The officer is a member of the Police Intervention Unit (Spain’s “riot police”) and even though the incident took place almost six years ago, he says he has only filed the report now because he had not been able to locate the video—a segment that was originally broadcast on Qatari news network Al Jazeera and he eventually found on YouTube. He is now asking the authorities to identify her and that “a restraining order of 1,000 meters be issued against her”.

Odd Rubiales echo: This story comes while the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) Luis Rubiales is still in the headlines for kissing player Jenni Hermoso at the end of the Women’s World Cup final a few weeks ago. In fact, the police officer’s complaint was filed on the same day the Prosecutor’s Office filed a complaint for sexual assault against Rubiales.
The man is one of the 45 riot police officers under investigation for their (allegedly excessively violent) actions to prevent the referendum in 2017.

Our take: no matter what gender you are, don’t kiss people without their consent. Still, this feels a bit exaggerated.

3. 🦩 The Doñana wetlands are growing*

Andalucía will buy the 7,500-acre Veta La Palma farm bordering on the Doñana wetlands, announced regional President Juan Manuel Moreno of the PP. The purchase will increase the park’s size by about 14% and cost some €70m. Good news, right?

3,500 of the acres are flooded for use as a fish farm and was home to about 27,500 birds last year, about 34% of Doñana’s avian census, because the actual wetlands in the National Park are, well, bone dry. (The farm doesn’t have that problem because it’s fed by the river, not by rain.) The worry behind the purchase: if Andalucía had not purchased the land, the artificial lagoons might have been drained because fish farming is no longer viable in the area.

This purchase might seem like an unquestionably smart move to lessen the effects of climate change—if we lived in a world shorn of context. But considering recent events, it also looks like a bit of damage control (hence the asterisk above).

Andalucía was in the crosshairs of both Spain’s central government and EU officials (as we wrote in April) over its decision to start pushing through a law that would legalize as many as 1,000 illegal wells near the Doñana National Park—which is one of Europe’s most important wetland zones.

The purchase of the 7,500 acres thus was received with what you might call “qualified” praise. Parties in opposition to the PP in Andalucía—the PSOE and Por Andalucía—as well as environment groups like Ecologistas en Acción and the WWF called it positive…up to a point.

Third Deputy Prime Minister and Ecology Minister of the PSOE-led government, Teresa Ribera, said the move “goes in the right direction” but is “insufficient.”
Juan José Carmona, head of the WWF fund for Doñana, told El Pais that, “Doñana is so bad that the marshes and lagoons did not fulfill their function. The birds have stopped coming and have looked for systems with water such as fish farms, rice fields or irrigation ponds. The purchase of Veta la Palma is interesting to recover the lower Guadalquivir and renaturalize the estuary. Of course, the announcement does not solve the problems of lack of flows in the park.”

Our take: This is about as close to consensus as you get in Spanish politics these days—and it’s probably good for the birds. But, yeah, those wells…

4. 🚴 BiciMAD QR scam: This is why we can’t have nice things

Scammers are getting increasingly sophisticated thanks to the use of technology. Very soon a deepfake version of your mom will probably FaceTime you asking for money and you will be forced to ask security questions before sending it to her.

In this case it was BiciMAD, Madrid’s public bicycle service, that was used to extract some money out of unsuspecting bikers.

Those of you who’ve used their bikes know each of them has a QR code that you need to scan in order to rent it.
Now, Madrid’s city council is warning that someone has put stickers with fake QR codes on them that when scanned will redirect you to a website in which they ask you for money to unlock the bike. (Spoiler alert: paying that money to the scammers doesn’t unlock the bike.)
If you try scanning them with the BiciMAD app, the QR codes (fortunately) do not work. However, if you use the camera app to scan it, it will take you to a website in which it asks you to pay in British pounds.

That Madrid’s city government would try to make you pay for a bike rental in Pounds—rather than in Euros 💶 or cañas 🍻—through an obscure website should be a very obvious red flag for everyone, but to be fair, how would an average foreign tourist know?

Madrid’s city council has already reported these stickers to the police for attempted fraud.
If a bike’s QR code doesn’t work with the app, better get a different bike, right?

When all options have been exhausted, try walking.

5. 💬 Parliament to start using co-official languages on Tuesday

Parliament has reached a deal so Spain’s so-called “co-official languages” (Catalan, Euskera and Galician) will be allowed on the floor starting this Tuesday (we mentioned this plan last week). The agreement was supported by a grand coalition of leftist and separatist parties including PSOE, Sumar, ERC, PNV and BNG.

This is a pretty historic change, as MPs were until now only allowed to speak Castillian Spanish. The change will be implemented on Tuesday, Sept. 19, when the proposal to reform this rule will be debated and voted for, and implemented definitely if passed. MPs who wish to speak during the debate will be allowed to do so in any of these four languages, even before the reform is approved.
Parliament has confirmed they will hire translators for Catalan, Basque and Galician and will have the necessary headphones available to all who need them.
In fact, MPs will be allowed to speak in any other non-official languages on the floor (like Asturian or Aragonese) as long as they themselves translate what they are saying to Spanish using their allotted speaking time (not enough money to hire interpreters for these languages, we guess).

The use of co-official languages was a condition set by the Catalan pro-independence parties ERC and Junts in exchange for supporting the election of former Balearic Islands president Francina Armengol as parliament speaker last month.

If you thought politicians here already couldn’t understand each other when speaking Spanish, then we recommend you tune in this Tuesday to see how this goes.

One thing is certain: the PP and Vox are certainly not amused.

P.S. Another language promise Sánchez made to Catalan pro-indy groups is not going so well. Spain’s PM said he would push to make the same languages official in EU proceedings in Brussels. Several countries are pushing back on adding Catalan, Galician and Basque to the 24 already there, however, because of expense and because it could open the door to even more languages (and even more expense). Last year, the European Commission spent €355 million on translation expenses, and apparently some aren’t ready to spend more.

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