Aurelio Medel | This week’s fatal train accident is a tragic metaphor for this government. The first step is to blur facts with narratives—something in which Pedro Sánchez is a master and Óscar Puente his finest apostle; the second is to shift the blame onto others.
That is the general pattern in a country, called Spain, which boasts the best macroeconomic figures in the European Union but cannot withstand the scrutiny of a child’s microscope. The essential, basic foundations have suffered severe deterioration in recent years, a period during which the State has enjoyed record tax revenues; therefore, it is not a question of a lack of resources.
Access to housing and the quality of healthcare and education have visibly worsened over the past eight years. Whose fault is it? The PP’s, since they govern the autonomous communities. Defense and foreign policy—exclusive competencies of the central Government—are a complete mess. Take the assault on Ceuta this summer, which exposes our vulnerabilities for all to see.
And what about infrastructure? A year and a half ago, we suffered a power blackout, and this year alone there have been two rail accidents claiming more than a hundred lives. Never before had there been fatal accidents on Spanish high-speed rail, operational since 1992. Who is responsible? Renewables, the rail alloy, or the control technician at Atocha. It is always someone else. Political accountability is never taken.
To whom is the Prime Minister referring when he says that two accidents with dozens of deaths in less than a year is “unacceptable”? It is unacceptable for the citizenry; for Sánchez and Puente, it seems it is. Months and years pass without a detailed fault study; consequently, there are no proposed changes to restore normality.
Sánchez had nothing to do with appointing two PSOE Secretaries-General (Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos) accused of criminal conduct, heavily linked precisely to the management of railway infrastructure. Nor does Puente have anything to do with it—a man capable of inaugurating a wastepaper bin, yet unable to bring order to Renfe and Adif, despite repeated warnings.
The problem with this Government, which has only weeks left, is that it is full of storytellers but lacks managers. It is the logical consequence of being led by someone determined to go down in history. Let them talk about me, even if it is bad.
The tweet and statements by Iván Redondo, Pedro Sánchez’s former campaign and communications chief, are evidence of narrative excesses and a lack of management. Redondo, in a display of either ignorance or manipulation, proposes nationalizing the railways. Who does he think owns Renfe and ADIF? It is intolerable.
