In 2021, the Spanish state bailed out the airline Plus Ultra with €53 million from a public fund created during the pandemic to support companies deemed strategic. The move drew criticism because the company was relatively small and did not meet the criteria to be considered “strategic.”

Recent investigations by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office have placed former Spanish Prime Minister and socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in the crosshairs. He is alleged to have played a key role in securing the bailout through political contacts and institutional influence and is suspected of having benefited from payments and contracts linked to individuals and companies within his inner circle.

Questions persist regarding whether influence-peddling was used to obtain the bailout and even whether financial connections existed with individuals and companies linked to the Chavista regime in Venezuela.

Added to this legal front is another issue that has made headlines: authorities discovered over a hundred pieces of jewelry and watches in a safe in the office of Rodríguez Zapatero — a veteran of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) — during a search related to the Plus Ultra case.

While initial statements in his defense claimed the items were worth up to €50,000 and came from family inheritances and gifts, subsequent appraisals revealed their estimated value to be around €1.3 million, including jewelry set with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires.

Amidst allegations of influence-peddling and questions regarding his wealth, the man who until recently was one of the most influential figures of the progressive movement in the “Iberoshere” appears to be deeply mired in scandal.

As Madrid-based journalist José María Ballester explained in an interview for this article, the National Court is investigating Rodríguez Zapatero as the alleged leader of a network dedicated to securing financial gain by acting as an intermediary with public bodies. Other charges brought against him include criminal organization — involving a hierarchical structure for the division of tasks aimed at achieving these illicit ends — and money laundering, involving a flow of approximately €1.9 million. There are also charges of document forgery, linked to the alleged triangulation of payments and the use of invoices issued by shell companies to conceal or justify said income, as well as tax fraud and smuggling.

“National Court Magistrate José Luis Calama has opened a separate case file within the main investigation (Plus Ultra) to trace the matter of the jewelry,” noted Ballester, a reporter for the newspaper El Debate.

Tax fraud is also coming to light due to the “lack of tax traceability” regarding the items. “If the assets were not declared on the relevant tax returns — and given that the defrauded amount far exceeds the 120,000-euro threshold — the matter enters the realm of criminal law,” according to Ballester. Furthermore, there is an additional charge of smuggling, as these luxury items may have been brought into the European Union’s customs territory while bypassing the controls, tariffs, and excise duties required for importation.

“The list of charges against Rodríguez Zapatero is endless,” says Ballester. “It keeps growing as the days go by.” Compounding this is the socialist leader’s closeness to tyrannies such as the Venezuelan Chavista regime.

According to Ballester, he initially had no specific interest in defending Caracas, but “everything changed in 2016, when he was appointed as an observer for that year’s Venezuelan elections. Since then, Rodríguez Zapatero has been forging dubious ties with the regime’s leadership — to the point of influencing Spanish foreign policy.” Although he stepped down as prime minister in 2011, he influenced current Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to shift from supporting opposition leader Juan Guaidó in 2019 to backing the tyrant Nicolás Maduro starting in 2020.

Given the corruption allegations against Rodríguez Zapatero and others involving Sánchez, Ballester is skeptical when asked whether a united right-wing front could end the reign of the PSOE Left.

“Arithmetically, yes,” he says. “But Spain remains sociologically left-leaning. That would be the main obstacle for a right-wing government seeking to implement its agenda.”

As 2027 approaches — bringing with it the next general election in the European nation — the corruption scandal among high-ranking socialist officials is widening and being laid bare. This scenario could potentially lead the Trump administration to follow through on the threat it made last March and order the arrest of Rodríguez Zapatero for ties to narco-terrorism in the region. Things do not look good for the Left in Spain.