The National Court dismisses a lawsuit filed by Hazte Oír against Zapatero in connection with Maduro

Eduardo González The presiding judge of the Sixth Chamber of the Central Court of First Instance of the National Court, Antonio Piña, has dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Hazte Oír association against former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for money laundering, drug trafficking, and membership in a criminal organization in connection with his ties to President Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan regime. In a ruling cited this Tuesday on the National Court's website, the judge considers that the facts presented in the lawsuit come from open sources, especially journalistic reports, and points out that they have not provided "rational evidence of criminal activity that would allow for the opening of criminal proceedings." The investigating judge, after analyzing the complaint and each of the alleged crimes attributed to Rodríguez Zapatero, points out that “personal or popular belief cannot be confused with the existence of facts sufficient to warrant the opening of a criminal case.” He also notes that the complaint “does not present any evidence that could link the defendant to the crime of drug trafficking or membership in a criminal organization, and the same applies to the charge of money laundering.” Therefore, the judge concludes that the complaint should be dismissed because the reported facts lack sufficient grounds for prosecution. The Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office and Haze Oír According to the Europa Press news agency, the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office had previously requested the judge to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the events "cannot be classified as the crime of money laundering from drug trafficking" and that some of the allegations "are based solely on journalistic reports, which is insufficient to initiate a judicial investigation," and that the remaining events "are already being investigated in other open proceedings." The Prosecutor's Office also considered that "the complaint neither minimally describes nor imputes any genuine acts that appear to be criminal" and that it only includes "unfounded conjectures, assumptions, and/or deductions lacking any descriptive basis or factual support." The only “circumstantial evidence” is the existence of a formal indictment for drug trafficking in the United States against Maduro “and other high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan regime (...), among whom Zapatero is not included,” it adds. Hazte Oír had accused Zapatero of drug trafficking, money laundering, and membership in a criminal organization and had requested the intervention of the National Court because these were crimes allegedly committed by a Spanish citizen “abroad.” According to the organization, also cited by Europa Press, Zapatero “did not limit himself to a political or diplomatic role, but rather would have decisively contributed to bolstering and facilitating the international operations of the Nicolás Maduro regime.” “This collaboration with the criminal structure would have served to strengthen its operational capacity, its external cover, and its continuity, elements that must now be investigated in court to determine, if applicable, the corresponding criminal liabilities,” it adds. Controversy in the Senate The alleged relationship between Zapatero and the Maduro regime sparked a new clash this Tuesday between Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and the People's Party (PP) in the Senate. During the parliamentary question time in the Upper House, Alicia García Rodríguez, of the PP, denounced that, despite Albares's claims that "Zapatero was not acting on behalf of the Government," the former president "was operating in Venezuela, making unscheduled trips, flying through Caribbean countries, using planes belonging to the Chavista regime, and also working with businessmen currently under investigation for organized crime and money laundering." "Mr. Albares, this is not mediation, it is corruption," she asserted. “Either Zapatero was acting on the government’s orders, in which case you are an accomplice, or he was acting without orders, in which case you allowed a parallel diplomacy tainted by dark shadows of corruption,” continued the PP senator, who also asserted that “there is information pointing to illegal financing channels for the Socialist Party linked to Chavista oil and orchestrated from within a dictatorship—the vicious cycle of corruption, public money used to give a legal appearance to funds of criminal origin.” “Meanwhile, a former president acting as a commission agent, a messenger, a defender and whitewasher of a bloody dictatorship. You knew this and you covered it up, because Zapatero is the corrupt link pulling the strings of Sánchez’s administration. That’s why you’re silent. Answer today, because you may soon have to do so before the National Court,” she concluded. In his response, Albares denounced that the PP had spent “all its time with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs” without saying “a single word about the Venezuelan transition, not a word about Ukraine, not a word about Gaza, not a word about Greenland, not a word about Iran, not a word about the threat to democracy in the European Project.” He also asserted that those in charge at the Ministry are “very proud of the former high-ranking officials of this Government in our foreign policy.” “Teresa Rivera, Vice-President of the European Commission; Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank; Josep Borrell, High Representative until very recently,” he recalled. “If what interests them is international corruption, we can compare them with their former high-ranking officials: Rodrigo Rato, who went from the World Bank to prison; Gustavo de Arístegui, who faces 21 years for bribery,” he stated. “And regarding former presidents, Aznar appeared in the Einstein Papers, and I'm not here to make accusations,” he added. “With that attitude you have, with those principles you bring, which are clearly those of the global far right, don't be surprised that, since Mr. Feijóo has been in power, your voters have overwhelmingly gone to Vox,” he concluded.

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