SPAIN: Leaked Messages & more – 15th May 2025

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 15th of May twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

To kick off the week, President Pedro Sánchez found himself in some trouble after his WhatsApp messages from twenty twenty were leaked.

Spanish news company El Mundo published the revealing messages on Sunday, the 11th showing Sánchez using harsh language to describe his ministers and regional leaders, calling some hypocrites and a disgrace. He’s also been caught making derogatory comments about current Defence Minister Margarita Robles and criticizing former ally Pablo Iglesias.

The messages were found during a corruption investigation as part of the Koldo case, an ongoing corruption investigation involving former Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos and advisor Koldo García. It centres on fraudulent public contracts for purchasing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over to Catalunya for some chemical calamity. On Saturday, the 10th, a chlorine fire at a swimming pool chemical factory in Vilanova i la Geltrú, in the east, triggered a regional emergency when chlorine was released into the sky as a toxic cloud.

The blaze and subsequent cloud led authorities to put six towns under lockdown, including Vilanova i la Geltrú, Sant Pere de Ribes, Cubelles, Cunit, Calafell, and central Roquetes. Residents were told to stay indoors, close windows and doors, and avoid using air-conditioning systems.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported, as wind conditions pushed the toxic plume out to the sea.

Next, on Tuesday the 13th, news outlet El Mundo revealed that the government plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court against the regional Aragonese government in the northeast because they have refused to participate in the national redistribution of unaccompanied migrant minors.

The country plans to relocate thousands of unaccompanied minors from crowded migrant reception centers to other parts, but Aragon has declined to report the number of minors in its care, arguing the decree goes against its regional protocols.

Aragon’s government has accused the central government of picking favourites, particularly with its approach to Catalunya, which has been granted more control, though not completely over its regional migration and immigration policies, with minimum influence.

Speaking of forced migration, according to a report published on Tuesday the 13th by the Environmental Justice Foundation, foreign overfishing in Senegal and its severely depleted fish stocks have contributed to a surge in irregular migration to Spain.

The study found that around 50% of Senegal’s fish stocks are in jeopardy, largely due to foreign-controlled vessels, most of which are Spanish and Chinese, engaging in illegal and destructive fishing practices.

The document says that due to these practices, Senegalese fishermen are finding themselves without jobs, which has caused many to migrate to other places, including the Canary Islands, the southernmost region of the peninsula.

The report particularly focuses on the oversight of these foreign vessels, including Spain, calling for stricter regulations and accountability to prevent worsening economic and humanitarian issues in Senegal.

On the subject of accountability, on Tuesday the 13th, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, met with associations representing the victims of the Valencian floods that killed more than 200 people and left infrastructure in tatters. The closed-door sessions in Brussels came long overdue after a sudden national blackout disrupted a planned protest by these groups during the European People's Party or EPP Congress between the 29th and 30th of April, allowing key figures like von der Leyen to avoid public confrontation at the time.

Now, with the spotlight back on, victims’ groups demanded that von der Leyen break her silence and publicly condemn the role of regional leaders, particularly Valencia’s President Carlos Mazón of the Partido Popular, the EPP’s Spanish affiliate, for their failure to respond adequately to the fossil-fuel-driven disaster.

Since we mentioned the blackout, the government is investigating whether cybersecurity vulnerabilities at a small renewable energy producer contributed to the outage that took place two weeks ago, which plunged Spain and Portugal into darkness. The Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute is also questioning dozens of energy firms about recent anomalies and security updates that could have led to the blackout.

On Wednesday, the 14th, Sara Aagesen, the third vice president and minister of ecological transition, ruled out a cyber attack during the Congress of deputies and stated that the problem started in substations in Granada in the south, Badajoz in the southwest and in Sevilla. The causes are still unknown, and the committee investigating has been given three months to figure them out.

Let’s talk about the opposition party, the Partido Popular or PP. On Monday the 12th, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader, called for a national congress to reassess his party’s ideological direction.

The congress is set for the 5th and 6th of July and will debate on the party’s key issues, including its relationship with far-right party Vox, abortion, euthanasia, and surrogacy, and the PP’s election model.

The party has noted that it is currently ideologically split between moderates and the hardline faction led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of the Community of Madrid.

On another note, there’s a new language agreement between France and Spain. On Tuesday the 13th during a Congress session, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it has agreed to make direct financial contributions to Catalan-language schools in Southern France through La Bressola, a cultural organization founded in Perpignan, France. They run a network of Catalan language immersion community schools mostly in North Catalunya or French Catalunya, an area which was once officially part of Catalunya.

The pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya called this decision historic as the funding targets a network of nine Catalan-speaking schools in France with over 1,000 students between them.

In sports, the NFL has officially announced its first-ever regular-season game in Spain. The Miami Dolphins will face the Washington Commanders on the 16th of November at Madrid’s legendary Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

The Commanders, led by rising star quarterback Jayden Daniels, are drawing major attention after a surprising run of wins. Meanwhile, the Dolphins enter a pivotal season with the team facing major injury concerns.

The decision to play in Spain adds the country to the growing list of international NFL venues, joining cities like London, Munich, and São Paulo.

Keeping with sports, Saturday the 10th saw Barcelona win the Spanish La Liga title with a dazzling 4-3 victory over Real Madrid in a chaotic El Clásico. For context, El Clásico is a huge deal and one of the most important football matches. It’s widely watched across the country because it features Spain’s two biggest clubs competing against each other.

The win marked Barça’s fourth victory over Madrid this season, having also beaten them in the Super Cup and Copa del Rey.

Looking toward the capital, news outlet El Mundo published an article last week exposing a makeshift camp at Madrid's Terminal four Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport. Airport workers told the paper that around 500 homeless people spend each night sleeping there and say the situation has become unbearable and overwhelming.

AENA, the company that operates Barajas Airport and forty-six others in Spain and abroad, is pressuring those living in Terminal Four to leave or relocate and, according to an updated article published by El Mundo on Wednesday the 14th, it is blocking food supplies from churches and NGOs.

El Mundo has suggested that many, like one casually employed man they spoke to, aren't jobless, they're just priced out of Madrid's rental market and forced to live in the airport.

And finally, a story for the film buffs. On Saturday the 10th, a jury of fifty-three cultural and film journalists sat down to vote for the most relevant Spanish feature films from the last half-century. From a selection of just over 200, here are the highlights and how long they'll take you to watch.

Top spots went to Iván Zulueta's nineteen eighty Rapture or Arrebato about a drug-addicted director, Pedro Almodóvar nineteen eighty-eight Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, a dark comedy, and Luis García Berlanga's nineteen seventy-eight film, The National Shotgun or La Escopeta Nacional.

The full list is still pending, but get your vacation days ready, as news outlet El País predicts it'll take about four consecutive days to watch them all.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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¡Hasta la próxima!