Villarejo: The rise and fall of the Spanish state’s secret fixer

Offtopic, but hello, how are you learning Spanish? Any hacks or cool techniques so far?

I’m learning it too and I’d like to think I’m 30% there, and I’m learning for my family .

Thanks for sharing, that was a good read

No, though he was well before my time. ;)

It was convenient that he could be forced to abdicate over the fact that Wallis Simpson was a divorcee, which prevented the need to ask far more awkward questions about how both of them were Fascist sympathisers. (It was a common view among the English upper class until it became unacceptable once the war started)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburg_Files

I've always liked how many countries separate head of state from head of government, because I see the two as separate roles: one whose job is to be the most excellent person of that nationality, and the other to be the political leader, who may from time to time need to engage in dirty political shenanigans.

It seems an argument can be made for having the former be inherited, so as to avoid the inevitable politicization of the position that happens in countries where a separate head of state is also elected. It's not fair to either the commoners who can ~never be elevated to that position nor to the royals who can ~never leave it, but perhaps better for the country as a whole.

He went to a women prison, and he was the only male in that prison, in a separate area.

According to the press, EUR 2M were spent before his arrival in the "male area" to properly prepare the accommodations.

His wife's share in the inheritance of the former King, in the range of tens to hundreds of millions, bumped up considerably by a 50% when the current King said he would not accept any inheritance from his father, so probably if he cannot find a job due to his ex-convict status, he'll be well off.

I'm sure it's been a pretty bad experience for him compared to living in Switzerland, but not in the same league of the rest of people convicted in Spain.

That's not how the old BBC works. PG's submarine applies to the BBC as well, no doubt, as well as foreign lobby groups.

He trademarked his image so they don't use it without permission: (in Spanish) https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2021-01-08/villarejo-r...

Because it is a case of corruption that is quite irrelevant at the Spanish level, much less at the European level and totally irrelevant at the global level. Villarejo is an ex-policeman who is blackmailing public figures to avoid a long prison sentence for corruption and bribe. He is a very basic blackmailer and the article at BBC is some PR to give some air to his judicial defence. It is certainly not a relevant/interesting/cultural article for HN.

> Spain is a country with huge problems

Any sources or further reading?

There's a point where the onus is perhaps on the reader of the comment to check about the claim?

It seems to me that many people questioning this in this thread have not read anything about Spain, at all.

I'll bite and give you a few examples of why one could consider Spain a failed state:

- Consistently has one of the highest unemployment rates of the OECD. 10% was normal pre-2008, 15-25% has been the new normal ever since. Rates for young people in the 20-30 age group are typically between 40-50%, leading many to speak of a "lost generation".

- About half of the Catalans want to secede. Basques are right now at an uneasy peace thanks to favorable tax treatments, but before the defeat of terrorist group ETA about a decade ago, more than a thousand people were murdered in the name of Basque secession. Though violence is unlikely to return right now (hopefully), the Basque situation could become similar to Cataluña in a moment's notice. There is also a clear rise of nationalism in other regions where this was barely a problem (eg, Comunitat Valenciana or Baleares)

- The two main national parties have been part of massive corruption scandals, going from the national down to the local level (the article alludes to this). We're talking embezzlement in the billions, Roman-decadence levels of squandering (every town wanted its own airport), and intrigues that could be pulled off out of a cheap LeCarré knock-off.

- Education is quite poor, if not abysmal. Massive dropout rates in secondary education, really bad comparative performance in PISA reports, and barely any university makes it into top-200 institutions worldwide. Politicians keep changing the agenda every four years instead of trying to agree to a national pact to get us out of this hole.

These are just things off the top of my mind, but I could go on for a while.

Maybe the fact that you only see Spanish people talk poorly about the country is a reflection of us being the primary subjects of its blatant problems, and of the fact that few outsiders care?

Nurses and medics and mos professionals run out of the country when they can

The economy without the ECB aid could have already crashed like 2 o 3 times in the last ten years

Spain judicial system not following the constitutional rulebook when ordering new top judges

Biggest airport 4 days block cause the snow machine workers are not rehired

Hearing a man speak, it is easy to know

Where he saw the sun be born

If he praises England, he must be English

If he rebuffs Prussia, he is French

And if he speaks ill of Spain... he is Spanish

- Joaquín Bartrina, circa 1870

Yeah real failed states don't get millions of tourists.

Perhaps it isn't failed, but it is pretty corrupt, and it is not in good condition. I wouldn't call it "such a ridiculous claim", just good, old exaggeration.

please point what level of the spanish state you believe its clear without corruption, i can point cases from bottom (trash collection) to top (chief of state)

Most metrics is subjective.

The metrics most spaniards look are -General Unemployment rate -Juvenile unemployment -Minimun Salaries -Buy and Rent prices in principal cities

And in most of these Spain is at the bottom

> Everyone is doing overtime and it is not paid.

Sorry but not. Not my employees, that's for sure. Don't generalize.

This sort of negativity is misleading. Someone who has been to actual failed states will see how Spain turned out pretty successful, and only thinks of itself as inferior because of psychological reasons.

Corruption is of the same nature as in any other developed country, inside trusted circles of crooks. Try bribing any policeman in Spain and see how that goes. We regularly convict criminals for embezzlement and related crimes, including a relative of the last Spanish king (Iñaki Urdangarín).

Structural problems will need to be resolved (employment and entrepreneurship we can never foster enough). But we can't keep kicking ourselves down, that seems to be the national pastime.