Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2013, as an opinion piece written early in Mariano Rajoy’s first government, during the economic crisis and the wave of home evictions in Spain. Its political references are of that moment.
An excellent interview by Arantza Furundarena, a journalist at the Spanish daily Ideal, with the writer Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa, who speaks very plainly about how he sees our country and, above all, about corruption in Spain.
For this writer, the political class is no different from the Mafia, although the two aren’t really comparable either, since the Mafia at least has principles.
“The trouble with politicians isn’t what they steal; it’s that what they steal is a hundredth of the damage they’ve caused. It’s as if, to steal a €100 watch, you smashed a €10,000 shop window. In other words, for a politician to pocket a €50 million commission, a €1,000 million airport has been built where no plane will ever land.”
The journalist asked him whether he had a solution, and the writer replied:
“We gain nothing by putting them in prison. Many of them ought to be shot and hanged in a public square.”
Furundarena asked whether he was really serious: “Do you mean that metaphorically or literally? Are you calling for barbarism?”
“Is there any greater barbarism than what is done to a citizen who has to throw himself out of a window, or who has a heart attack when they come to evict him? If the people who allow this sort of thing were shot, the next politicians would think twice.” Vázquez-Figueroa answered firmly, adding that if he were 20 years younger he would take to the streets.
Do you think Spain is the worst country when it comes to corruption?
“When it comes to political corruption, yes, behind only Somalia, perhaps.”
The writer says the biggest sin Spaniards are committing in this situation is apathy: they can’t bring themselves to react against this group of people, whom he described as “a bunch of good-for-nothings, rats, crooks, and so on and so on…”
He recalls that while Zapatero was in power (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Socialist prime minister from 2004 to 2011), he had lunch with Bertolucci and Saramago. Mr. Bertolucci told him that Zapatero was going to sink us: “Poor Spaniards.” Later, as we all know, change came. The new messiah took the throne, bringing the secret to saving the country.
What’s the secret?
In this writer’s view, Zapatero was lost and Rajoy still hasn’t found his way, because so far the current prime minister, Mariano Rajoy (of the conservative People’s Party), is pursuing a policy like trying to cure an anorexic by asking them to eat less.
My personal opinion
I agree with practically everything this writer says, except the part about shooting anyone; we’ve gone back far enough in time already without getting to that. I’m not even in favor of putting a crook on this scale in prison. For me, the solution would be as simple as stripping them of all their present and future assets until they’ve paid back the money they stole (when it’s outright theft) or took in commissions.
And in my view, no politician who has been formally charged should be hired by a listed company or sit on its board, because that’s like rewarding a career of corruption. But shooting them… we mustn’t go that far. Apart from that, we need more people to speak clearly and without taboos about the corruption of Spain’s political class.
Featured image: Esteban Navarro Soriano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
