The Spanish right may not have won the general election with enough of a majority to govern, but it knows better than anyone how to organize a demonstration and exalt the virtues of its new reference figures in the eyes of the public. Up till now, there's never been a situation where the name most appreciated by a protest crowd has been that of a judge. But this Sunday, the People's Party (PP) of Alberto Núñez Feijóo - but also of José María Aznar and Isabel Díaz Ayuso - elevated the National Audience judge Manuel García-Castellón to the heights for his efforts to tie up president Carles Puigdemont in his investigation of the Tsunami case, in which the judge makes terrorism accusations against the Together for Catalonia (Junts) MEP, as well as against the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) secretary general, Marta Rovira.
The PP got around 50,000 people out onto the streets again this Sunday in Madrid to oppose the law for an amnesty on independence process prosecutions. Just as the key week begins in which Congress is to pass the legislation which, after García-Castellón's move last week, does not seem to be sufficiently protected. The main question, which is more political than legal, is well-known: bearing in mind that the National Audience has responded to the legislature with a groundless accusation of terrorism to prevent some from being able to benefit from the amnesty, what response should be given?
Doing nothing means accepting that the law when passed may end up being more porous than it seemed at the beginning and García-Castellón's path will be wide open. Taking a new step to prevent this creates a difficult bind for the Socialist (PSOE) party and for justice minister, Félix Bolaños, who for weeks has been dragging his feet behind the parallel negotiation held by the party's organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán. All this will have to be resolved before Tuesday's vote in the Congress of Deputies.
The PP's call to rebel against the PSOE's pacts with the pro-independence parties, the tone of civil belligerence that is increasingly present at its public events and the call to rescue Spain democratically also has a lot to do with the information that is coming out on Operation Catalonia - there was great praise for Rajoy this Sunday "for having dedicated his whole life to Spain" - and the Galician election on February 18th which may end up being decided by a handful of votes.
And the PP does not currently have the best letter of presentation to Galician voters if it depends on its record of autonomous government management and the leadership of the very unpopular president, Alfonso Rueda. In this context, playing on Pedro Sánchez's sell-out of Spain to the pro-independence parties is a strong enough argument to cover up the performance of the Galician executive.