Editorial Luis Herrero: Aldama presenta el sobre con los 250 millones de dólares de PDVSA en la Audiencia Nacional

·32 min·2 clips

Victor de Aldama delivered an envelope with $250 million in PDVSA oil vouchers to Judge Ismael Moreno six days ago — and the judge has had six days to decide what to do with it.

1. "En casa de Herrero" on Es Radio with host Luis Herrero covers four major Spanish political stories on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. 2. Herrero is the sole voice for most of the episode; political correspondent Esmeralda Ruiz joins for the Catalan and regional coalition segments. 3. The episode's overarching argument is that the Sánchez government is governing reactively and strategically delaying both its emergency economic decree and the national budget for electoral and coalition reasons. 4. Businessman Víctor de Aldama delivered an envelope to National Audience judge Ismael Moreno on the 12th, accompanied by a one-to-two-hour declaration; legal sources told Libertad Digital the envelope contains PDVSA oil vouchers worth $250 million allegedly tied to irregular financing of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the International Socialist. 5. Rodríguez Zapatero had previously denied the envelope's existence; its delivery to the judge six days before the episode confirms both its existence and the judicial investigation's momentum. 6. Miguel Ángel Pérez, Aldama's chronicler, confirmed the delivery and said immediate judicial consequences could not be ruled out — but as of the episode, no actions had been taken by the judge in six days. 7. Sánchez appeared at a parliamentary control session but gave no concrete details about the emergency economic measures to be approved at Friday's Council of Extraordinary Ministers, repeating that citizens will be protected but refusing to name specific policies. 8. The one policy signal Sánchez provided is the elimination of the 5% special electricity tax, which would reduce household electricity bills by approximately 5%; he also indicated the flat 20-cent per-litre petrol subsidy used during the Ukraine energy crisis would not be repeated because it was regressive. 9. A hallway scene in Congress revealed a live disagreement between minister Félix Bolaños and Más Madrid minister Mónica García over whether housing rent controls will be included in Friday's decree — Bolaños said he would not be so sure; García shouted 'of course yes' in the background. 10. SUMAR and Podemos leaders — including Bustin Duy, Ione Belarra, and Mirko — are aligned in demanding rent control, extension of rental contracts, and variable mortgage rate controls, framing these as essential measures for working-class households affected by the Iran war. 11. PNV spokeswoman Maribel Vaquero warned the government not to play 'Russian roulette' — if the decree includes measures that only Podemos and SUMAR support, it will fail the parliamentary ratification vote because PNV and Junts will not back it. 12. Herrero infers from Sánchez's budget answer — 'when I finish with this I will take care of the budgets, but the longer this lasts, the later I will take care of them' — that the government is deliberately prolonging the economic crisis decree to defer budget negotiations. 13. María Jesús Montero has dropped the 'first quarter' budget commitment from her public statements; the new formulation is 'this year,' signalling a further delay past March 31. 14. In Catalonia, Salvador Illa withdrew the regional budget two days before a losing vote to buy time for further negotiation with Junqueras; Esquerra Republicana had warned it would not pass in March but could pass in June. 15. The key sticking point was IRPF management, which was Junqueras's red line and Montero's red line before Andalusian elections; Herrero notes Montero cannot concede on IRPF without electoral risk in Andalusia. 16. In the three regional governments examined after Sunday's elections — unnamed but including Castilla y León and Aragon — Vox's Santiago Abascal declared they will enter all three coalition governments, but as of Wednesday none of the pacts were fully closed. 17. Jorge Azcón in Aragon asked for intensified negotiations without a fixed deadline; in Castilla y León, the Socialist candidate Carlos Martínez is still raising the possibility of electoral repetition. 18. A new CIS poll by Tezanos shows the PSOE at 31.8% — eight tenths down from February — with a PP gap of 8.5 points; 70.1% of respondents said the US-Israel Iran intervention produces 'a lot or a great deal' of rejection, and 85% said they will not switch to an electric car in the next five years. 19. A high-speed rail incident caused by a maintenance worker cutting fiber optic cables disrupted Madrid-Seville and other services for at least five hours with no announcement from Renfe or Adif for the first five hours. 20. Listeners engaged in Spanish politics, coalition dynamics, and the PDVSA-PSOE corruption investigation will find this a detailed daily roundup; those outside Spain or unfamiliar with the current Sánchez government's parliamentary arithmetic may need significant background.

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