‘The Director’s Bulletin’ is a weekly letter from Ignacio Escolar exclusively for members of elDiario.es. If you would like to read and receive it each Saturday in your inbox, become a member.
On that afternoon in April, around seventy individuals filled the headquarters of the PSOE in Santander to discuss democratic memory. There was much to address: the previous day, the Public Prosecutor’s Office had compelled the City Council to rename eighteen streets bearing the names of Francoist figures. They had taken their time, as the right has governed Santander since the return of democracy, and indeed, long before.
With the venue crowded, a hooded young man entered the headquarters and threw two homemade explosives: bottles filled with acid and balls of aluminium foil. Referred to as “MacGyver bombs,” due to their rudimentary construction and the television series from the eighties, these devices are unstable and hazardous, particularly in enclosed spaces. When they react, they release hydrogen that explodes with a deflagration. The incident did not end in tragedy because a young woman, putting her life on the line, managed to take both devices outside, where they detonated moments later.
This failed attack on a party headquarters is not an occurrence specific to the 1930s or the 1970s during the Transition. It took place five months ago, on 25 April 2025. While it may mark a peak, it is certainly not an exception. Over the past two years, since the commencement of this legislature, in which the right has questioned the legitimacy of the Government from day one, the PSOE has recorded 244 attacks on its headquarters—an average of more than two each week.
We have witnessed a digger crashing into the PSOE headquarters in Almendralejo, and a group of extremists celebrating the new year by beating a dummy representing Pedro Sánchez. We have ceased to discuss these incidents; they have become part of the landscape, but ultra demonstrations persist daily in front of the Ferraz headquarters.
All political parties have suffered attacks, vandalism, and graffiti at their premises. However, these incidents are not comparable—either in number or severity—to the harassment directed at the left since it took the audacious step of governing.
Escalating Ultra Violence
This is ultra violence that did not begin in this legislature; it commenced during the previous one. Its peak was marked by the mobs that besieged the residence of then Vice President Pablo Iglesias for months. Since ETA has been consigned to history, no other politician—and their family—has suffered such prolonged and violent harassment in Spain.
It was also a violence that the opposition never condemned. At times, they even encouraged it.
Comparisons were drawn with the protest outside Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría’s house. They justified it thus: she deserves it; we all have the right to protest. This was a manipulation of the highest order, as that protest lasted less than two hours, not eleven months; it was never repeated; the police did intervene at the time; and Sáenz de Santamaría was not even home when it occurred. It is akin to comparing a spark with a forest fire.
The violence and ultra harassment began against the coalition government. With the amnesty law, it surged. I genuinely fear that one day we may have even graver tragedies to lament.
On Friday, the police arrested the two alleged perpetrators of the attack on the PSOE headquarters in Santander. They are two young men, barely twenty years old. One of them is the son of a PP mayor from Santa Cruz de Bezana (Cantabria), where she governs with the support of Vox.
There are two important nuances. Firstly, culpability is not inherited through familial lines. Secondly, the mayor stated precisely what she needed to say yesterday: “This is a despicable act that must be unequivocally condemned.” “He will have to answer for his actions and accept the consequences like any citizen.”
Yesterday, at elDiario.es, we had a discussion on this matter and ultimately decided not to headline the news with the detail of the mayor. It was a relevant piece of information that we included in the report, but we did not wish to place the main focus there. At elDiario.es, we neither harass children when their parents take them to school, nor do we believe that mothers should be held accountable for the actions of their adult children.
Questions of Responsibility
However, one question does arise. Paraphrasing Miguel Tellado in his penultimate (though there will always be another) controversial tweet.
What would happen if the roles were reversed? If the son of a Socialist, Podemos, or Sumar mayor had launched explosive devices at a packed headquarters of the PP or Vox?
What would have transpired if the protest against Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría had lasted eleven months? Or if the PP had endured 244 attacks against its headquarters in just two years?
A notable fact: Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s condemnation of the attack on the PSOE headquarters in Santander has yet to materialise. Only the regional leaders of the party have spoken out against it; their national leaders have remained silent.
In the case of Vox, the silence was complete. They did not even bother to feign concern.
Yesterday, Feijóo called for “not to relativise violence.” He was referring, of course, to the events in the USA surrounding the murder of Charlie Kirk. He prefers not to discuss political violence in Spain.
That double standard mirrors what is experienced in the USA. The same Donald Trump, who incited his followers to storm the Capitol—resulting in five deaths—is today lamenting the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Just three months ago, an ultra murdered the (Democratic) Speaker of the Minnesota House and her husband, gravely injuring another Democratic senator and his wife. Two fatalities, and two others who were nearly spared. There were no flags flown at half-mast, nor medals awarded to the victims. Trump also refrained from exploiting that dreadful incident in a new campaign of hatred, as he is currently doing.
The Roots of Hate
Yet the key question remains: what is the origin of this spiral of hatred? For, as Noam Chomsky states, violence never arises from nothing.
In the United States, which is experiencing one of the most violent political periods in its history, it seems obvious what the primary catalyst for this dark era is. It is named Donald. His last name is Trump. Acknowledging this truth does not justify any murder, which is always reprehensible, irrespective of who the victim may be.
And in Spain, from what well of hatred are these two twenty-year-olds drawing, when they decide to launch explosive devices into a venue filled with people?
Another obvious point: the polarization in Spain is not symmetrical. The left is not equally responsible as the right. It is clear that trenches do not dig themselves, and there are indeed those on the left who facilitate this. However, hatred and violence predominantly emanate from those who label the legitimate government of the nation as a dictatorship. No matter how much some may be outraged by the tweets of Óscar Puente, the level of “may your vote be Txapote” is impossible to overshadow.
The level of dehumanization is not symmetrical either. What does the PP celebrate every time it repeats that the president and his ministers “cannot go out into the streets”? What do they intend to incite?
The most chilling aspect is that we seem to be heading towards worse outcomes. There is no doubt about this. Feijóo has internalised—informing journalists along the way—that he has no votes left to gain from the centre: the key lies with that million people who, according to polls, hover between the PP and Vox. This is why Tellado speaks of “digging the grave” of the government. This is why Feijóo—the proponent of politics for adults—joins in with “I like fruit”; calling the Prime Minister a “son of a bitch.” These are the antics of a right wing that should no longer be labelled as “unencumbered”: it is not synonymous with “ill-mannered.”
However, the most astonishing declaration of the week, in my opinion, came from Cuca Gamarra: “If we cannot even say in Spain that we like fruit, then we have a major problem in the primary sector concerning the quantity of fruit we produce and sell.”
In light of such levels of cynicism, only one question remains. Are they taking us for fools? Or do they genuinely believe we are foolish?
