The zombie resurrection of Pablo Iglesias, the resentful man who seeks revenge

We are talking about a deep personal resentment converted into a political strategy. The failed hotelier with revolutionary rhetoric, the academic converted into a militant communicator, is once again looking for a stage and spotlight.

And, to achieve this, he does not hesitate to encourage nothing less than an insurrection (we still do not know how symbolic) against the pillars of the rule of law.

When a resentful and isolated political actor like Iglesias calls out loud to “bust” the institutions, in a scenario as exhausted and polarized as the Spanish one, is that he has naturalized revenge. The objective is the delegitimization of those who investigate, report or maintain public order.

It no longer aims to persuade citizens, but to break their trust in the social mediators who sustain democracy.

His carefully chosen words are not likely to be punishable, but they are deeply dangerous. He does not need anyone to act, it is enough for many to doubt the rules of the game.

And that doubt is where authoritarianism thrives.

The Supreme Court rejected a complaint against Santiago Abascal for saying that “the people will want to hang Sánchez of the feet”, understanding that, although repugnant, it was political hyperbole with no real risk of violence.

This jurisprudence protects pluralism and the harshness of the debate, but it does not exonerate the ethical duty of responsibility.

Iglesias takes refuge in this diffuse border to go one step further: transforming the impunity of insults into legitimization of harassment.

Because it’s not about what he says, but what he induces.

When someone with Iglesias’ track record and loudspeaker asks to “bust” the judges, the media and the Civil Guard, he is pointing out objectives. And it does so in a context of extreme polarization, where words act like matches.

Criminal law requires direct incitement, specific risk or link between speech and action to punish. Iglesias knows that line well and exploits it: leave the spark lit so others burn. The old shaker technique.

It is worth remembering what Pablo Iglesias left behind after his time in power.

1. His vice presidency was destructive. While Spain was experiencing the longest confinement in Europe, the social vice president fled from the residences and his co-government dedicated itself to dividing instead of uniting.

2. Equality became a propaganda weapon for her political partner, a minister incapable of protecting real women from real violence, rewarding herds by law.

3. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, in the hands of the drinking buddy, managed to turn food policy into an ideological joke.

4. And the entire Podemos apparatus It bled between legal cases, internal complaints and a systematic disregard for merit and management.

Iglesias’ legacy was a more polarized, more cynical and more fatigued country. Its function was not to govern, but to corrode.

Now, with the electoral flank of the left exhausted, with a weakened government and eager for any parliamentary support, Iglesias intends to reappear as the insurgent spirit that he pretended to be before coming to power.

But the disguise no longer deceives anyone. There is no idealism or criticism, only calculation. Pure revenge.

In this reappearance, Iglesias has been shamelessly displaying a program of confrontation with the heart of the system. Not from the analysis of a political scientist, but with the harangue of a defeated person.

Brash, loud, genuinely aggressive. A middle-aged businessman with a fair fortune who, from his media platforms, always obscurely financed, calls for an uprising against the shields of democracy. His message is nothing but a call for political sabotageitic.

Added to this is the calculated internationalization of your return. Always publicly attached to authoritarian regimes for which he shows his shameless sympathy (China, Russia, Venezuela, Iran), Iglesias has reestablished himself in the orbit of world power that despises individual freedom.

His scandalous and uncontested position on the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machadofull of sarcasm and contempt towards a woman who symbolizes democratic resistance, crudely portrays her moral anemia.

Where we democrats celebrate recognizing the peaceful struggle for freedom, Iglesias vomits up imaginary coups d’état and dead dictators.

Where a pro-European rejoices, he rides fierce mockery.

It is essential to denounce (and actively combat) the zombie resurrection of Pablo Iglesias. Not out of ideological animosity, but out of the most pragmatic responsibility.

Those of us who already tried his boot when he was in power (that is, all of us Spaniards who suffered from his destructive vice presidency, his sectarian management and the institutional degradation that accompanied it) should not allow him to once again cover his cynicism with speeches of redemption.

Iglesias does not come to regenerate anything: he comes to take revenge on the reality that expelled him.

When contempt for the institutions that guarantee freedom is normalized, the rule of law breaks down. If this happens in a member country of the European Union, we have a very serious problem.

That is why it is urgent to recover the civic value of reasonable distrust. Not towards judges or journalists, but towards those who use politics as personal catharsis. They tend to do it when they feel that society is too tired to resist, and therein lies the trap.

When discouragement replaces vigilance, populism reenters through the service door.

Like the one in his Galapagar chalet.

The answer is not silence or boredom. It is civic lucidity, media rigor and the determination to proactively unmask and reject him, returning him to the democratic ostracism from which he should never emerge.

Because Spain does not need postmodern leaders who threaten to “blow everything up.” It needs citizens to take the reins, remember what we already experienced and decide not to repeat it.

Never.