Jaime Mayor Oreja, a former Spanish interior minister, described a government dossier listing 281 journalists by political ideology as "typical of a totalitarian system" and a sign of extreme weakness, in an interview on the radio programme El Cascabel, broadcast on the Spanish channel TRECE.
Mayor Oreja, who spoke alongside presenter José Luis Pérez, opened the interview by praising journalist Isabel Durán and the newspaper El Debate, whose investigation into the dossier led to precautionary measures being taken against the initiative.
He said it was inadmissible for official government offices to compile ideological files on journalism professionals, referring to documents drawn up inside Spain's interior ministry.
The existence of a list where you try to explain the ideology or political position of journalists is typical of a totalitarian system and of extreme weakness.
Journalist lists at the Interior Ministry
Mayor Oreja, who led Spain's interior ministry from 1996 to 2001 under prime minister José María Aznar, said he maintained ongoing contact with professionals from every outlet during his time in office, ranging from the newspaper El País to conservative publications and titles from the Basque nationalist, or abertzale, sphere. He said a dossier of this kind would never have reached his desk, because it reflected an "atmosphere of persecution" and an attempt to police other people's thinking.
He argued that such actions expose the fragility of a government that deals harshly with journalists while giving ground on more serious challenges. He said the authorities were absolutely relentless in pursuing those who do not think as they do, while yielding to those who call national sovereignty into question, pointing to the semi-open prison regime, or "tercer grado", granted to former ETA member Henri Parot, who was convicted of dozens of killings during the group's decades-long campaign of violence, and to bilateral agreements with Morocco.
They are absolutely relentless and persecuting toward those who don't think like them, while they yield to those who question national sovereignty.
Migration crisis and warnings in Ceuta
The interview also addressed the position of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has argued it was impossible to foresee events at Spain's southern border despite extreme-risk warnings passed on by the National Intelligence Centre, known as the CNI. Mayor Oreja rejected that account, saying the whole government was ruled by lies, and that deception had come to replace other determining factors in national politics.
He said what had happened in Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the north African coast bordering Morocco, reflected an ongoing pattern of territorial concessions. He described a "triangle of weakness" in Spain formed by Catalonia, the Basque Country and Ceuta, where concessions are always made to whoever challenges sovereignty, warning about Morocco's aims and about the political ambitions of ETA, the Basque separatist group that formally disbanded in 2018 after decades of violence, within Basque institutions.
There is a triangle of weakness in Spain formed by Catalonia, the Basque Country and Ceuta, where there's always concessions to whoever challenges sovereignty.
A parallel with the spirit of 1997
Mayor Oreja closed his analysis by drawing a comparison with the murder of local councillor Miguel Ángel Blanco in July 1997, a killing by ETA that exhausted the Spanish public's patience with terrorism and triggered mass demonstrations across the country. He said this unmistakable lie would not come free for Sánchez, because the patience of Spaniards had overflowed and the government would lose all credibility.
This unequivocal lie won't come free for Sánchez, because Spaniards' patience has overflowed and they are going to lose all credibility.
