It was in March 2020, with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, when the directors of Plus Ultra considered the need to “reach aid” and, at the same time, knock on the appropriate doors at a “political level” to achieve it. A conversation between the then owner and vice president of the airline, Rodolfo Reyes and Julio Martínez Sola, respectively, reflects the intervention – at least as advice at an embryonic moment – of the former ‘number two’ of the Venezuelan Government, Delcy Rodríguez. “Delcy, call Ábalos,” the first said to the second. “Or someone with Zapatero,” completed his vice president, who later described the former socialist president as a “pro-Sanchez” man.
This is stated in a report from the Central Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) of the National Police that includes reports to the Spanish authorities within the framework of police cooperation between both countries. This document, to which EL PAÍS has had access, provides details of the main lines that the judge of the National Court José Luis Calama already pointed out regarding the alleged existence of one that would camouflage the illegal commissions through a corporate network that the members of the alleged plot referred to as .
In the indictment known this week, the instructor explained that to obtain the rescue of 53 million euros that the airline finally received: one that he turned to the then Minister of Transportation, José Luis Ábalos; and another that involved Zapatero. However, one of the police reports delivered by the UDEF to the National Court reveals that the alleged plot also considered going to the current president in charge of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, to reach Ábalos.
“Do you have any idea how we got to the political threads, aid issues, financing, etc.,” the owner of Plus Ultra asked the vice president of the airline on March 30, 2020. Martínez Sola indicated that the company’s CEO, Roberto Roselli, had presented him with “two avenues.”
— “Delcy to call Ábalos” —Reyes wrote.
— “Or someone with Zapatero” — Martínez Sola added.
At that point, Reyes became interested in whether this was the right path. “Is that ‘sir’ useful for anything,” he asked. His subordinate responded: “He is pro Sánchez.” To this comment, the owner of Plus Ultra added that Zapatero was also “pro Maduro.” “The end justifies the means,” he concluded.
Other mentions of Delcy Rodríguez
This was not the only time the plot mentioned Delcy Rodríguez’s name. The UDEF records another conversation held almost a year later, on February 12, 2021. That day, Martínez Sola conveyed to Reyes some details of a meal in which the businessman Julio Martínez Martínez, a friend of Zapatero and sole administrator of the consultancy Analysis Relevante (which received payments from Plus Ultra and made transfers to the former socialist leader and his entourage), would have participated.
The then vice president of the airline stressed that Martínez Martínez had told him that he was in contact with the Venezuelan president. According to the agents, he would have obtained, “with the favor of Delcy Rodríguez,” authorization for six flights “without a diplomatic note.” “Let Plus request them directly from the INAC (National Institute of Civil Aeronautics of Venezuela) and say that they are authorized by the Vice Presidency,” reads the message sent at 8:52.
Already in the indictment of Zapatero, Judge Calama indicated that. The instructor came to this conclusion after analyzing the messages intercepted from Martínez Martínez. However, in the conversations with the president of the Venezuelan aeronautical institute, the name of Delcy Rodríguez was not mentioned. The reference that that resolution did include was one contained in the messages exchanged between Martínez Martínez and the Venezuelan businessman Domingo Arnaldo Amaro Chacón, one of the administrators of one of the key companies in the case: Intelligentsia Prospectiva SL. In this conversation they referred to
