Pedro Sanchez He has done it again, once again, to go to Extremadura. The president of the Government and general secretary of the PSOE has rented a luxurious private jetoperated by Gestairfor travel to Badajoz airport, located in the town of Talavera la Real, from where he traveled by car to Mérida to inaugurate the regional PSOE congress. Sánchez has opted for the most polluting and expensive mode of transport, around 20,000 euros for this trip, despite having boasted a year and a half ago of having inaugurated the failed and tortuous 'AVE' to Extremadura. Traveling by train or car would have cost around forty times less.
The socialist general secretary took off two minutes after 9:05 in the morning, the time the trip was scheduled to begin. He has taken off from Madrid-Cuatro Vientos airport. Forty minutes later, at 9:47, he landed in Talavera la Real. The journey by car from the airfield to Mérida is longer than the one made by plane, specifically 49 kilometers, to which we must add the thirteen that separate the Palace of La Moncloa from Cuatro Vientos, in the district of La Latina – which in this case has been done in the Super Puma helicopter.
The aircraft chosen for this occasion is a Cessna 560XL, a special plane for short flights, with a range of 5 hours, capable of reaching 795 kilometers per hour and capacity for eight passengers. The specific model used today by Sánchez has the beige leather covered seatswhich can be converted into a side sofa, and has small tables to eat face to face with the rest of the travelers.
Pedro Sánchez said he inaugurated a High Speed train between Madrid and Extremadura two years ago. Months before the electoral campaign for the regional elections of May 28 in which the PSOE of the then regional president, Guillermo Fernández Vara, lost territorial power. So the advertisement was of no use to him.
But despite having boasted of putting into service an infrastructure of these characteristics, in the region of Spain with the worst communications with the capital, Sánchez has preferred not to tempt fate by being stuck on the train and has chosen to go by private plane. Thus demonstrating his lack of interest in really knowing the functioning of the public services that depend on him.
A few weeks ago the Minister of Transport and Mobility, Oscar Puente, arrived quite late to the inauguration ceremony of the new Government delegate in Badajoz, due to the poor service of Renfe. Specifically, the person responsible for public transport suffered a delay of more than fifty minutes with respect to the initially planned arrival time in the Extremaduran city.
This Saturday, during the inauguration of the regional congress of the PSOE of Extremadura, Pedro Sánchez has taken pride in having inaugurated the supposed 'AVE' that not even he himself has dared to take. The president has assured that thanks to his Government it has been possible to “make the railway viable so that the railway reaches Extremadura and connects it to Europe.”
For this he says that “we have invested more than 400 million and not the 90 of Mariano Rajoy». Like every time he visits Extremadura, this Saturday Pedro Sánchez has also promised to continue improving the Extremadura train: “We are going to do it this term.” Another promise of the many that the majority of Extremadurans are tired of not coming true.
After the rally, for the return trip, Pedro Sánchez repeated the same operation. Although, due to the delay suffered by the opening ceremony of the PSOE in Extremadura, his plane has also returned later than expected to the capital of Spain. The private jet flew from Talavera la Real to Cuatro Vientos and from there, in a Super Puma, it traveled to the Palacio de La Moncloa.
Last year, during the municipal and regional elections, Sánchez spent almost 55% of the party's travel budget on half of the events he attended. According to the spending budget for 28M, approved by the Federal Committee, the party had a total of 488,403 euros in the “travel and transportation” section for these elections. The socialist leader's trips on a luxury plane, mid-campaign, amounted to around 273,000 euros. Ferraz assured that he was responsible for the cost of those flights although, when asked by OKDIARIO, he has refused to reveal the invoices.