MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Spanish police investigate Plus Ultra bailout scheme, linking Zapatero with Maduro's circle

The exchange concluded with a characterization of the former Spanish prime minister as “pro-Sánchez” and “pro-Maduro,” and with the phrase “the end justifies the means”

The Spanish National Police's Economic and Tax Crime Unit (UDEF) considers that former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero may have exercised “non-visible leadership” in an alleged influence network that facilitated the EUR 53 million bailout of airline Plus Ultra during the covid-19 pandemic. The report, comprising more than 300 pages and submitted to National Court judge José Luis Calama, was disclosed on Saturday by the outlet Infobae España and forms part of the judicial file investigating the maneuvers to obtain the public aid from the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI) in 2021.

The police document cites conversations extracted from the phone of Rodolfo Reyes, majority shareholder of Plus Ultra, in collaboration with US authorities. In an exchange dated 30 March 2020, Reyes and airline president Julio Martínez Sola debated how to “move the political strings” to secure financing. Reyes suggested that “Delcy” —in reference to Delcy Rodríguez, then Vice President of Venezuela and now acting president of the country— “call Ábalos,” referring to then-Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos. Martínez Sola then proposed an alternative route: “Or someone with Zapatero.” The exchange concluded with a characterization of the former Spanish prime minister as “pro-Sánchez” and “pro-Maduro,” and with the phrase “the end justifies the means.”

According to the UDEF report, “at the apex of the influence network would be Zapatero, who would exercise non-visible leadership in the formal structure,” strategically supervising the process of granting the public aid. The agents argue that the network would have operated through the signing of contracts and the issuing of invoices intended to justify financial movements, channeled through the corporate structure controlled by Julio Martínez Martínez, identified as the former president's trusted collaborator. The investigation maintains that the funds were directed to Zapatero “and his closest family circle,” according to the document's conclusions. The Police accessed during a search authorized by the National Court a safe located in the former president's office.

Plus Ultra is a Spanish-Venezuelan airline founded in 2011 with a fleet primarily oriented to the Madrid-Caracas corridor. The public bailout it received in March 2021 generated intense political controversy in Spain because of the company's financial situation and the composition of its shareholders, linked to figures close to Chavismo. Zapatero, prime minister of Spain between 2004 and 2011, has over the past decade maintained a recurring role as an informal interlocutor with the administrations of Nicolás Maduro and, more recently, of Delcy Rodríguez, following the former leader's capture by US forces on 3 January 2026.