Former PSOE negotiator Santos Cerdán's memoir threatens Sánchez: 'I know the backroom'
On the first anniversary of his imprisonment, ex-PSOE secretary Santos Cerdán publishes 'La Caída,' a self-published book that claims political persecution and issues a veiled threat to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez based on his insider knowledge.
Santos Cerdán, former Organization Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), releases his self-published memoir 'La Caída: poder, relato y destrucción en la era del juicio político' on June 30, 2026, exactly one year after he was jailed in the sprawling Koldo corruption case. The book mixes a vivid prison diary with a narrative of victimisation, painting Cerdán as the indispensable 'architect of impossible majorities' who was discarded once he became inconvenient.
The warning to Sánchez
In the book's opening pages, Cerdán addresses Pedro Sánchez directly:
He calls the remark "a warning," implying he possesses damaging information about the Prime Minister. Cerdán reasserts his claim to have been the real force behind the 2018 no-confidence motion that brought Sánchez to power and the subsequent deals with PNV, EH Bildu and Junts, including the investiture pact that required a photographed meeting with Carles Puigdemont in Brussels.I know the backroom, the decisions that are not explained.
In politics, when you bother enough, you stop being useful. You become a problem and problems are not managed, they are eliminated.
First night in prison
The memoir recounts the day of Cerdán's arrest, June 30, 2025, when he appeared before the Supreme Court expecting to influence events and instead was sent directly to Soto del Real prison. He spent 142 days there before being released on November 19, 2025. Cerdán describes the moment the cell door closed:
The first night, he writes,The metallic noise is not just a sound: it is a frontier.
He details the slow loss of temporal sense, the good reception from inmates in module 13, the €2.20 cost of phone calls to his wife, and the solitary cell he never shared.is not an experience. It's a slap.
- UCO report implicates Cerdán in bribery scheme, read in Congress
- Cerdán testifies before Supreme Court and is sent to Soto del Real
- Released from prison after 142 days
- Self-published book 'La Caída' goes on sale
Abandonment and legal battles
Cerdán says Sánchez did not ask for his resignation; it was his own decision after the UCO report was made public on June 12, 2025. Yet he writes of rapid isolation:
He is currently under investigation in the Koldo case, where a Guardia Civil report alleges he managed at least €620,000 in kickbacks from public-works contracts, and in the separate Leire Díez case concerning obstruction of judicial investigations. The book omits any mention of Leire Díez or of Koldo García, and barely references José Luis Ábalos, who was convicted to 24 years in the same affair. Instead, Cerdán defends his innocence, denounces "parallel trials" by the media, and calls on readers to reflect on the presumption of innocence.In a matter of hours I was left without legal cover, political support, resources. Abandoned and beaten.
