page_title: Gürtel case
section_title: Media coverage
hierarchical_section_title: Gürtel case / Media coverage
caption_attribution_description: Català: "El bigotes" a la falla Mestre Gozalbo
context_page_description: The Gürtel case is an ongoing political corruption scandal in Spain, which implicates officers of the People's Party, Spain's major conservative party, some of whom have been forced to resign or have been suspended. Gürtel is one of the largest corruption scandals in recent Spanish history, and there are related scandals, such as the Bárcenas case, which have received media attention in their own right. The case came to public attention in early 2011, but for the most part the suspects were not put on trial until October 2016.
  The investigative operation was given the name Gürtel in a cryptic reference to one of the principal suspects, Francisco Correa Sánchez. Correa is a businessman who cultivated links with PP officers. The Spanish police began to investigate his activities in 2010 after a whistle-blower, Ana Garrido Ramos, provided information regarding alleged corruption in the Madrid region.
  The accusations include bribery, money laundering and tax evasion. They implicate a circle of businessmen led by Correa and politicians from the People's Party, although some of the evidence refers to participants by initials and nicknames such as "Luis el Cabron".
context_section_description: Prior to 2013, reactions to Gürtel often divided on party political lines, with the more conservative media downplaying the significance of the allegations. Spain's highest-circulation daily newspaper, centre-left El País, which traditionally supports the PSOE, won a major press award (an Ortega y Gasset Award) in 2010 for investigative journalism relating to Gürtel.  Público, a newspaper with a more left-wing stance than El País, also gave much coverage to the case.
  In 2013 the picture became more complicated, as the Barcenas case started dividing the electorate of the People's Party. While the  conservative ABC kept toeing the party line, the centre-right El Mundo carried some of the major revelations about the case.
caption: Caricature of  Álvaro Pérez, known as El Bigotes (the mustache). He was one of the people convicted in relation to activities in Valencia.
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