War between the Spanish Government and the Civil Guard

USPA NEWS - The Coronavirus crisis has caused a hard confrontation between the Justice and the Government of Spain, for the supposed responsibility of the Government in the extension of the pandemic. A report sent by the Civil Guard to the head of the 51st Investigating Court of Madrid, Carmen Rodríguez-Medel, who investigates an alleged crime of prevarication committed by the Government delegate in the Spanish capital, José Manuel Franco, by authorizing a demonstration on March 8 in favor of women, when all the alarms for the Coronavirus had already risen and there were at least 22 people infected in Spain, it has ended with the dismissal of the head of the Civil Guard in Madrid and a serious warning from the judge to the minister of Home Affairs.

On Monday, the Minister of Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, dismissed the chief general of the Civil Guard in Madrid, Diego Pérez de los Cobos, for "loss of confidence" in the military. Immediately, in the political environments of the capital, the rumor began to spread that the dismissal was due to the report that the Civil Guard delivered to judge Carmen Rodríguez-Medel. In this report, commissioned by the magistrate, the agents indicated that, on March 5, a meeting of the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, and the person in charge of the Emergency Coordination Center, Fernando Simón, was held with representatives of the Evangelical Church in Spain, who had requested authorization to hold the Unlimited 2020 Congress of the Evangelical Church in Madrid. They expected the attendance of 8,000 people.

The two heads of the Ministry of Health communicated to evangelical representatives the impossibility of holding the congress. A day later, Fernando Simón explained the reasons: "It cannot be celebrated in any way," he said, and "revealed that 22 cases of contagion were known in Spain at that time," according to the Civil Guard report to which the newspaper El Mundo has had access. The report adds that the person in charge of the Emergency Coordination Center explained to the evangelists "the serious health situation, offering concrete data on infections and stating that it was a pandemic on an international scale."

However, two days later, on March 8, the Spanish Government supported a large feminist demonstration in Madrid, which was attended by a million people. After that demonstration, the infections of Coronavirus multiplied. Considering the Government delegate in Madrid responsible for the spread of the virus, a lawsuit was filed against the politician, whose investigation fell to judge Rodríguez-Medel. The magistrate commissioned the Civil Guard to prepare a report, which was delivered to it in the past few days.

After learning of the existence of the report, the director of the Civil Guard asked to know its content and general Pérez de los Cobos, as head of this police force in Madrid, refused to provide information, arguing that the investigation is under the secrecy of the summary. Hours later, the general was dismissed.

This Tuesday, the judge warned the Minister of Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, that the Civil Guard, when acting as a judicial police, should only inform the judge, the Prosecutor's Office and the courts, but not the Government. This is established in article 126 of the Spanish Constitution. The warning is important because it means that the magistrate is unwilling to accept political interference in her investigation.

Also this Friday, the number 2 of the Civil Guard in Madrid presented his resignation, in protest against the dismissal of his superior. In his opinion, the dismissal of general Pérez de los Cobos is "a shame" and he resigns "for honor." Within the Civil Guard it is not ruled out that there are more resignations, or that a protest is started against the minister of Home Affairs, on whom they depend.