• Sentence: The Supreme condemns the leaders of the 1-O to sentences of 9 to 13 years in jail
  • Conflict: Marlaska confronts the Civil Guard after the arrest of 9 members of the CDR
  • Controversy: The dome of the Mossos abandons an act by the speech of a General of the Civil Guard

The management of the security crisis in Catalonia has aroused enormous internal criticism within the Ministry of Interior . Security professionals have questioned that the planning was correct. Police unions have raised their voices with power against Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska .

Because, they understand, first that the deployment "was minimal" and nothing according to the information that was being put on the table from the State intelligence facilities. And, second, because, although there were ways to have acted with something more forcefulness, it was decided not to use what they consider scarce means of reserve displaced there.

Criticisms focus on the lack of political decision to activate the Civil Guard , which had sent almost a thousand agents specialized in citizen security. Or the lack of use of the water vehicle, baptized as El Botijo , which was acquired during the last legislature to deal with large violent mobilizations and has not yet been used.

Undoubtedly, the most bitter criticism at the internal level is based on the lack of activation of the Civil Guard, which has been limited, as originally planned, to the surveillance of strategic infrastructure of the State in Catalonia and to the defense of the facilities of the Civil and military guard of the autonomous community.

Some sources remember that, during the last weeks, the Ministry of Interior has had strong discrepancies with the Civil Guard, directed by Félix Azón (magistrate and former member of the General Council of the Judiciary), and all as a result of the management of the Catalan conflict and the riots after the 1-O ruling.

The first, as EL MUNDO revealed, came after the Armed Institute's action against a CDR cell that intended to carry out explosive actions. This action caught with the changed foot to the president of the acting Government, Pedro Sánchez , who when he landed in the United States to start a trip of several days did not know the details of the operation. The president asked his Interior Minister, who also did not have the details, which motivated a scolding of the Civil Guard after also asking the Secretary of State.

Speech of General Garrido

The second confrontation came after the speech of the general chief of Catalonia, Pedro Garrido , who attacked the behavior of the Mossos in the 1-O and defended the application of the law and the Constitution in Catalonia. The minister considered the intervention of the general to be unimportant to coincide with the eve of knowing the sentence of the process.

But, as Interior sources point out, what could be specific problems seems to have been chronified. The relations between the Ministry and the Civil Guard, in addition to these shocks, do not go through their best moment and the communication is very limited and passes through the Secretary of State . They clarify these sources that it is not a problem of trust towards the operability of their controls, but the truth is that the relationship "is very cold". "The Ministry's phones ring little at the headquarters of the General Directorate," these sources point out. And some frame this fact in the absence of Civil Guard activity during the tough week of street violence in Catalonia. "It seems that there have been no photos of civil guards," these sources point out.

The contact between the Ministry and the General Directorate is limited to the need. Not so with the police. Although the landing of the director, Francisco Pardo , surprised his own and strangers for being considered a man of the political closeness of José Bono (rival of Pedro Sánchez in the PSOE), his police leadership has been and is closer to the Ministry. It is true that the National Police also had a more predominant role in citizen security in Catalonia and that they had contact with the Mossos to develop the police deployment.

In fact, this tuning has caused the minister to have made appointments of senior police officers, with the endorsement of the dome, despite being still in office, a fact that has surprised in the police world.

But the union voices (which give voice to the agents) have launched harsh criticisms of Interior and have demanded explanations from the minister for the device in an urgent meeting. The level of demand was such that they have requested their resignation if they do not call them to a work table urgently.

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  • Civil Guard
  • Catalonia
  • National Police
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Mossos d'Esquadra
  • PSOE
  • CDR
  • General Council of the Judiciary
  • U.S

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