Share
by Tiziana Di Giovannandrea
23 January 2021 Protocol ignored, forced resignation.
In Spain, the Chief of Staff of Defense resigned because he was overwhelmed by the scandal caused by the revelation that some politicians and other senior military ranks were vaccinated without being a category at risk or to which priority had been reserved.
The accusation is of having ignored the protocol to undergo the Coronavirus vaccine.
The order of priority places guests and nursing home employees at the top of the list of people to be given the vaccine.
For the Armed Forces, the Defense vaccination plan ordered it to be administered, first of all, to military medical personnel and then to the troops to be deployed on international missions.
The Spanish Air Force General Miguel Ángel Villarroya Vilalta, appointed in 2020 Chief of Defense Staff, decided, on the same day, to take a step back after it was discovered that he had been vaccinated, along with other operational military commands by skipping the row.
On Friday evening, the Minister of the Interior had already fired a lieutenant colonel who served as a liaison for the Civil Guard in the Defense General Staff.
General Villarroya in March had distinguished himself for having applied a whole series of war metaphors to the pandemic: "We are all soldiers", he said on one occasion, appealing to "discipline" and "spirit of sacrifice".
The Spanish General Staff with a press release announced Villarroya's resignation.
The resignation would be accepted by Defense Minister Margarita Robles Fernández.
Villarroya said he has decided to step down to protect the reputation of the Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that it had launched an internal investigation to check whether several senior officers have not complied with the vaccination protocols.
Sources in the General Staff confirm that, in addition to Villaroya, other generals in the chain of command of the Armed Forces have already received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.