Gema Peñalosa / Fernando Lázaro Madrid

Madrid

Updated Sunday, February 11, 2024-13:09

  • Interior Marlaska dismantled the anti-drug strike force in the Strait 16 months ago

  • Interior Eight arrested for the death of two agents in Barbate, including the pilot of the drug boat

The widow of

David Pérez Carracedo,

one of the civil guards who died after his boat hit a drug boat in the port of

Barbate last Friday, was the protagonist of a very difficult scene this morning at her husband's funeral at the Civil Guard Headquarters in

Pamplona

.

. The woman prevented Fernando Grande-Marlaska from placing the medal of decoration on the coffin when the Minister of the Interior approached, as reported by eyewitness sources.

The widow has even verbalized that she preferred to renounce the financial amount that this decoration entails, at which point - the same sources specify - the minister has retired and returned to his place. The deceased's colleagues have applauded the woman, who has insisted on her denial that Grande-Maslaska was the person who placed the medal in the coffin.

The Ministry of the Interior has avoided commenting on the scene that occurred in the church. "We are not going to enter," ministerial sources have settled. "The minister has come to show his condolences and respect for him. The medal has been awarded posthumously," they clarified.

The attitude that the agent's widow has staged is a reflection of the deep discomfort that exists in the Civil Guard with the management of the minister in

Campo de Gibraltar

. The discontent reached its climax on Friday, with the deaths of the two civil guards in an area

taken over

by drug clans in which agents have been demanding more logistical and human resources for years.

David Pérez, one of the two deceased agents.EM


The death of the two civil guards has aggravated the criticism of Grande-Marlaska for having dismantled in September 2022 the elite group of the Corps to fight against the families of traffickers in the Strait created in 2018 and which had achieved such good results since its inception. start up.

Interior decided to dispense with the Southern Drug Trafficking Coordination Body (OCON) - made up of 130 agents specialized in the fight against drug trafficking and activities linked to it such as money laundering, organized crime and corruption -, despite having pulverized the statistics in arrests and seizures of caches since its creation. It was a group on secondment available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The attitude of the agent's widow also fits into the statements of the Cádiz Anti-Drug Prosecutor,

Ana Villagómez,

in which she denounced that the available means deployed in the area were sufficient to confront the criminal universe.

The prosecutor warned in

Hora 25

of the situation: «The drug boats are rampant in all the docks. We've been saying it for a long time. What we do not expect is that tomorrow they will come to the funeral to give many condolences when later they do not provide the necessary means.

Both the Civil Guard and the National Police have been urging the Interior to urgently declare Campo de Gibraltar as a Special Singularity Zone (ZES) for years. The designation entails the application of work and economic incentive formulas similar to those received by agents assigned to the Basque Country or Navarra. Catalonia is also in this process. It is, in short, a plus due to the harshness of the destination. It has never been taken into account in the Cádiz area.

The lack of resources and the clans' harassment of the agents' families mean that the workforce is not consolidated. In fact, every year about 40% of the police force (300 officers) requests the transfer

David Pérez, 43 years old, was married and had two children. Born in Barcelona, ​​he developed his career in

Navarra

, where he had been stationed for more than a decade. He belonged to the

Rapid Action Group (GAR)

of Pamplona and was currently on secondment in the province of Cádiz.

To know more

Spain.

The two agents murdered in Barbate are a Catalan and a man from Cádiz and they leave three orphaned children

  • Editor: CRISTINA RUBIO Barcelona

  • Editorial: GEMA PEÑALOSA Madrid

  • Editorial: ANDRÉS MACHADO Algeciras

The two agents murdered in Barbate are a Catalan and a man from Cádiz and they leave three orphaned children

"Condolences and respect"

Andres Machado

The delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia,

Pedro Fernández

, accompanied by the subdelegate of the Government in Cádiz, Blanca Flores, attended another funeral mass this morning for the civil guard of the Special Groups of Underwater Activities (GEAS) Miguel Ángel Gómez González , held in the Cathedral of Cádiz.

With their presence they wanted to accompany and convey "our sincere condolences, respect and deep regret" to the relatives and colleagues of the civil guards who died on Friday "after being brutally run over" by a drug boat in Barbate.