“I leave faithful to the commitments made: faithful to respect for the law, to the defense of our Constitution, to the unity and territorial integrity of the Homeland,” declared Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos yesterday in what was his last speech as head of the Madrid Civil Guard command.
Pérez de los Cobos will be 61 next December, the age at which Civil Guard officers must transition to reserve status.
He could extend his active duty status to 65 if he had been promoted to general, but Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska systematically ignores the results of internal classification processes for the promotion, in which Pérez de los Cobos obtained number 1.
The last speech of Diego Pérez de los Cobos at the head of the Civil Guard of Madrid
Marlaska, moreover, delays compliance with Supreme Court resolutions that last June they ordered him, as well as the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, to cancel the last selective procedure to resolve the irregularities noted and motivate the evaluation of “priority and suitability » of the Benemérita commanders who deserve promotion and, “above all”, of Colonel Pérez de los Cobos.
Pérez de los Cobos won all appeals in court (seven so far) which has been filed. As a result, one of them had to be replaced at the head of the Madrid command, from which he publicly took leave, taking advantage of the speech he gave yesterday on the occasion of the commemoration of the patronal feast of the Civil Guard.
“Exactly six and a half years ago, on April 12, 2018, I took office as head of the Madrid command. In my speech today, I said: “I have no other goal than to serve Spain and our citizens under the strictest measures.” respect for the law” and I publicly made the following commitment: “to cultivate and demand the values that have made the mark of this worthy institution: honor, discipline, spirit of sacrifice and loyalty“” said the colonel.
“At that moment, as throughout my career, I always kept in mind the formula of the oath I took before the flag 42 years ago at the General Military Academy: ‘Obey and respect the King, defend the sovereignty and independence of the homeland, its unity, its territorial integrity and the constitutional order,'” he added.
Pérez de los Cobos recognized that his stay at the head of the Command “It was much more eventful than I could initially imagine”, in reference to the legal proceedings for his dismissal, which ended with a judgment in his favor.
“I believe I can say without false modesty that I leave with the conviction of
having been faithful to the commitments acquired: faithful to respect the law, to the defense of our constitution, the unity and territorial integrity of the Fatherland, loyal to my subordinates and disciplined in what I true discipline – so far from submission and servility– can and must encompass,” he said.
“In short, I leave with my head held high, a clear conscience and with the highest award that a soldier can cherish, the look of the men and women he had under his command,” he concluded.
The participants applauded the words of Pérez de los Cobos for several minutes.
