Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s Interior Ministry vetoed Madrid’s Colonel-in-Chief, Diego Pérez de los Cobos, at the patronal feast of the Civil Guard celebrated Thursday in the capital. The colonel was supposed to be the protagonist of the solemn ceremony of handover of command to the new head of the Civil Guard zone, but the Interior suspended it by surprise the evening before, citing bad weather, which did not It was neither planned nor happened on Thursday morning. On the contrary, a sunny morning was forecast. Marlaska thus deprived the colonel of his farewell ceremony at the head of the Civil Guard of Madrid, a position to which he had been reinstated by the Supreme Court after having been arbitrarily dismissed from his position by the minister.
The official ceremony of the patronal feast of the Civil Guard of Madrid took place on Thursday at the Batalla del Salado barracks in the capital, in the presence of high representatives of the Community of Madrid, the judicial power and the Civil Guard. In this act, as tradition dictates, the moment of the handover of command of the Zone from Diego Pérez de los Cobos to the new general and a brief speech from the colonel, victim for four years of pressure from the Ministry of the Interior. After the retirement of the previous general, the most senior colonel and head of the Madrid command, Diego Pérez de los Cobos, took command until passing it on to the next general.
However, Pérez de los Cobos was informed on Wednesday evening, a few hours before Thursday’s event, that the event was canceled due to the weather forecast, precisely because of the rain. Given that rain was not forecast for Thursday morning, quite the contrary, and that it was obvious that the motivations of the Ministry of Great Marlaska if there were others, the colonel announced that he would be absent. The official version is that the event in which Pérez de los Cobos participated was suspended because it was going to rain, but it did not rain and the rest of the celebrations were not canceled. Only the part in which Pérez de los Cobos intervened.
The veto on Pérez de los Cobos Not only did this cause the colonel to refuse to attend the official ceremony as head of the Civil Guard zone, but it also deprived him of his farewell as head of the Madrid Civil Guard command , since he is retiring in two months and there is no goodbye. planned event. The attitude of the Interior, taking advantage of the patronal celebration to harm the colonel, triggered the indignation of other senior officers of the Benemérita invited to attend the event and who ultimately also refused to appear.
Marlaska’s defeat
The Ministry of the Interior, headed by Grande-Marlaska, has been waging an open war in the courts with Pérez de los Cobos for four years. It all started in 2020, when Marlaska ordered the colonel to provide him with information from the Civil Guard investigation into the 8-M pandemic protest, something the command should not do by law since it depended solely on the judge. to find the cause.
The response from an enraged Marlaska was categorically reject Colonel Pérez de los Cobos at the head of the command of the Civil Guard of Madrid.
Far from being satisfied with the dismissal, the colonel appealed to the court and the Supreme Court ended up agreeing with him and reinstating him in his functions. The High Court’s decision was a blow to Marlaska and his Interior Ministry, to the point of stopping the promotion of the colonel to the rank of general, which corresponded to his rank, which provoked another legal battle.
