Salvador Illa kept his word and brought back Josep Lluís Trapero to appoint him Director General of the Generalitat Police. Trapero’s return to the highest responsibilities is, in a way, a restitution, which comes to correct a hasty departure under the orders of the ERC that disconcerted a good part of the commanders of the Mossos d’Esquadra.
The major – it is a police rank that is never lost – returns, but he does so with an important nuance. Trapero had always led a career far from politics and even, as chief commissioner, he had always preferred to always be close to the daily activity of an agent. Now it is different; the position of director general is a political position and it will be the first time that a person in uniform will occupy it.
Salvador Illa focused a large part of his electoral campaign on security and it was during the debate on TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio that he announced who his names would be to implement his proposals if he were to be invested: Núria Parlon, former mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, would be his Minister of the Interior and Trapero, who would leave the police work to become the senior official in charge of the police.
Trapero’s appointment comes at one of the most complicated times for the force and in the midst of upheaval following the Catalan police’s decision unable to stop Carles Puigdemont on his brief return to Catalonia and that the former president escaped the radar of the Mossos and could return to Waterloo without being arrested.
Trapero’s arrival was accompanied by significant changes in the police leadership. The new chief commissioner of the Mossos will be Miquel Esquius, Trapero’s trusted man, who already led the force in 2019 but was dismissed by the Junts government of the time, which appointed Eduard Sallent. This remained with the change of government of ERC and was never in harmony with Trapero.
Still in the Mossos
The career of the new director general has always been linked to the body. Trained at the Catalan Police School, the school of the Mossos par excellence, Trapero later obtained a degree in law and then undertook additional training specializing in various areas, such as money laundering and organized crime. Well trained and after signing a certificate of service in various tasks, the police officer from Santa Coloma began to dedicate himself to investigation, where he quickly rose to become head of the Criminal Investigation Division, in 2008.
Just a few years later, he would become a commissioner at the head of the General Criminal Investigation Commission. It was there that Manel Prat, then Director General of the Police, noticed him and ended up appointing him in 2013 as Chief Commissioner, that is, the man at the operational top of the police.
It would be necessary to wait until 2017 for him, in addition to being the most commanding policeman, to also obtain the highest distinctions with the title of major. In his first week with this distinction, exactly 7 years ago, Trapero had to face the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, which left 16 dead. The actions of the Mossos received congratulations inside and outside Catalonia, both for the anti-terrorist operation and for the direct and transparent way of communicating. However, the way of acting was also criticized for not prioritizing the capture of the attackers and choosing to shoot them all.
But neither the criticism nor the praise had much time to resonate. Shortly after, the 1-O referendum arrived and that vote earned him a charge of sedition. He was sentenced to eleven years in prison, but he was acquitted in October 2020.
From “seditious and seductive” to “an event”
Trapero rose from the bottom to the top of the Mossos d’Esquadra leadership without seeking or owing political favors. Raised in a working-class neighborhood of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, those who know him well emphasize his stubbornness and his habit of speaking clearly. Trapero was chosen only because it was considered that he could do better than other commissioners aspiring to the same promotion, without asking, in 2013, whether or not he had links to the independence project. But he ended up becoming a true icon of the independence movement.
His popular rise is due to his mandate at the head of the Mossos during the process and the referendum. That day, the slogan “The Mossos are our police” began to be chanted, because the Catalan forces did not resort to physical violence to prevent the vote, as did the National Police and the Civil Guard.
This gesture earned Trapero the favor of the independence movement and, in addition, an accusation of sedition, which, according to popular opinion, put him on a par with other leaders of the process such as former president Puigdemont or Oriol Junqueras. In fact, the major of the time became a source of memes with images of him accompanied by the caption “Sediciós i seductor”.
But the enchantment ended shortly after, during the trial, when Trapero disappointed his supporters by basing his defense on the idea that he had never “shared the plan drawn up by the government to achieve the independence of Catalonia and its proclamation as an independent state.” And the straw that broke the camel’s back was his revelation that the force had a plan to arrest Puigdemont and the rest of the government when the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (DUI) was approved and that it was prepared to carry it out if ordered to do so. .a judge
Trapero was acquitted of the crime of sedition in 2020 and, a year later, he returned to the Mossos force, from which he had been dismissed after his indictment. But the relationship was no longer the same. The one who saved him was the government of Quim Torra, with Miquel Sàmper at the head of the Ministry of the Interior – today in charge of the portfolio of Business and Labor in the Illa government -.
“He came back full of resentment towards everything and locked himself in a very narrow and small core,” Generalitat sources explained to elDiario.es at the time. And relations became even more tense when Joan Ignasi Elena (ERC) assumed the Interior portfolio after Junts left the Generalitat government in 2022.
However, the return was brief, as a year later he was again dismissed as chief commissioner in favour of Josep Maria Estella. The argument was that the force needed a “renovation” and Trapero was sent to the Service Evaluation Division, where he analysed the operation of the police devices.
Trapero’s dismissal – and that of some thirty other police commanders – has been met with rejection by a large part of the opposition, who have stressed that it is a response to a “purge” and “political interests”. For this reason, the PSC, PP, Ciudadanos and Vox have requested the creation of a commission of inquiry in Parliament to clarify the reasons for the changes in the leadership of the Mossos.
Trapero was removed from the leadership of the body by those who raised him and it was at that moment that Illa saw his window of opportunity to save the man who went from being the eulogist of the independence movement to a repudiated figure. In fact, the socialist’s announcement during the campaign raised tensions between ERC and Junts. Puigdemont defined this signing as “a fact” and asked the now president to keep “the professionals of the partisan fight.”
From icon of the independence movement to signature of the CPS
The new president, after seven years marked by this process, wants to make structural changes in the Mossos. And for this, he has chosen Trapero, whose signing began a long time ago. The major has good relations with the former minister Sàmper, who saved him when he was in charge of the Interior. And he also knows well the new Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, the same one who held the Interior portfolio the first time Trapero was appointed head of the organization.
No less important is the old relationship with Albert Batlle, currently responsible for security at Barcelona City Hall and who was director of the Mossos (the same position that Trapero will now occupy) during part of the time when the major was chief commissioner. Together, for example, they faced the attacks on La Rambla. And now, they will sit in practically identical offices, one in charge of the urban police of Barcelona and the other in charge of the Mossos.
All those names that Trapero has met during his career and who today hold management positions at the CFP have been essential for his signing. But perhaps one of the most important has been that of Núria Parlón, who will be his advisor. The good relationship between them is known. Both are from Santa Coloma de Gramenet – that’s how they met. From now on, they will work together. His promise: “A new way of approaching citizen security.”
