This happened on August 26, 2017. Shocking news arrived in the editorial offices of the media in the province of Cádiz. The famous environmental leader Juan Clavero, leader in the defense of the protected areas of Cádiz and scourge of politicians and businessmen, was arrested for transporting cocaine in his car.
Few people believed this news and, immediately, the Civil Guard who had arrested Clavero suspected that it was a crude trap. Seven years later, those accused of developing this plan are sitting in the Jerez Provincial Court. The environmentalist demands justice. “I ask for exemplary measures so that the gangsters can no longer act.”
That summer, Clavero led an intense complaint campaign in the Grazalema Natural Park, warning of the illegal closure of some public roads. He accused a company with first and last names. And that August day, a Civil Guard patrol stopped the environmentalist’s car. At the barracks, they had received a strange call warning them that there was cocaine in this car. The officers searched the van and, sure enough, the drugs were there.
Civil Guard investigations
The arrest had a huge impact. Those who knew him knew that Clavero could have nothing to do with this merchandise. The Ubrique court, which had opened proceedings against him, soon closed it. The Civil Guard very quickly found indications that this action was a poor imitation of a series or film with a low-level storyline. The operation, although it achieved its objective of arresting Clavero, turned against those who had plotted it thanks to an agile investigation by the Civil Guard.
Immediately, suspicion fell on those responsible for the company that had closed the roads denounced by Clavero: Sociedad Breña del Agua Investments SL, which, then and today, is the largest private owner of properties in the natural park. The investigations of SEPRONA investigators and other colleagues from the Civil Guard focused the accusations against four people: Miguel Herrera, representative of this company; Juan Luis Pérez and Óscar González, foremen, and Manuel Alcaide, the person they personally hired to place the drugs in Clavero’s van.
“I want justice to be done”
The four sat on the bench this Tuesday. After two previous suspended attempts, the trial began with the opposing version of the accused, who relativize or deny their responsibility, and that of Clavero, who vehemently names the four. “I want justice to be done, that the facts that appear in the sentence, in the face of such convincing evidence, serve to set sanctions that are dissuasive,” the environmental leader declared in court. “So that no corrupt or mafia boss ever thinks about something like this again.”
The prosecution is demanding sentences of one and a half years in prison, a fine of 12,000 euros and joint compensation of 20,000 euros against the four. The accusation brought by Ecologistas en Acción and Juan Clavero plans to increase this sentence to two years in prison for false declaration and four years for conspiracy to commit illegal detention, plus another for belonging to a criminal group. That is a total of seven years, in addition to increasing the economic sanctions to a fine of 21,600 euros and 70,000 euros in compensation for moral damage.
The trial is expected to end this Wednesday at the headquarters of the Provincial Court of Cádiz in Jerez with the testimony of the Civil Guards who carried out the investigation. Clavero also emphasized in this lawsuit that the fight for public trails in the natural park continues. This is their way of telling the defendants that they didn’t win.
