A third domino has fallen among the top echelons of Spain's Civil Guard following Sunday's dismissal of colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos. This Wednesday, it was lieutenant general Fernando Santafé who was removed from his position as head of the Civil Guard operational command. Santafé was considered the third-ranked officer in the corps.
His place, says the Spanish interior ministry, will be taken by major general Félix Blázquez. Until now, Blázquez was a national authority for coordination of actions to deal with irregular immigration in the area of the Straits of Gibraltar and adjacent waters.
This new decision comes after the sacking of Civil Guard colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, head of the Civil Guard command in Madrid, and the resignation of the corps's deputy director, Laurentino Ceña.
In a statement this Wednesday night, the interior ministry has explained that the change "is part of the new impetus" that is to be given "to the Civil Guard in the face of the security challenges of the 21st century." Santafé is to be proposed for a new position in the management of the Civil Guard University Centre.
This is a new episode in the changes that minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has suddenly embarked upon within the Spanish paramilitary body. The first was the dismissal of De los Cobos in connection with the case opened in a Madrid court against the Spanish government linking the March 8th International Women's Day demonstration to the spread of coronavirus in Spain.
The judge commissioned the Civil Guard to carry out the criminal investigation, and De los Cobos kept the matter secret from his superiors by order of the court. Both the "subjective" content of this document and its emergence in public affter a media leak were the reasons for the sudden dismissal.
The report concluded that the Spanish government did nothing to prevent the mass rally on Women's Day or others at the same time, and pointed to the responsibility of Dr Fernando Simón, director of the Health Emergencies Centre.