The unusual image of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard entering, under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, the headquarters of the corps to request documentation of classified information has created great commotion and enormous internal discomfort.
According to police sources present in the building on Madrid’s Guzmán el Bueno street, what could have been done through written requests was carried out in an invasive, “over-the-top” manner, even entering the office of the Deputy Operational Director (DAO), Lieutenant General Manuel Llamas, to access his email under the pretext of taking internal investigations that the UCO has in its sights.
Classified information, the protocol prior to the opening of a disciplinary file, is the main element that allegedly links the Civil Guard with the plot led by the former PSOE organization secretary Santos Cerdán and the “plumber” Leire Díez to torpedo investigations into the president’s inner circle. The UCO maintains, in a report delivered to magistrate Santiago Pedraz, that the former socialist militant instilled suspicions in the Director General of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, about alleged leaks from within the unit to the media so that she would open internal investigations with the real aim of intimidating uniformed officers who were investigating cases uncomfortable for the Government.
Marlaska maintains his support for the director general after she admitted two meetings with Leire Díez
A thesis rejected by the general directorate, according to close sources: González did not acquire any commitment with Díez, nor has she “ever participated in any operation against any unit.” Through a statement issued after the new revelations of the summary, González reported two meetings with Díez, limiting them to appointments outside her office, in which she was not asked to act against civil guards.
The same sources explain that the first classified information regarding alleged leaks was opened in November 2024 after a media outlet, within the framework of the investigation into Pedro Sánchez’s brother, published screenshots with personal data of the President of the Government, his wife, and one of his minor daughters. After taking statements from a captain and a corporal, it was closed without any consequences.
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The second classified information, in the summer of last year, began after a humiliating cover appeared in another media outlet that branded the DAO a “Marlaska’s pawn” and claimed he was “a political commissar” of the Minister of Interior who demanded to know the reports about Sánchez’s inner circle. After taking testimony from three UCO commanders, who denied speaking with journalists, it was closed.
Mercedes González, in a statement, defends that she has never participated in a plot against the UCO
However, although with less progress, the UCO considers a third one suspicious, as stated in its report: opened in early May 2025 after WhatsApp messages between Sánchez and former Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos appeared in the press. The appointed instructor questioned the magistrates of the Audiencia Nacional and the Supreme Court who were investigating the former organization secretary, with the latter requesting it be stopped. This one was also closed without opening files.
At the top of the Civil Guard, they hope the controversy will subside, although they fear the drip of information will not cease. For now, yesterday the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, once again backed González, who has not considered resigning at any point.
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