The police union Jupol spoke out this Saturday against the possibility that the agents responsible for the security of the Presidency of the Government could participate in an eventual escape of Begoña Gómez, wife of President Pedro Sánchez. The union organization described this insinuation as an "authentic barbarity," made in response to the order in which Judge Juan Carlos Peinado opens a trial against her and agrees to withdraw her passport.
In a statement disseminated through social networks, Jupol maintained that the members of the Presidency's escort "exclusively perform the functions attributed to them by law: guaranteeing the protection and security of the authorities to whom they are assigned, acting at all times with absolute professionalism, neutrality, and in strict compliance with current legislation and judicial resolutions."
The union emphasized that questioning their work "lacks foundation and constitutes an unjustified discrediting of exemplary public servants," and demanded a rectification of statements that, in its opinion, "project an unjust suspicion on public servants whose careers are characterized by respect for the law and institutions."
In the order signed this Saturday, of 84 pages, magistrate Peinado states that Gómez's defense denied any risk of flight precisely because, being the wife of the head of the Executive, she is permanently accompanied by members of the State Security Forces and Corps. However, the judge considered that "there is no doubt" that "these agents, at a certain moment, either on their own initiative or following orders from their superiors, would be precisely the ones to collaborate" in facilitating this eventual escape.
The judicial resolution also imposes on Gómez and her advisor Cristina Álvarez the prohibition of leaving the national territory and the obligation to appear every fifteen days at the judicial headquarters to sign. Furthermore, the order sends businessman Juan Carlos Barrabés to trial for alleged crimes of influence peddling and business corruption.