The Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police has informed the judge Santiago Pedraz of the existence of two secret operations, called Operation Venus and Operation Bolívarwhich would have been carried out under the mandate of the Popular Party (PP) for the purpose of obtaining compromising information about Podemos.
According to the report sent by Internal Affairs, these operations were ordered without judicial authorization by the Deputy Operational Directorate, at that time directed by the commissioner Eugenio Pino, who was he number three of the Ministry of the Interior under the Government of Mariano Rajoy.
The information you have advanced The Country, includes a WhatsApp conversation between Francisco MartínezSecretary of State for Security, and Enrique García CastañoChief Police Commissioner in 2016. In this conversation, Martínez pressured García Castaño to obtain information linking Podemos figures with extremist or violent activities, in order to tarnish the image of its leaders.
These actions would have taken place in a context of great growth for the party, which had reached 69 seats in the general elections of December 2015, consolidating itself as a major political force in Congress.
The leaked conversation shows the tone and urgency with which senior officials in the Ministry of the Interior attempted to discredit Podemos. Martínez repeatedly asks if any of the 69 deputies in the party had criminal records that could be used against them.
At one point, he shows his frustration by commenting: “Cagüenlaputa (…) Someone has to be bad”. García Castaño responded by explaining that analyzing each one left a “trace”, suggesting that the methods used to access this information may not have been entirely legal.
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