The director of the Civil Guard attributes the opening of the third file against the UCO to the DAO, according to 'El Independiente'

The director general of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, appeared this Friday as an investigated party before the National Court judge Santiago Pedraz, for the so-called 'Leire case'. According to 'El Independiente' has published, during her statement she would have pointed to the operational deputy director (DAO), Manuel Llamas, as the person who asked her to open the third file related to the Central Operative Unit (UCO).

According to the information advanced by that media, González would also have recognized that another of the reserved investigations was initiated after receiving a message from former socialist militant Leire Díez, a circumstance that already appeared in one of the reports prepared by the UCO itself within the investigation. In that vein, the director general would have assured the magistrate that she has only opened "one reserved investigation in her life." During her appearance, she would also have insisted that the contacts maintained with Leire Díez were not "meetings," but "encounters," in reference to the appointments that investigators place in the period in which several reserved investigations were opened. Furthermore, she has rejected the existence of a third encounter that does appear in one of the reports prepared by the UCO.

Beyond the issues related to internal files, the director general of the Civil Guard also took advantage of her appearance to distance herself from any coordinated action with Leire Díez. According to legal sources cited by Europa Press, Mercedes González assured that she never conveyed instructions to the Central Operative Unit (UCO) about investigations affecting the Executive and defended that she was unaware of the alleged role that the former socialist militant played within the investigated plot.

In her statement, González maintained that had she known that Díez was acting on the indication of the then PSOE Organization Secretary, Santos Cerdán, she would not have agreed to meet with her. She even went so far as to define herself as a "victim of Santos Cerdán" to whom she attributed an attitude of open hostility towards her person.