Carlos Carlos: “I am not at all concerned about the case of the removal of the crosses”

Carlos Carlos, president of the Provincial Council of Cáceres, has been resounding in his response. “I’m not worried at all; I am more than calm. The Provincial Council has acted correctly. The law has never been broken, nor has its compliance been linked to the granting of subsidies. Everything is done with transparency”, he defended this Friday after the Provincial Court has reopened the case for the removal of crosses from the fallen and has asked five mayors of the province to testify as witnesses, including Luis Salaya (first mayor of Cáceres ), so that they say if they have received pressure from the institution to eliminate the Francoist vestiges.

It must be remembered that the second section of the Provincial Court of Cáceres has considered an appeal from the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers in which it opposed the file of the complaint for prevarication against the president of the Diputación, Carlos Carlos Rodríguez, for the withdrawal of crosses of the fallen in the province. In an order dated May 6, the Court, in addition to reopening the case, asks the investigating court to take statements as witnesses from five mayors of the province to find out if they have received pressure, including that of Cáceres, Luis Salaya. The others are those of Gargüera de la Vera, Brozas, Talaveruela de la Vera and Barrado, all of them towns to which the Diputación would have requested the removal of Francoist crosses.

Carlos Carlos has indicated that he was aware of the decision of the Court and that, at the moment, he does not know the date on which the aforementioned mayors will have to declare. «I will not be the one to put the media focus on this matter. I have taken it calmly and calmly », he has added.

Christian Lawyers accuses the president of the Diputación of a crime of prevarication with the aggravating circumstance of discrimination and another hate crime, for conditioning certain aid to the removal of the crosses. The Court of Instruction number 3 of Cáceres opened proceedings and then filed the complaint in February of this year with the argument that “the documentation sent by the Diputación de Cáceres does not show the existence of any action on the part of the investigated [Carlos Carlos] tending to link the connection of subsidies to the withdrawal of the existing crosses in the respective municipalities».

expert committee

The judge also indicated that the committee of experts commissioned by the Provincial Council to prepare the catalog of Francoist vestiges of the province sent various letters to the municipalities in which “it respects the competence that the respective local corporation has to prepare the catalog of Francoist vestiges and comply with the provisions of the Historical Memory Law, emphasizing the merely advisory nature of the committee.

However, the Provincial Court now revokes that resolution and accepts the appeal of Christian Lawyers, to which the Public Prosecutor joined, considering it necessary to take a statement from five mayors to whom it is known that documents have been sent regarding the withdrawal of the crosses, including Luis Salaya.

The Court indicates in its order that the committee of experts “takes a clear position in favor of the suppression of the symbols included in said catalog, praising the respective city council when it acts according to its indications and making specific proposals.” It also clarifies that it is not a criminal matter to analyze whether these recommendations are in accordance with the law, but that the fact that the Provincial Council obliges the elimination of Francoist symbols “conditioning the economy of the municipalities, linking to the fulfillment of the ‘proposals’ of the commission the perception of certain financial aid».

The order concludes that, since “in good logic the clumsiness of leaving a written record of criminal conduct is not foreseeable, several political leaders of the province should be taken as witnesses »who would be alleged recipients of these pressures«. It will be later when, according to the Court, it will be possible to decide “if there are indications that justify the taking of statements as investigators of the persons who have revealed themselves responsible for such actions”, or on the contrary, definitively file the proceedings if those indications are found. discard.