Guillem Sánchez
May 28, 2021
General Tovar Jover asks the Catalans not to feel that the Civil Guard is alien, in the act of taking office. / EUROPA PRESS / DAVID ZORRAKINO / VIDEO: GUILLEM SÀNCHEZ
General Tovar and Minister Grande-Marslaka underline the Catalan nature of the armed institute in the Gràcia dependencies.
In a conciliatory tone, General José Luis Tovar Jover, in his inauguration speech as the new head of the Civil Guard in Catalonia, begged the Catalans not to perceive the armed institute as an “alien” body because “it is not”. It is also “their” Civil Guard, he has stressed. “They will all have my understanding and respect for any legitimate ideology as long as it is practiced within the law”. he has guaranteed. “I hope that it is also understood that our vocation is to ensure compliance with this law”, he stressed.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has drawn the same story line, who has vindicated the Catalan nature of the state body, recalling that it has been deployed in this territory from the beginning, in 1844. “It is as Catalan as the rest”. For Marlaska, Tovar’s inauguration is an exercise in “institutional normality”, a statement that has collided with the umpteenth sit-in of the Government of the Generalitat, which has not sent any representative.
The professional head of the Mossos d’Esquadra, Josep Lluis Trapero, and the top political person in charge of security at the Barcelona City Council, Albert Batlle, have attended. “We do not have the appreciation of everyone but we must continue to earn day by day, with our professionalism or good faith, the right to feel like Catalan, Spanish or the son of whatever land we belong to, and this should not bother anyone”, Tovar reasoned.
Tovar, who has made part of his speech in Catalan, recalled that it is the third time in the forty years of his career in the armed institute that he exercises in Catalonia. To the agents of the armed institute, Tovar has warned them that he will not tolerate conduct that deviates from the law or that is dishonest. Regarding the Mossos d’Esquadra, the National Police, the armed forces and the local police, Tovar has offered them loyal cooperation, away from “competition”, since, as he has promised, they will always find him by their side, joining efforts, each one within the framework of their competences and collaborating with the others.
Minister Marlaska, for his part, has promised to review the conditions of the agents of the armed institute and has had, like Tovar, a memory for the victims of the Vic barracks. Tomorrow will be the 30th anniversary of the ETA attack, the most grave on Catalan soil after Hipercor.
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