The Ministry of Defense led by Margarita Robles has been forceful and just 12 hours after learning that a unit of the Army had attended a religious act in the Valley of the Fallen without authorization, it has decided to dismiss the unit's chief captain , as advanced by eldiario.es and confirmed by La Vanguardia.
The event, held yesterday, Tuesday, had as its purpose that the banner of the unit, based in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid), be blessed in the basilica. When the news was published by eldiario.es, the Army opened an investigation to purge responsibilities, since it was an "unauthorized activity" that was carried out during a scheduled march.
The Army has opened an information file, which according to sources from the Ministry of Defense will be concluded in 48 hours, although the dismissal of the captain in charge of the unit has already become effective.
It is a military unit of the 'Uad-Ras II' Protected Light Battalion, members of the 'Asturias' Infantry Regiment 31 (RI 31), a unit framed in the 'Guadarrama XII' Infantry Brigade, located in the military base of 'El Goloso', in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid).
In a video provided by the Ciudadanos de Uniforme collective, members of the unit can be seen blessing the company's pennant. Said organization denounces on its Telegram channel that the captain of the company, which he identifies as J.L.P., annulled all the permits that people had or denied the granting of those who requested it (even when a company head does not have the power to grant or deny permissions).
He also denounces that the now dismissed captain is not the first time that he has carried out an act that could threaten the religious freedom of the military under his command. Already in September 2020 he did something similar when, taking advantage of some maneuvers, he had the company's pennant blessed by the patron of the General Military Academy.
Citizens in Uniform is a group of members of the Spanish Armed Forces who have stood out for their defense of equality and democracy inside and outside the army itself
"This is what happens when no one tells the captains that the companies are not theirs, but the Armed Forces, which represent all Spaniards, not any religion or ideology," they say from this group.
