Juan Alberto Belloch, former Minister of Justice and Interior between 1993 and 1996, spoke of the dirty war in Spain during the term of Felipe González. In an interview published on Sunday by the digital media El Español, Belloch said, among other things, that the Spanish Ministry of the Interior knew that the civil guards tortured the detainees and that they had permission. However, he does not accept that the government of González had: “One thing is the Minister of the Interior and another is the government.”

Belloch pointed out that when he came to his office he began to ban the torture he called him “method”: “I told Galindo that he could not use mistreatment as a means of expression.” But even knowing that he was torturing the detainees, he promoted his appointment as generals, “because it was worth it.” “The fight against terrorism was certainly the best,” he argues and adds that torture was the only thing Galindo did wrong.

At that time Rodríguez Galindo was the head of the Intxaurrondo headquarters in San Sebastian, and when he was appointed general he had already opened a judicial investigation against him, related to the murders of Joxean Lasa and Joxi Zabala. Belloch underscores this by saying that he did not believe that Lasa and Zabala were killed by Galindo, “until the judges said so,” and even confesses that he still has “doubts.” The reason for Belloch is that it was not common for Galindo to do something as “violent and foolish” as leaving the bodies “within everyone’s reach”. If he had, “it would be normal never to know anything,” the former minister said.

GAL from the Home Office

Asked about the creation of the GAL, he did not mean name, but he stressed that it was not Felipe González. “I don’t know for sure. The only thing I can say is that the GAL was set up in the top management of the Ministry of the Interior, among which they sent. She wasn't the only person. That’s all I understand.”