WORLD WORLDWIDE SPAIN News Journal Update - (en) Spain. CNT, #435: Spies in the assembly - Manu Tomillo (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 A few months ago La Directa exclusively published how since June 2,

2020, an agent of the National Police Corps infiltrated the Catalan
left-wing independence movements and the assemblies against evictions.
He did it under the name Marc Hernàndez Pon. But it did not stop there.
Shortly afterwards it was learned through the same Catalan media that
"Marc" was not alone in that infiltration operation. Coming from the
same Ávila Police School and in parallel, another member of the Police
who called himself Daniel Hernández Pons arrived from Mallorca to the
Barcelona neighborhood of Sant Andreu.
According to journalistic investigations published so far, these two are
not isolated cases; the State Security Forces and Corps, under the
mandate of the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, have
introduced multiple undercover agents into social movements in recent
years. and libertarians of the Spanish State, it is not known for what
purpose, but the truth is that the examples we know so far speak of a
stable network of police espionage.
Barely a month after the infiltration in Barcelona became known, La
Directa now published the name of Ramón Martínez Hernández, who came
from the same police school as the previous two, would reach the social
movements of the Beniclamet neighborhood in Valencia in March 2020 and
his I would take my first steps at the Cuidem Beniclamet assemblies.

But the publication of these moles would not stop there. On March 15, El
Salto brought to light the name of Mavi L.F. linked to the climate
justice movements in Madrid and that had been infiltrated since November
5, 2022 around the CSO La Animosa assemblies in the Hortaleza
neighborhood of the capital.
It must be remembered that, according to the current legal framework,
these types of infiltrations can only be carried out with a court order
in cases of terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking.

At least three police officers infiltrated by the Ministry of the
Interior would have carried out mole work in different social groups in
Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid in recent years.

Within the social movements that have been spied on, the reactions have
ranged from initial surprise to generalized indignation at all the
ethical and legal barriers that a case of infiltration like this
crosses. We talked about personal implications and even sexual
relationships with militants of the movements. In an interview published
in La Directa with a Barcelona anarchist militant who had a romantic
relationship with the police officer Daniel Hernández Pons, she recounts
how they met: «It was at the end of November 2020 at a La Cinètika
assembly, to work on a guide for prevention and action against
patriarchal violence. She says she feels used, as a woman and as an
activist.

And that is one of the points that they denounce from Valencia, a
"violation of civil and political rights" for a crime of "revelation of
secrets and violation of the homes of the activists with whom the agents
have been," said the lawyer of Solidarity Alert Maria Josep Martínez.

After learning about the cases of the mole agents in Catalonia and
Valencia, in Madrid the infiltrator's colleagues realized that the
behavior of the police known as Mavi also changed: "Her reaction was not
to disappear completely, but almost. After the second article in La
Directa[...]she no longer tried to get involved in the same way»reports
El Salto.

The Ministry of the Interior assured during the summer of 2022 that the
infiltrations that the Catalan independence movement had denounced in
court had already "ceased." This was one of the reasons why the National
Court did not initiate any investigation following the publication of
the first infiltrated police officer, but the case of the second, Daniel
Hernández Pons, denies that this type of work was no longer produced
since this He continued his espionage work at the end of January of this
year as could be deduced from his activity on social networks and
messaging services such as WhatsApp or Telegram.

In the Congress of Deputies, parties such as Compromís, CUP, ERC, Junts
per Catalunya, PDeCAT, EH Bildu, BNG or Más País have already demanded
explanations from the Ministry of the Interior without receiving a response.

That governments spy on their citizens or social organizations is
nothing new, there have been documented examples of these practices for
a long time, but in recent months these types of Intelligence exercises
have managed to jump from offices to public opinion. In March of this
year, Cadena SER published how the former Secretary of State for
Security of the Ministry of the Interior, Francisco Martínez, during the
last government of the Popular Party, allegedly conspired, since 2015,
together with the head of the Central Operational Support Unit of the
National Police, Enrique García Castaño, to spy on at least two
journalists and find out which sources leaked information to them.
Another case, even with international ramifications, is the use of
Pegasus spyware. In the summer of 2021, an international group of
journalists revealed how 50,000 mobile phones around the world, from
great international leaders like Macron to dozens of opponents and
journalists around the globe, were spied on. The tentacles of the use of
this software created by three former agents of the Israeli army,
specialists in cyberweapons and computer attacks, reached the
Governments of Greece, Mexico, Morocco or Spain in an attempt to control
opposition politicians, critical journalists or social movements.

These infiltrations can only be carried out with a court order in cases
of terrorism or drug trafficking.

This type of police violence represents a new chapter against that
usually exercised against assemblies, organizations and neighborhood
groups critical of the system, which in this case adds a new nuance,
that of sexual violence exercised by these agents towards the people
with whom they had sex. relations in an attempt to obtain information on
the activities of social groups. In Barcelona, the D.H.P police officer
maintained relationships with at least eight women who were active in
the alternative spaces of the city of Barcelona and whom he used to
integrate into them. In January, five of them filed a complaint,
promoted by the Center for the Defense of Human Rights Irídia and the
CGT union, where one of the affected women is active. The complaint
targets the police officer, his hierarchical superior and the Ministry
of the Interior as a subsidiary civil party responsible for the crimes
of sexual abuse, revelation of secrets, against moral integrity and
impediment to the exercise of civic rights.

This case is reminiscent of what happened in London in 2010 when it was
discovered that the Metropolitan Police officer of the British city Mark
Kennedy had been infiltrating the environmental movements of the capital
for seven years and that he had sexual relations with several women who
were members of the assemblies. One of the victims filed a complaint and
got a court to sentence the agent to pay 229,000 pounds in 2022.

These infiltrations in the state's social movements are a direct attack
on their waterline, their organizational structures and the mutual trust
that is generated in the different assemblies and methods of
participation that social movements and organizations have. According to
testimonies from members of the La Animosa collective collected by El
Salto: "They are taking advantage of this opening of spaces to
infiltrate social centers, and also try to create a collective paranoia
regarding this."

All the victims of this espionage highlight the lack of political
training of these infiltrated agents, with a similar modus operandi:
avoiding debates and basing their mole work on personal relationships
that would allow them to enter social movements and learn about their
actions. and activities in recent years of great political effervescence
within alternative organizations.

https://www.cnt.es/noticias/espias-en-la-asamblea/
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