The director of the Civil Guard, the socialist María Gámez, has resigned from her position this Wednesday. Her replacement will be the current Government Delegate in Madrid, Mercedes González. This announcement comes in the midst of the scandal that affects the Armed Institute due to the alleged corruption schemes in the Mediator case and in the Barracks case.
The figure of María Gámez had been in the spotlight since the former general of the Civil Guard, Francisco Espinosa Navas, entered pre-trial detention for his possible connection with the Mediator case. A court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is investigating the alleged preferential treatment between senior officials of the Corps, socialist politicians and businessmen.
Six days ago, Gámez stated in a statement to the media that "a few black sheep should not cloud" the Civil Guard.
On March 8, the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, dismissed the head colonel of the Civil Guard Command of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José María Tienda, "due to loss of confidence" for the works awarded to rehabilitate Civil Guard barracks. The case is being investigated in a court in Madrid and has two senior officials of the Corps and two businessmen as defendants, one of them the contractor from Lanzarote, Ángel Ramón Tejera de León, alias "Mon".
However, the turning point for Gámez's resignation has been the indictment of her husband, Juan Carlos Martínez, in an investigation related to the ERE case. In this case, with its epicenter in Andalusia, the alleged crimes of prevarication, falsehood and embezzlement in the injection of more than 35 million euros from the Junta de Andalucía into a company are being investigated.
María Gámez was the first woman to be director of the Benemérita.