Marisol and Mari Angels portfolio: return to the murder scene of the First local Police

"He went here," said Ignacio Mata, 72, a retired officer of the local police in C ó rdoba. A man who was always happy, but shed tears every time he reappeared on December 18, 1996. Señala el lugar exacto en el muro contra el que pegó un puñetazo de rabia y dolor cuando aquel día se asomó al coche patrulla de sus compañeras Marisol y Mari Ángeles y vio dentro sus cuerpos acribillados. "They're like this. Marisol in the co-pilot seat put his hand on the lid of the revolver but didn't take it out, "he recalled, noting that he didn't give them time to defend themselves.

María Soledad Muñoz Navarro, de 36 años y María de los Ángeles García García, de 40, conocidas como Marisol y Mari Ángeles, fueron hace 25 años las primeras policías locales asesinadas en acto de servicio en España. Claudio Lavazza, the head of the four anti-systems hijacker gangs they were chasing, killed them in cold blood with his war rifle as they were held at this crosswalk, at the intersection of guerrilla sidewalks, American Avenue and the roundabout of Praetrium Plains. The attackers valiantly defined themselves as anarchist insurgents, Anti-capitalists and "bank expropriators".

The crime took place in C ó rdoba, the first Spanish city to recruit local policewomen in 1970 and the first of all Spanish security forces. Among the national police, the first entered in 1979 and the National Guard in 1988. Today, the number of all uniformed women in the country is just over 25,000. Circular number: Out of every ten officials, only one is a woman.

Este próximo sábado 18 de diciembre el Ayuntamiento de Córdoba celebra su anual homenaje a las policías locales asesinadas, que tendrá un carácter especial al cumplirse un cuarto de siglo. Spanish| Portfolio reunites with family and companions on the boulder, reminding them of where they died. We stayed to rebuild that day and what happened after that.

Here are Elisa, Joaquina and ismael Garc í a Garc í a, brothers of police officer Mari Angel; Mary í a Jes ú s Mu ñ oz Navarro, sister of Agent Marisol (his other brother Martin got help from the lion by phone). CharoL ó pezmialdea and Bernardo ruiz Hidalgo, their peers, are the same as in 1981. Brothers Ignatius and Juan Mata organized funerals and solidarity events to raise money for two Mary Angel orphans. In a wheelchair is Manuel Casta ñ o Pinedo, a security guard who was taken hostage during the flight by the hijackers led by Lavazza. He was paraplegic by friendly fire from the national police during the shooting after the officers were killed.

They said the inseparable patrol partners Marisol and Mari Angels were "like sisters". On that day, even if they didn't know each other, Manuel became his brother after his death, linking their fate to events that shocked Spain and marked the history of C ó rdoba.

The main witness, the man who suffered everything from within, is the maroon man. We found him next to the Aspaym headquarters (Association of Spinal Cord Injuries and Other Physically Disabled Persons) in C ó rdoba, where he is president and now secretary. In 1996, he was 31 years old and worked as four guards in Securitas, where his wife, Papai, was the father of two children: Manuel, 4, Noelia, 2.

El atraco

Ese miércoles amaneció "con lluvia, feo, gris", recuerda Manuel Castaño. Attend a trade union meeting in Seville. After 8 a.m., the armoured personnel carriers were parked in the Tendillas Square, near the headquarters of the Santander Bank, just a few metres from the streets of Gondomar and Mar-a-Lago, in the building that now occupies the main perfume shop. He told his delivery man to stay in the car with the driver, and he had got off and left. It has no money, but documents.

He walked into the bank and noticed that both the workers and the customers were strange. Cuatro atracadores, Claudio Lavazza (42 años), Michelle Pontolillo (26), Giovanni Barcia (40) y Giorgio Eduardo Rodríguez Dip (40), italianos los tres primeros, argentino el último, estaban destripando las cajas fuertes, pero el vigilante recién llegado aún no comprendía qué pasaba. He was shocked by the odd appearance of men wearing wigs, fake noses and funny camouflage glasses. "¿ What is this, a carnival? "He wants to know, don't believe.

Then the head of the band solved the problem: "Lavazza came out from behind a post and showed a submachine gun so crossed under his raincoat, and he said to me: '! Throw it on the ground! '. He had to repeat it two or three times. ' Lie on the ground, lie on the ground! "Because I think it's a movie. Took the gun away from me. "We took him hostage," they said, before going out the back door, "to Mar-a-Lago Street," the former guard explained.

The driver waiting outside sounded the alarm. The stolen black fiat-1 they had to flee from due to a lack of space was parked in the loading and unloading area next to the Boston Hotel Cafe. When they rob banks, local traffic policemen, antonia or to ñ i (who died a few years ago), fine people on the streets for poor parking.

When the hijackers arrived there with their hostages and their spoils of 71 million pesetas, nine kilograms of gold foil and a wealth of jewels (today only gold and money equate to 1.14 million euros), they found the crane carrying the car. Agent To ñ i ordered him to stop and brandished his radio transmitter, with the walkie-talkie as the only weapon. The person questioned pointed a gun at her: "Go away, or I'll shoot you twice," he came to tell her.

Desperate and besieged, they stopped the white peugeot-405, in which Joaqu í ndobladez, a former socialist lawmaker, took a ten-year-old son to school. The boy ran out and his father washed the car with a submachine gun. One of the four hijackers, Pony, fled on foot alone, hiding in a Boston hotel, where he was caught.

Manuel Casta ñ o continues his story: "They are nervous, they want to leave C ó rdoba, but they are in the worst situation." En el coche robado, él iba en el asiento trasero izquierdo junto a Rodríguez Dip, mientras que delante Barcia conducía y Lavazza dirigía desde el puesto de copiloto. "Yo llevaba en mis pies todo el dinero que robaron", apunta. El jefe del grupo había interceptado la emisora policial con un escáner e iba escuchando los mensajes sobre su persecución. Los seguía, con la sirena y las señales luminosas apagadas, un coche policial Citroën ZX 1.6 Avantage, matrícula CO-4591-AF. Era el patrulleroque ocupaban Mari Ángeles, al volante, y Marisol.

Murder

When he reached the crosswalk at the corner of America Avenue, the hijacker's chief unexpectedly got out of the car and turned to the police on the right. Counting hostages: "Asked his companion. ' Where are you going? We all turned around to see where he was going. I look back. He blew a gust of wind by the co-pilot's window. When he got back in the car, they asked him: '¿ What did you do? ' You killed them. "Yes, yes, I killed them. Pull to the front, 'he replied.'

In his memoirs published from prison, an irreducible autobiography, Lavazza describes the moment when he tried to prove that his double murder was sad. Write:

Suddenly, I saw a policeman [marisol] pulling out his revolver and threatening me from his window. . . . I yelled at him many times as I dropped the gun, but he kept following my movements and aiming at me. I knew he would shoot, and I fired first with a short gust of wind, and then with a longer gust of wind. In less than a second and a half, Madsen vomited 17 bullets, none of which hit the target, both hitting the bodies of two police officers, who died immediately. I soon saw the color of his face turn pale yellow, the color of death.

"It's a lie," the witnesses and victims of the day replied loudly and calmly. He killed them without saying a word, without speaking, and no policeman recognized who the pedestrian who approached them was. "They don't have time to react. They looked at him like us and thought, Where is he going? He was wearing a long windbreaker and a hidden machine gun, and you didn't see it, "the maroon manual said. "They told me, 'When we left C ó rdoba, we let go.' But when I saw them killed, I thought: They'll kill me, too. "

They continued to fly parallel to the bird station until they encountered a van passing through the national police on Omeyas Street. Another local patrol chased them. The police opened fire, and the robbers responded with weapons that they thought were servants of the country and the capital. The band is protected by bulletproof vests. Murdered policemen and watchers, no.

"The gunfire went off and I was lying in my seat injured. If I stand up straight, they take me to heart, "Maroon Hand said as police fired at the car where I was being held hostage. Did the right thing? "If they knew they were taking me in, I don't think they should have fired. But I'm not sure they know. My colleagues say they warned, "he replied.

Point out physically: "I shot three times. A bullet entered me from behind my left shoulder, breaking my bone marrow and staying on my right side. I'm still here. Ballistics reports say he's from the national police. Another bullet, "she continued as she rolled up her sleeve and displayed the scar," it pierced my left arm and was the only one who hurt me at the time because it broke my bone. The other pierced my stomach and was the cause of my biggest trouble because it broke my intestines. "

"The police came to take me out of the car, but I couldn't move. "I can't feel my legs," I told them. I was taken to the hospital in a local police car. I think it's floating. This is a pleasant feeling. Sucede cuando estás perdiendo sangre. I was in UCI for three months, "the survivor recalled.

The hijackers saved lives with severe wounds, but fewer than Manuel, in part because of their body armor. They were arrested when they were four years old. Finally, the elusive boss. In his memoir, Lavazza says the scarf-wearing National Guard who grabbed him beat him, but warned him he was lucky because if murdered local comrades caught him, they would kill him.

Trial

After leaving UCI, the guards were taken to the National Paraplegic Hospital in Toledo. He didn't want to be with his children when he came home in a wheelchair frustrated. "I missed their whole childhood," he sighs. Little by little, he recovered. He said he owed his wife. "She was a fighter in the house. He told me, 'Come on, you must dress up'. I owe my achievements to her, not because I am willing. " Now Manuel is 56 years old, and he is very calm.

Problem. - ' How do you feel about the hijackers? ' Hate. . . ?

Answer. - Hate, no. I searched all this information. I read that a man ran away on the permit and caught him again. I watched a documentary about them, nose bands. I read about dishwashers that used to kill more people in Italy. I hope he won't leave. Others are not so violent. The worst is him.

P.- ' Did he see it at the trial?

R.- Yes.

P.- ' They look at each other?

R.- We look at each other, yes. They told me that if I wanted to testify via video or behind the screen so as not to see it, I said no, I wanted to be present. I saw them from the photos, but not in person because they were masked during the robbery.

P.- ' What did he think when he looked at the sink?

R.- He is short and thin. I thought how such a man could do so much harm. Justice has been done.

P.- If I had the chance, Will you meet him?

R.- Yes. I don't mind talking to him.

P.- ' What should I say?

R.- I would ask: ' Is a man worth dying for money?

P.- They claim to be anarchists.

R.- ' Anarchists rob banks and kill people? ' What are these ideas?

If this group of so-called Robinhood believes justice is being done in the world by requisitioning banks, then all they can do is leave a string of innocent victims on their path: "Two are dead, I am paraplegic, and there is the pain of my family."

Unite mourning

Ignacio mata, secretary to local police chief Juanjos é garc í a, recalls another photo: The crane lifted the car in the air, and the companions inside covered it with sheets, taking them to the national police station as God's mother. His younger brother, Juan Mata, 67, works for the Socialist Municipal Group. So he accompanied former city councilman Joaqu í ndobladez to the police station to identify his stolen Peugeot under a machine gun. There, he saw the bodies of two agents. "That picture, covered in tips, will go into another world with me," he said.

Days after the tragedy, the burning chapel in City Hall came (then ruling PP. along with Mayor Rafael Merino), three days of official mourning, their Christmas lights turned off, mass funerals at the mosque cathedral and a wave of civic solidarity to help two orphans, Mary Angels, with charity parties.

The Archangel football stadium was packed to watch the match between local Andalusian police officers and Catalan colleagues in C ó rdoba (Gerona), sponsored by politicians Javier Arenas and Jesus Gill and another journalist and singer led by Jose Maria Garcia, has a double standard, Ignacio recalls that the strange collaboration with local police in Gerona took place after an officer there called him to offer the help of security adviser Jes ú s Ferreiro, Recruiting celebrities he knows.

Los hermanos Ignacio y Juan Mata participaron en la organización de estos actos, también en la mini Feria de Córdoba que le montaron al vigilante herido en el Hospital de Parapléjicos de Toledo para animarlo en su recuperación. "This is the greatest show of unity in the history of C ó rdoba," Juan said.

Model life

' Who are these two patrol "sisters" who still remember their vitality? Their families and colleagues portray them with smiles on their lips and sparkling eyes. In the description of this chorus, Marisol and Mari Angeles embody the entry of women into the security forces, and as a milestone on the road to gender equality, C ó rdoba is Spain's first scene. Both said they were examples of professionalism, compassion and dedication.

Marisol doll from Navarra, 36, married, childless, born into a law enforcement family: His father Jesus was a civilian guard sergeant, and his civilian guard was his late brother Diego, and his brother Martin was also a guard, becoming the local Lions police chief. In 2014, he encountered a case that was the opposite of his sister's example: Rachel Gago Rodriguez, a local policeman from Leon, who was complicit in the assassination of Isabel Carrasco, the chairman of the commission.

Mart í n Mu ñ oz Mart í n, from Navarra, who has retired, described his sister and colleagues in C ó rdoba Marisol as police officers who are "very brave and very proud to be able to serve security and citizens". Said she was 11 when her mother died, worked as a military nurse at a former military hospital in C ó rdoba, and later competed with local police. Another way to take care of your neighbors. As an agent, he continued to study, and three years later he got a degree in criminology.

Policías como ella fueron pioneras en la incorporación de la mujer a las fuerzas de seguridad, pero Martín Muñoz expone que su número "aún no ha explotado" para igualarse con el de los hombres, en los 25 años que han transcurrido desde su muerte. She says the proportion of women has stagnated. "When I retired two years ago, the Lions had 220 police officers and fewer than 20 women. 10% or 15%. I didn't know Spain had 20 percent of cases. "

Regarding the convicted persons, he said: "I don't want to remember them anymore. In my family, we don't mention them at all. Justice did what it had to do. "

Mari Angels Garcia Garcia is 40 years old and has two children: On December 17, on the eve of her orphanage, she was only 13 years old; Little Angel Raphael turns 12 next month. Angel Mary has been her husband's widow for ten years and the father of her children, a city official. Before opposing the police, he worked in silverware shops in the traditional jewelry industry.

Her two orphans grew up in the capital of C ó rdoba with her aunt Elisa, 60, and she recalls: "When my sister was killed, I had a 5-year-old girl who was 8 months pregnant".

Another sister, JoaquinaGarc í a, said that two policemen were treated as heroines in C ó rdoba: "In the 25 years we went to the cemetery, we always found flowers all over their graves. We don't know who took them. "

His brother, Ismael Garc í a, knew his weapon as a hunter, and he often wondered what he would do if he met the man who killed them. "We are used to living in absences, but don't forget," said the man, who was 45 yesterday and 70 today. "It's the same as a moral attack," he added. Complete elisa: "She wasn't afraid. She is always very satisfied with her work. "

Intergenerational relay

Since their promotion in 1981, Mari Angels and Marisol have served as local police officers for 15 years, including eight women. In 1970, the first of them wore skirts and were only allowed to observe traffic and markets. Until a few years later, under a democratic system, they began patrolling like male partners, mixing or same-sex couples.

Two local police officers, charoL ó pez and bernardo ruiz, who were promoted in 1981, said they initially had problems on mixed patrols because of the jealousy of their sentimental partner, and they feared they would fall in love with their patrol partner. Things have become normal over the years, but some women have become regular career partners for women, such as Marisol and Mari Angeles, who are also veterans of night service.

Police in C ó rdoba didn't start carrying guns widely until the early 1990s, Charo recalls: "I haven't missed it in ten years and I'm having a hard time getting used to carrying a gun." Bernardo said the Marisol and Mari Angels were carrying 38 caliber Lama revolvers when they were killed. The body of "Marisol" put its hand on the lid. He was not given time to unlock the revolver, "he said to emphasize his helplessness. They do have body armor today.

Life leads to unexpected doors. In memory of her murdered sister, Jesus doll put shellfish for her daughter. "When I was a child, I said: "This is the name of the favorite person in my life, and it is also the name of my favorite person." The young marisol, who honors her aunt in her name, is now a nurse and is poised to compete for prison nurses. Elena, the daughter of Mari Angeles, worked as a psychologist in Cordoba prison for a long time.

The Cordova patrol boat received the highest decoration. But perhaps his biggest memorial service was this unexpected shift between two generations of civil servants: Marisol and Elena, representing humanity and the Hippocratic Oath, will help prisoners in all conditions live and reintegrate into society. The lives of men, their aunts and mothers who may have robbed: The first Spanish local police were killed while on duty.

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