The subdelegate of the Government in Lugo, Isabel Rodríguez, presided this morning the official act of the Day of the Pillar together with the interim chief lieutenant colonel Julio González Te las in the Command of the Civil Guard of Lugo, place where she congratulated the agents of the body "for the tireless work to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens and the constant effort to allocate resources to the prevention of all types of crimes."
In her speech, Isabel Rodríguez, thanked the work they do day by day to maintain and coexist in society and the democratic rule of law. “The Civil Guard is a leading player in national security, always ensuring citizen, environmental, digital, road safety and, ultimately, collective well-being.”
Although the province of Lugo is among the safest and quietest in the state, Rodríguez recalled that “it is not easy to work day and night for the more than 325,000 Lucenses”, ensuring that “only professionalism and good work can comply with the clarification and persecution of the violations of the law, since there is no other answer to the affronts that are presented to us than that of unity, rigor, coordination, diligence and responsibility. And you fulfill these values and principle that are part of the DNA of the Civil Guard in an unblemished way,” he said, addressing those present.
In addition, he stressed that as a result of work in the pursuit of crime, the Lugo Command dealt in 2023 a total of 2698 crimes, being more than 500 related to cybercrime. “That is why the prevention work that you do with the Master Plan for coexistence and improvement of safety in educational centers is so important.” Not so far this year, more than 370 workshops were held on cybersecurity, prevention of addictions such as alcohol, tobacco and other substances, also in terms of sports betting, equality and violence against women, school harassment, road safety or prevention of forest fires. Open house days or exhibitions were also held for a greater knowledge of the body. “We can say with pride that these activities have already passed through more than one hundred educational centers throughout the province and reached more than 13,300 students.”
In her speech, the subdelegate of the Government in Lugo reviewed some of the important missions carried out by the Civil Guard during 2023, among which she highlighted the following:
- Operation AVELU, with the arrest of 11 people after the dismantling of a criminal group dedicated to the sale of narcotics in the town of Lugo. Two and a half kilos of cocaine, 30 kilos of hashish and 2 kilos of marijuana were seized, as well as three vehicles and 93,000 euros.
- Operation FURANCHO, an investigation into the sale of weapons that ended with the seizure at the Fonsagrada of more than 22 pistols, 11 revolvers, 4 shotguns, a rifle, 1 rifle, 3,000 grams of gunpowder and multiple pieces of weapons as well as calibres for ammunition surcharge.
- Operation FUNES, dismantling of two heroin sales outlets in Burela, with the arrest of two people, two house searches and intervention of 100 grams of heroin and 6,000 euros in cash.
- The arrest of a person as the alleged perpetrator of a crime of murder and another of homicide in Samos.
- Operation CHARITI, with the dismantling of a network dedicated to the exploitation of labour as domestic workers of women of South American origin in an irregular situation.
The subdelegate ended her speech by referring to gender violence, a state issue “in which is fundamental to the action of the Civil Guard, a body that works tirelessly to protect women at risk. We are aware of the difficulty involved in dealing directly with cases of gender violence, trying to avoid this injustice by all means, and not always arriving”. In this regard, he thanked “the commitment of the agents in this matter, not only in the protection of women but also in the tremendous training effort both for the guards and for society.”
In the end, he mentioned the agents assigned to the Lugo Command, to the different units and specialized services of the Civil Guard in the province, and to those who work in the posts distributed throughout the Lucense geography, in the Mountain, to Mariña, the region of Lemos, to Terra Chá, Sarria or la Ulloa, also congratulating the decorated this year.
Decorations
The mayor of Lugo, Lara Méndez, the president of the Provincial Council, José Tomé, the territorial delegate of the Xunta, Javier Arias, the deputy of the Congress, José Ramón Gómez Besteiro, the senator, Cesar Mogo and other civil and military authorities also participated in the ceremony, in which the distinctions granted this year by the Civil Guard to people from the province were handed over.
In this way, the Chief Inspector of the National Police, Pablo Fernández, the Inspector of the Local Police of Lugo, José Manuel Río, the Second Lieutenant Jesús Sangiao, the First Corporal, Alfonso Testamenta, the Civil Guards, Borja Pol, José Luis Fernández, Juan Carlos Pérez, Ángel Rego, David Janeiro, José Héctor Alonso, Maximo Torres Provincial, Montserrat Pérez, José Manuel López, Rexavier, Javier
In addition, a tribute was paid to the most veteran retired civil guard in the province of Lugo, Darío Veiga, 95 years old, to whom a commemorative plaque was given.