The Government did not publicly report on Thursday of last week the package with pyrotechnic material sent that same day to President Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa palace. But he kept total silence, precisely at the request of the National Police, so as not to interfere in his investigation, according to executive sources explained to La Vanguardia.
Faced with the letter of similar characteristics that was released yesterday Wednesday, sent to the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid -which caused minor injuries to one of the employees of this diplomatic delegation-, the National Court immediately took action on the matter, and this same Thursday the Police already transferred their investigation to the judge. And he revealed the interception, last week, of the envelope with pyrotechnic material directed against the President of the Government.
Despite the fact that the Executive kept “maximum discretion” about the package sent against Sánchez last Thursday, the Ministry of the Interior led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska already gave instructions that same November 24, both to the National Police and the Civil Guard, to reinforce security in all the buildings of the general administration of the State and in its postal and parcel services, according to these same sources.
“All the security protocols have worked,” they warn in Moncloa. The security services of the Presidency of the Government detected the suspicious postal shipment last Thursday, transferred it to a clear space and proceeded to its controlled detonation. The Police then opened its investigation, and demanded total discretion in this regard, so as not to harm the preliminary investigations that could lead to the identification of the author of the shipment, avoid possible leaks or the elimination of evidence. No details were revealed that day.
But when the Ukrainian embassy decided to make public this Wednesday that a package with pyrotechnic material had caused a small burn to one of its employees, the Police detected the “more than obvious” parallels with the letter sent to the Prime Minister last week. Subsequently, very similar shipments would be detected to the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, to the Torrejón de Ardoz military base, to an arms company located in Zaragoza and, finally, to the United States embassy in Madrid.
In Moncloa, for now, they insist on conveying a message of calm to the public, so as “not to generate unnecessary alarmism”. Starting with the terminology itself: “They are not letter bombs, they are packages with home-made pyrotechnic material.” Once the letter sent against Pedro Sánchez was revealed, the cabinet of the President of the Government transferred the information available to the leader of the main opposition party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The Executive limits his reaction to police and judicial action, and avoids, at least for now, any political connotation.
