Mercedes González, Civil Guard director, under scrutiny of Judge Pedraz
Judge Pedraz's court file points to the head of the Armed Institute over alleged links to PSOE's internal conspiracies. The UCO documents meetings with the party's so-called "fixer".
Director of the Civil Guard investigated over alleged interference in inquiries into Sánchez's circle
According to El Mundo, Mercedes González, director general of the Civil Guard, has become the focus of the investigation being conducted by Judge Pedraz into the so-called internal conspiracies of the PSOE. The Central Operational Unit (UCO), the elite unit under her own command, names her in the report included in the court file as allegedly responsible for manoeuvres aimed at halting internal inquiries that affected the circle of President Pedro Sánchez.
González (Madrid, 1975), a journalism graduate specialising in institutional communication, was chosen in 2021 as Government Delegate in the Madrid Autonomous Community, a post she held for two years. In March 2023 she was appointed director general of the Armed Institute, an appointment that at the time generated controversy due to her professional background, which was far removed from security forces.
Barely four months after that first appointment she left the post to stand in the general elections as number 10 on the list, winning a seat. However, fourteen months later she gave up her parliamentary seat to return to the helm of the Civil Guard, replacing Leonardo Marcos.
Meetings with the "fixer" and deleted messages
The court file details that González held at least three meetings with Leire Díez, known in political circles as the PSOE's "fixer", in addition to WhatsApp contacts that the director allegedly deleted. According to the UCO, the purpose of that relationship was for González to promote an internal investigation against the unit's own officers who were already tracking the connections of the president's so-called murky circle.
The cases subject to those inquiries included the investigation related to Pedro Sánchez's brother, the one affecting his wife Begoña Gómez, the Koldo case and the Cerdán case.
A profile built within the PSOE orbit
González's career has been linked from the outset to the socialist apparatus. Pepu Hernández, lead candidate for the PSOE in Madrid's 2019 municipal elections, chose her as number two on his ticket after she had run his campaign. At that stage she was a councillor on the city council and spokesman for urban planning. Neither Hernández nor she achieved a notable electoral result.
Her rise to prominence came in 2021, when the president appointed her Government Delegate in Madrid, replacing José Manuel Franco. From that position, and according to her own team at the time, her role was to respond to the political tensions that the then regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso generated towards La Moncloa.
The court file, central evidence of the investigation
The UCO report, included in Judge Pedraz's court file, contains indications that, according to El Mundo, portray González not so much as the director of the force but as a figure intended to neutralise any line of work that could compromise the president. The post she now holds is the same one left vacant by María Gámez, who was previously flagged in a corruption case linked to the redundancies in Andalusia.
González thus becomes one more of the names that, according to the court file, form part of a network of those implicated in the matters that currently occupy headlines and leads in Spain's main media outlets.
Source: El Mundo