Spanish politician murdered in León as workplace bitterness turned to deadly hatred
Isabel Carrasco, president of the León Provincial Council, was shot dead in 2014 by Montserrat González, a housewife who planned the crime with her daughter following a labour dispute in local administration.
Spanish politician murdered in León as workplace bitterness turned to deadly hatred
On 12 May 2014, Isabel Carrasco, president of the León Provincial Council and leader of the local People's Party, was shot dead in the heart of the city whilst crossing on foot the bridge over the Bernesga river. The execution, witnessed by dozens of people, turned out to be the work of a housewife with no criminal record who had planned the crime with her daughter.
Pedro Mielgo, a retired police officer who was walking with his wife in the area, described how he saw Carrasco fall following a dry crack. He initially thought she had stumbled, but a dark-haired woman, who was walking behind the victim, bent down beside her and shot her two more times to finish her off. The killer concealed her face beneath a hat, dark glasses and a scarf.
"It seemed as if she had rehearsed the scene forty times, as if she was filming a film," Mielgo recalled, who followed the killer until police detained her minutes later in a parked Mercedes. The detainee turned out to be Montserrat González, aged 55, accompanied by her daughter Triana Martínez, aged 36. Both belonged to the same party as the victim, ruling out an ideological motive from the outset.
The key to the crime lay in an unfair dismissal. Triana had worked for four years as a technician for Carrasco at the Provincial Council, but lost her position in 2011 after failing to obtain sufficient marks in a civil service examination. During the trial it was revealed that appointments in local administration depended more on political favouritism than merit, a practice entrenched before Carrasco but which persisted during her term in office.
A third person involved complicated the investigation. Raquel Gago, a 40-year-old local police officer, handed over the murder weapon—a Taurus revolver—claiming she had found it in her car, inside a bag she had lent to Triana. Gago claimed to have seen Triana minutes before and after the murder, but remained silent for 30 hours, citing an "emotional block". Initially released, her account was questioned by the defence.
The case shook Spain during the midst of the European Parliament elections campaign, which all the main parties suspended. The investigation unfolded in a context of distrust towards judicial independence, which added tension to a process already delicate due to the status of the victim.
Montserrat and Triana were detained in the early hours of 14 May after giving statements to police in conditions that their lawyers subsequently challenged. What began as a labour dispute ended up becoming one of the most notorious political crimes in contemporary Spain.
Source: EL PAÍS
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