More myth than reality: Koldo claims a role in the fight against ETA that no one remembers

"There are people who, once the battle is over, sign up. I don't give it any importance." This is the statement of a high-ranking National Police officer with thirty years of experience in the fight against ETA in San Sebastián, when asked about the role that Koldo García Izaguirre, one of the main figures involved in the corruption scheme involving the PSOE, played or could have played in that war.

It was García himself who declared himself the "son" of Civil Guard Brigadier General Enrique Rodríguez Galindo, giving himself a role in the fight against ETA that, according to four sources from various fields related to ETA and consulted by La Vanguardia , he never had.

The family of Rodríguez Galindo, who died of COVID-19 in February 2021, is upset with García for pretending a relationship that never existed, according to sources close to him.

In 2018, still under the PP government, García was decorated, but the file is secret.

"It's a name that no one in Intxaurrondo has ever heard of," says a source who has met extensively with all the senior Civil Guard officers who passed through that barracks, the epicenter of the fight against ETA during the toughest years and also notorious for having been the scene of torture of numerous detainees. Galindo was convicted along with four others for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of ETA members José Antonio Lasa and José Ignacio Zabala in 1982.

In reality, Koldo García's professional and political life is more in Navarre than in the Basque Country. He worked in Pamplona as a bouncer at the Rosalex brothel and in the private security sector, explains a source from the Socialist Party in Navarre who has known him for three decades.

In that environment, "it's logical that he had contact with the Civil Guard. It's always good to be told what's happening on the street, and nightclub bouncers are on the street," the police officer adds, "but I highly doubt that he had any relationship with Galindo. I know Galindo had a very good informant in Navarra, but that wasn't Koldo. That's not one of the Civil Guard's great informants," he explains.

I know that Galindo had a very good confidant in Navarra, but that was not Koldo” Former senior officer of the National Police in the Basque Country Anonymous source

"I was there for thirty years, and if it had been someone important, it would have reached me somehow. Today, many people in the police force are wondering if that's true," he continues.

García reminds this former high-ranking officer of "Villarejo, who claims to have been in the Basque Country in the fight against terrorism, and I, in all those years, never saw him once."

“In San Sebastián, we wouldn't even think of trusting a nightclub bouncer, but Navarre, so to speak, was Spain. San Sebastián wasn't, and you never knew who a nightclub bouncer really was. In Pamplona, ​​you'd go to a restaurant and the waiters would serve you; in San Sebastián, there were only a few places,” he recalls.

Koldo García was decorated by the Civil Guard. On May 3, 2018, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Civil Guard, in the category of Cross with White Distinction, which recognizes "actions or conduct of extraordinary significance, which contribute to the prestige of the Corps and the interest of the Nation." The medal can be awarded to officers of the Corps or civilians. The file for awarding the medal is secret.

As Villarejo: "He says he was in the fight against terrorism, and in thirty years I haven't seen him even once."

When he was appointed to the board of directors of Renfe Mercancías by then-Transport Minister José Luis Ábalos in 2019, one of the arguments his mentor used was that García had saved the lives of "two police officers," even though such an achievement had little to do with infrastructure management. García lasted two years in the position, until Ábalos was replaced by a new minister, Raquel Sánchez.

Another of those implicated in the corruption scandal affecting the PSOE, businessman Víctor de Aldama, received the exact same medal as Koldo García in 2022, in this case under the mandate of the Socialist government's Interior Minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

The award generated a lot of controversy. The Unified Association of Civil Guards demanded its revocation, and the ministry announced it would do so "when possible." According to law, revocation is only possible after a final court ruling. In January, Grande-Marlaska imposed a sort of freeze on the distinction and prohibited it from being used.

With this story of Galindo [Koldo] he wants to give himself the appearance of a patriot and a tough man." Anonymous source close to the Civil Guard general

“Koldo is a figure in Pamplona's underworld,” says a Navarrese politician who knows the city's inner workings well. “That gave him free rein to carry out his dealings, to rub shoulders with the Civil Guard and the National Police at their parties and gatherings. He was an informant, but I don't think he went beyond reporting on small-scale drug trafficking or informing on someone who had burned containers in the kale borroka . He certainly used that to put on airs and gain access to certain Civil Guard commanders, even the highest-ranking officers in the area, and that's why he was awarded the medal. He moved easily in that field here.”

“He and his brother were known for it in Pamplona,” he adds.

“With this story about Galindo, he wants to give himself the appearance of being a patriot and a tough guy,” says the source close to the former boss of Intxaurrondo, “but it’s totally fake .”

"But Koldo, with his size [he's almost two meters tall], could never go unnoticed, and that invalidates him as an informant, because everyone notices a guy that big," adds the National Police commander.