Interior sources assure that it is exclusively the ministry, through the Secretary of State for Security, who assesses the risks and assesses whether a person should have an escort or not. And the decision is applied in each case based on those evaluations. “There is no procedure to start” they explain to us, because “the evaluations are constant, periodic and the decisions are applied or not applied immediately and Urdangarin will have them as long as the Interior considers it appropriate.” There’s no more.
The same sources point out that “an escort’s opinion on whether or not he would like to continue in a destination simply does not exist,” they conclude. “An agent does not decide in front of a superior to continue in a service from which they intend to relieve him because he is happy or dissatisfied”, they explain to us from the Ministry of the Interior. “In addition, the shifts in most cases are rotated and there is not a specific group assigned a long time,” they clarify. “And the person under surveillance, whoever he is, does not decide whether or not to maintain surveillance, which depends exclusively on the Secretary of State for Security,” he insists. “He is sometimes asked about relevant questions, such as if he has observed any danger or something suspicious, if for some reason he fears for his integrity and this type of thing, but not if he wants to continue having escorts or No”.
Also read: Ainhoa Armentia, Urdangarin’s girlfriend, speaks after the latest news: “It seems disrespectful to me”
The Ministry of the Interior never reports on the devices for security reasons. The Official Secrets Law protects against the reporting of data relating to the Royal Family. These types of questions have not even been answered to parliamentarians who have raised them in Congress. And the proposals to reform this law have never been admitted despite the fact that there have been attempts.
On February 2, a little over a month ago, in the program of Sonsoles Onega, on Antena 3, it was said that Iñaki Urdangarin his escorts had been withdrawn. Until then, the fame of the character and his situation had led Interior to make the decision to keep him protected after his time in prison, that is, because of his public position and media exposure, which could put the his physical integrity.
For this reason, the ministry responsible for her security decided that the husband of the infant Christina, even after being removed from the Royal House, keep your bodyguards. That situation did not change either, at the discretion of the Secretary of State for Security, after the end of his coexistence with the infanta, a year ago now. However, according to the Atresmedia space, something changed and on February 2 they made public that the 8,000 euros spent each month by the Ministry of the Interior in protecting Felipe VI’s brother-in-law, we were going to save them.
But the truth is Iñaki Urdangarin and Ainhoa Armentia they are still watched. Paparazzi who usually accompany them with some frequency in search of those photographs that we later see in magazines such as HolaThey assure us that they do have bodyguards. Even when they travel to one of the getaways or go out to have a wine in Vitoria. “They watch them, although they are more discreet,” explains a photographer who works a lot in the capital of Alava. “I would say that the agents have been told to be less visible, not to do errands such as bringing them food or not to face the reporters who usually follow Iñaki or Ainhoa unless they see danger to their physical integrity.”