Eight municipalities in the Sierra Norte of Madrid They united their forces to defend Torrelagona Barrack Housewere evacuated due to structural hazards, and requested to do so Government delegation Take immediate action to ensure barracks security and adequate housing … For agents and their families. With Torrelaguna consultant, Victor GutierrezIn the introduction, the mayors will meet on Monday in Madrid with the government delegate, Francisco Martin, to find out first-hand their plans in the face of an “extremely dangerous” event and to request a rapid response.
Ten days ago, a complete evacuation of houses in the Civil Guard barracks in Torrelaguna took effect after a technical report confirmed the significant advancement of cracks and the presence of caverns in the ground, seriously endangering the safety of the building, the City Council of La Cabrera, one of the affected municipalities, said in a statement.
The Torrelaguna Barracks House, created in a 16th-century palace, serves eight municipalities in Sierra Norte (Torrelaguna, Cabanillas, Patones, Venturada, Redenha, Torremucha, Peruico and La Cabrera), whose mayors have been denouncing the condition of the property for years and demanding an urgent rehabilitation of the barracks, the provision of decent housing solutions for clients and their families, the reinforcement of the number of troops according to the Regional Charge and the end of the abandonment of the Civil Guard in the region. The mayors regret not receiving any effective response from the government delegation. Council members also highlighted “the tremendous professional and humanitarian work done by the agents assigned to this position.”
According to Jucil, a professional association of the Civil Guard, the closure of the Torrelagona barracks affects eight families, including minors and a pregnant woman, and puts the safety of 30,000 citizens at risk by endangering the unit’s work. This association confirms that “the urgent need to evacuate the buildings, which was communicated to the agents on November 19, was prompted by a technical report that apparently revealed a significant advance in cracks affecting the structure of the building and the presence of cavities in the floor, making it impossible to guarantee the safety of the agents and their families.” He adds that this situation is the culmination of a process that began at the end of 2024, when the government delegation was already forced to vacate the official offices and two homes, with the offices moved to temporary locations.
The Torrelaguna barracks house is located in the Salinas Palace, built in the 16th century and associated with the workshop of Gil de Hontanion. Of the original building, only the Renaissance-style facade remains. The rest was destroyed during the Civil War.
When the PP joined the Torrelagona Mayor’s Office, on November 2, 2023, through a motion of censure, the new mayor, Víctor Gutierrez, actually demanded a meeting with the government delegate to analyze the critical situation of the barracks building, given its apparent deterioration. In the visit that followed, the government delegation was shown the 3,000-meter plot of land that had been requested from the Torrelagona City Council in 2019 to build a new barracks. Since that initial movement, the mayor denounced that “no progress has been made.”
Immediately afterwards they went to the historic barracks house, so that the delegate could see its condition for himself. The delegate’s response stunned the mayor and his comrades: “In a subsequent conversation, the delegate, over an aperitif, said that we had frightened him, and that there were other barracks in a worse condition.” The delegate was interested in the Destination Tourism Sustainability Plan developed in Torrelaguna, and this was the only thing that stood out in the government delegation’s social media posts.