Tomorrow, Tuesday, the Council of Ministers will approve the promotion of Colonel Rafael Euste Arenillas, head of the Central Operations Unit of the Civil Guard, to the rank of brigadier general, sources from the Armed Institute told ElDiario.es. The promotion requires Yusti to leave the specialized unit, whose tasks include the most important investigations into corruption cases.
There is an unwritten custom in the Civil Guard that means that a colonel spends at least two years in this rank before entering a promotion course and being evaluated. Last spring, Yusti passed the training course he conducted with other members of his class, from the Civil Guard and the Armed Forces, at the Center for National Defense Studies (CESEDIN).
Afterwards, Colonel Yusti was evaluated and ranked first in his promotion. This qualification is taken into account by the General Directorate of the Corps on some occasions, although not always. This happened with Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, also No. 1 in his promotion but never promoted to general.
The sources consulted by elDiario.es indicate that with Rafael Yuste the deadlines were respected, but they point out that the promotion could have been postponed further and that in this case the action was taken lightly. Three other colonels were promoted before him, one in the summer and two in October. Along with Yuste, the person who was rated second is now promoted.
The UCO has been at the center of the political storm since the outbreak of the most serious corruption case against the PSOE government, which led its former organizational secretary, Santos Cerdán, to temporary imprisonment for several months, and which has kept his predecessor, José Luis Albalos, in prison, also preventively, since last Thursday.
This investigation, directed by a Supreme Court judge or the controversial action in the State Prosecutor’s case, was directed by one of Yuste’s subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Pallas, who will continue to head the Economic Crimes and Anti-Corruption Department.
Colonel Pallas barely informed his superiors of the progress of the investigations, while he met periodically with the chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Alejandro Luzón, and with Judge Leopoldo Puente, to inform them of his progress.