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Spain arrests two intelligence officers who passed secrets to the US

The Spanish government has confirmed the arrest of two intelligence officers who according to Spanish media are suspected of working for the United States and sharing classified information to them.

Published: 5 December 2023 09:27 CET

Spain arrests two intelligence officers who passed secrets to the US

It is unclear if the Spanish intelligence officers shared the information with their American counterparts, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

“This is information we have had for several days,” Justice Minister Felix Bolaños said, during a visit to Brussels when asked about reports in El País and El Confidencial.

El Confidencial site said Monday that two agents of Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) were suspected of stealing and then selling information to the United States, and had been arrested at the request of an investigative magistrate.

El País newspaper said the two agents were arrested in recent weeks for possibly revealing defence secrets.

When questioned on the reports, Bolaños said that the “judicial process must follow its course”, without providing further details.

“Regarding the investigation, the facts were denounced by the CNI itself, and they are secret,” Defence Minister Margarita Robles said during a visit to Latvia.

Article 584 of Spain’s Criminal Code states thar prison sentences of 6 to 12 years will be handed to any “Spaniard who, with the purpose of favouring a foreign power, association or international organisation, procures, falsifies, disables or reveals information classified as reserved or secret”.

It is not the first time that the Spanish secret service takes one of its agents to court for treason. In 2007, the CNI arrested former spy Roberto Flórez after classified documents and a letter addressed to the Russian secret services in which he offered to work for them in exchange for a first payment of $200,000 were found at several locations in Tenerife.

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Diplomatic crisis deepens as Spain pulls out Argentina ambassador

Spain withdrew its ambassador to Argentina at the weekend and Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that the envoy “will remain definitively in Madrid. Argentina will no longer have a Spanish ambassador.”

🔴ÚLTIMA HORA

Albares anuncia que España retira a su embajadora en Buenos Aireshttps://t.co/YG2YEjFBeX pic.twitter.com/owBjSsJ1hM

— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) May 21, 2024

“We did not provoke this situation, but it is the government’s obligation to defend the dignity and sovereignty of Spanish institutions,” Albares told a news conference following a regular weekly cabinet meeting.

“There is no precedent for a head of state coming to the capital of another country to insult its institutions and blatantly interfere in its internal affairs,’ he added.

Milei said the decision was “absurd, typical of an arrogant socialist,” adding he would not withdraw the Argentina ambassador from Madrid in return.

Argentina’s outspoken president caused outrage with an attack on socialism at the weekend while at a Madrid conference organised by the far-right Vox party.

“The global elites don’t realise how destructive it can be to implement the ideas of socialism,” Milei said.

“They don’t know the type of society and country that can produce, the type of people clinging to power and the level of abuse that generates.”

He added: “When you have a corrupt wife, let’s say, it gets dirty, and you take five days to think about it.”

Sánchez, a Socialist, recently considered resigning after Spanish prosecutors opened a preliminary corruption investigation against his wife, Begoña Gómez, which was quickly closed.

READ ALSO: Who is Begoña Gómez? Spanish PM’s partner thrust into spotlight

Within hours of Milei’s attack, Spain recalled its ambassador and Albares slammed the visiting president’s “insult”.

He demanded a “public apology” from Milei, saying that Madrid would not exclude the possibility of rupturing diplomatic ties. Sánchez also called on Milei to retract his comments.

Milei kept up his attacks against Sánchez when he returned to Buenos Aires on Monday, describing the Spanish premier as a “coward”.

“I am in no way going to apologise to him,’ he said during an interview with the TN channel.

“I’m the one who was attacked,” he added, recalling that representatives of the Spanish government had described him as “xenophobic, racist, ultra-right…a science denier, a misogynist”.

Business concerns

Milei arrived in Spain on Friday and there was immediate diplomatic friction as no meetings with Sánchez or King Felipe VI were organised during his stay.

A self-declared “anarcho-capitalist”, Milei won elections last November with a vow to cut Argentina’s vast public debt to zero. He has instituted an austerity programme that has seen the government slash public subsidies.

But he has also become known for his controversial remarks.

There has been weeks of rising diplomatic tensions between Spain and Argentina leading up to the latest spat.

Spanish Transport Minister Oscar Puente angered Buenos Aires by suggesting earlier this month that Milei was on drugs.

Puente later said he had made a “mistake”, saying he was not aware of the repercussions his comments would have, and Buenos Aires said the dispute was “over”.

The weeks of mounting tensions are starting to worry Spanish companies that invest $15 billion a year in Argentina.

Spanish companies are the second largest investors in Argentina behind US enterprises. The CEOE business federation chief, Antonio Garamendi, said Milei’s attack could “damage” exchanges.

Spanish companies, including banks BBVA and Banco Santander and Zara-owner Inditex, the world’s biggest fashion retailers, are the second largest investors in Argentina behind US enterprises.

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