GRIM DRAMA IN BARCELONA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23073, 25 June 1938, Page 2 (Supplement)

GRIM DRAMA IN BARCELONA

Checking Ruthless of Spies, Thieves and Assassins By HARRY GREY, Noted American War Correnpondent— (Copyright) IT is entirely wrong to infer that the spirit of the whole of Republican Spain is the same as that of the poor exhausted refugees who have lately been stumbling across the Pyrenees to the haven of France. For them life had stopped, at least temporarily. In Republican Spain life, however miserable, disturbed and dangerous, goes on. , There is a change, however, especially in Barcelona. Recent lessons have been hard. The benevolent nonchalance of the first eighteen months of the Civil War has turned to a ruthless campaign of extermination against all agents of disorder.

I SPENT a day in Tribunal Popular No. 1. There is not time to put the accused people in a dock. They are just led out on to the floor by'four armed policemen and the trial begins. "Carlo Vicente Ramira, member of the trade union of cafe waiters, accused of having pillaged a shoe shop during the aerial bombardment of March 17. What have you to say V' "Senor Presidente," said the accused, "the shop was burning. I did not think it was wrong to take two pairs of shoes." "You have seen the notices forbidding pillage?" "Yes, I saw the notices, but then I saw those shoes burning." The prosecutor tells the Court that the accused bears a good character, but martial law is martial law, and at times like the present it is necessary to punish with the utmost severity miserable specimens like Ramira, caught stealing when enemy aircraft were

Unanimously the Tribunal condemned him to death, adding a special demand that no possibility of pardon shall be entertained. "Next case," called the Senor Presidente. . . . Profiteers Lynched It is an open secret that there has been little of the war spirit in Barcelona until now. Merchants of butter, milk and wine have waxed fat on the agony of Spain, for eighteen months, with impunity. Now they are being dealt with ruthlessly. Inspector Paldau told me all about it. "Rumours began to get about that these merchants were deliberately holding up supplies of food for their own profit," he said, "and there were several ugly scenes when gangs of exasperated purchasers lynched merchants and looted stocks of food. To avoid repetitions we took up the cause, and any merchant found guilty of profiteering receives long terms of imprisonment and a smashing fine." This clean-up has extended to the armed police, former recipients of a hundred privileges. A captain of police told me:—"Three of ray hest men, Ramos Martin, Ricardo Sollepler and Andreu Golla, on duty at a street bar-

£•- killing women and children and there was work for every able-bodied man to '= ,do. The prosecutor implores the Court not to be swayed by the plea for mercy of the defence, but to condemn the accused to death. J: Defence Suggests Five Years PS Counsel for the defence admitted hjs client had committed an -inex- ' •' cusable act, but, he insisted, he was f not a professional plunderer, but just an honest citizen with a good record who for the first time had taken thing's iV* which were doomed to be burnt. He suggested that five years' imprisonjjuV , , - ment- would cover the case. •£' The heads of the seven judges—four jgt men and three women—came together. 22S There was a short buzz of argument between them, then the case was de3*fcided, with no chance of appeal. ~*r, "Carlo Vicente Ramira," said the %£ President, "the Tribunal sentences you ggto ten years' imprisonment. Take him 2£' away. Next case. . . £ Sabotage Charge The "next case'' was Julian Ortega Palcran, accused of espionage and "Accused," said the President, '.you confess to causing the explosion of a * J boiler of a munitions factory?" ' "Si, Senor." "You confess to having acted for the rebel espionage?" " "Si, Senor." ' The case of Julian Ortega y Palcran lasted just 15 minutes. The explosion of the boiler killed nine workers.

rier, gave free passage to a car containing four spies whose exact description had been given them. Luckily for them they discovered their mistake, fired after the escaping car, and killed one of the men, whose body was immediately thrown out. This alone saved them from being convicted of treason. As it was they were convicted of negligence, dismissed the service and sent to the front." Wholesale Car Thefts For many, many months, "certain incidents," such as theft or assassination, were ignored by the authorities, on the grounds that they were "too busy witn other things." Now, if I may say so, a theft is once more a theft, murder is again murder. Marti Belaca, Chief Inspector of the Criminal Investigation Department, told me:— "You remember the time you came to us complaining that your motorcycle had been stolen? You had left it for just two minutes outside the central post office. Wo told you we could do nothing about it. We couldn't either. It was the golden age for car thieves. That day when you came to us, every car running in Barcelona had been stolen at least once. That same morning a foreign diplomat's car and the police chief's car had been stolen. "Well —all things come to an end. To-day you can leave your motor-cycle where you like. Our niotorised police may stop anybody they think looks the least suspicious and take him to headquarters for examination. Every garage, official or private, is subject to sudden investigation raids. Every convicted car thief is sure of at least twb years' hard labour. "Then the criminals. We've got them all tied up. Not so long ago the discovery of a corpse at a street corner was not worth noticing. The body was taken to the morgue, and the picture i

displayed for five days outside the door as 'unidentified.' After five days, if not identified, the body was buried. "Now these assassins no longer go free. Three days ago we arrested Fernando Gomez and Euiz Buenaventura, murderers of their comrade Gonzague Llorda. To avoid supposition of premeditation, they said that there had been a quarrel. Wo proved that this quarrel was carefully provoked and organised. They'll get what they deserve. "And the spies. We're after them too. The law of 'hours of legal arrest' —from sun-up to sun-down —has been suspended. Our agents make their arrests where and when they can and hand suspects over to the questioners. They are then isolated and locked up until their case is heard." Franco Secret Service Raymundo Beltram and Jose Carela, of the counter-espionage, told me of their week's work. "We arrested four Fra'nco spies, two Spaniards and two foreigners," they said. "They all belonged to the same section. They took their orders from a chief agent." "Did you get him too?" "Not likely. The four we've got will do for the moment. In two or three days the chief agent will be alarmed by the absonce of news from his men, and will put his four reserve agents to work." "Can't you make the first four talk?" "No use. They don't know anything. The Franco secret service is run on the so-called leak-proof system. Four agents only know each other. While they work together in the same region, they don't denounce one another. If the worst comes to the worst, and there is a traitor, he can only betray threo comrades. They do not know the chief agent. They never meet him. They receive their orders every night, by snortwave radio. Radio Sets "Thev change their address every other day or so, and so it's extremely difficult to do anything. By a means we cannot tell you, we have found out who the principal agent is. Ho is being watched. When he has put his four reserves into operation, we'll pick him up." At police headquarters I saw literally tons of material taken from captured spies—militia uniforms, armed police uniforms, Carabinero's uniforms, sailors' clothes, peasants' clothes, cameras variously disguised, false heels, and hundreds and hundreds of radio outfits, from the huge American shortwave set capable of transmitting several hundred miles, to the tiny pocket set, with a range of only four miles or so, but quite enough for city work. Well armed and trained, the 60,000 Carabineros appointed by the Government to maintain order in the rear are doing their work efficiently and tactfully. Their organisation is now perfect. You can go anywhere in Republican Spain, day or night, without risk of attack, theft or interference, provided that you have the official permits.—K.P.F.