Félix Sanz Roldán

Félix Sanz Roldán (born 20 January 1945) is a retired Spanish Army general and intelligence officer who served as Director of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI) from July 2009 to July 2019.[1] He served as Chief of the Defence Staff (JEMAD) of the Spanish Armed Forces during the first government of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004–2008).[2]

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Sanz and the second or maternal family name is Roldán.
Félix Sanz Roldán
Director of the National
Intelligence Centre
In office
July 6, 2009 – July 6, 2019
MonarchsJuan Carlos I (2009–2014)
Felipe VI (2014–2019)
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2009–2011)
Mariano Rajoy (2011–2018)
Pedro Sánchez (2018–2019)
DeputyElena Sánchez Blanco (2009–2012)
Beatriz Méndez de Vigo (2012–2017)
Paz Esteban López (2017–2019)
Preceded byAlberto Saiz
Succeeded byPaz Esteban López
Chief of the Defence Staff
In office
June 26, 2004 – July 19, 2008
MonarchJuan Carlos I
Prime MinisterJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Preceded byAntonio Moreno Barberá
Succeeded byJosé Julio Rodríguez Fernández
Personal details
Born (1945-01-20) January 20, 1945
Uclés, Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Military service
Allegiance Spain
Branch/serviceEjército de Tierra Spanish Army
Years of service1962–2019
RankSpanish General of the Army General of the Army

Sanz Roldán joined the Armed Forces in 1962 when he entered in the General Military Academy. As a military officer, he has been assigned to the Spanish Embassy in Washington D.C. as deputy military attaché and to several managing positions within the Spanish Army. In the Ministry of Defence, Sanz Roldán has served as deputy director-general for Plans and International Relations and as director-general for Defence Policy, before becoming Chief of the Defence Staff in 2004. He retired from the active service in 2019, after 57 years of service.[3]

Biography

Early life

Sanz Roldán was born in Uclés, Cuenca on January 20, 1945. In 2009, he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Alfonso X the Wise in Madrid.[4]

Military career

Sanz Roldán entered the General Military Academy, with the XXI Promotion of 1962, being promoted to lieutenant in 1966. As a Lieutenant, he served in the Recruitment Instruction Battalion nº1 in El-Aaiún, Spanish Sahara. He was also destined into Astorga, Leon and San Roque, Cádiz.

After being promoted to captain, he was destined to the Artillery Regiment Nº1 in Madrid. After completing his studies of General Staff, he held positions as Staff in the Armored Brigade XII in El Goloso, Madrid and in the Spanish-American Combined Joint Staff; He was the Head of Baton of Plana Mayor and Battery of Services, in the Artillery Group of ATP-XI Campaign in Campamento, and belonged to the Investigation and Doctrine Group of the Artillery Academy in Fuencarral.

After being promoted to commandant (or major) he was assigned as deputy military attaché to the Spanish Embassy in Washington, D.C., and later to the Section of Structures and Organic of the Division of Plans and Organization of the General Staff of the Army. Once promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was appointed to command the Artillery Group of the Self-Propelled Campaign XII of the Armored Brigade, in El Goloso, Madrid and, at his retirement, was assigned to the Military Mission of Spain before the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in Mons, Belgium.[5]

In July 1997, and as colonel, he was head of the International Treaties Section of the Division of Plans and Organization of the General Staff of the Army and Head of the Area of Relations with NATO / WEU of the Subdirectorate General for International Affairs of the Directorate-General for Defense Policy.

He was promoted to brigadier general in 1998[6] and he was appointed to the office of Deputy Director-General for Plans and International Relations in the Directorate-General for Defense Policy (DIGENPOL) of the Ministry of Defence. In 2001 he was promoted to major general.[7]

Chief of the Defence Staff

In 2004 Sanz Roldán was promoted to lieutenant general[8] and was appointed Director-General for Defence Policy.[9] In the same year, he was appointed Chief of the Defence Staff (JEMAD) as well as promoted to General of the Army.[10] He held this position until 2008, when the Council of Ministers appointed the lieutenant general, Julio Rodríguez Fernández, as substitute.[11]

In 2008, after leaving the JEMAD position, Félix Sanz Roldán was appointed High Representative for the Spanish Presidency of the EU, with direct dependence on the President of the Government.[12]

Director of the CNI

On July 2, 2009, Alberto Saiz resigned from the post of Director of the CNI after several attacks and criticisms of his management. In April, the newspaper El Mundo published information that assured, according to CNI sources, that Saiz had repeatedly used resources and public funds of the centre for personal use and enjoyment during his professional trips abroad.[13] In May, he appeared before the Congressional Defense Committee stating that he "never" used public money to defray "no personal or private expenses."[14] At the same time, the CNI ordered the withdrawal of three field agents at the request of the Cuban government, something that was seen by the members of the agency as a sign of weakness.[15]

CNI Director, Sanz Roldán (left), along with other government officials in a National Security Council meeting in January 2019.

In June, he testified again before Congress rejecting again the affirmations about his misuse of public funds.[16] Defence Minister Carme Chacón requested a full report about the CNI situation in the first days of July, provoking the director's resignation on July 9. That day, Sanz Roldán was appointed Director of the National Intelligence Center.[17]

Sanz Roldán dedicated his first years as head of the agency to "pacify", due to the bad situation that the previous director had provoked between the agents and the governing bodies.[18] In spite of the little recognition, during the first two years of his term the intelligence contributed by the CNI to the police forces of Spain and France contributed to the weakening of the terrorist band, as well as to the arrests of historical territorialists such as "Txeroki".[19] In October 2011, the terrorist group called a "definitive cessation".[20]

In 2012, Mariano Rajoy assumed the office of Prime Minister and trusted in Sanz Roldan to continue as head of the CNI. He revalidated his position as director of the CNI for a second term in 2014.[21]

Little Nicolás Scandal

In late 2014, the National Police arrested Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, a 20-year-old man who for months had been posing as an important person with contacts in the government, the administration and the National Intelligence Centre.[22][23] In November 2014, Francisco Nicolás gave interviews to Telecinco and El Mundo in which he claimed to have worked for the Spanish secret service, the Spanish royal family and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.[24]

For these claims, the CNI filed criminal charges against him for "insults and slander", but was acquitted in May 2018.[25]

Catalan referendum

At the end of 2017, Sanz Roldán and the agency received numerous criticisms for being unable to locate the polls that will be used for the 2017 independence referendum, a referendum declared illegal by the Spanish Government and the Constitutional Court.[26][27] He was alone criticized for allowing former Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, to flee to Belgium.[28]

According to Sanz Roldán on September 29, 2018, the following day to the referendum, when he arrived to the CNI headquarters, there was many "long faces" and the "feeling" that the centre "could have done better". However, Sanz Roldán defended the work of the CNI and assured that he asked the government directly if the intelligence that the center had provided to the executive "had been useful to them," and the answer, he said, was "yes".[29]

Villarejo and Corinna Scandal

Since 2014, Police Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo has been involved in several criminal cases against him for disclosure of secrets, membership in criminal organization and money laundering. In early 2019, José Manuel Villarejo sent a letter to the Prime Minister accusing Sanz Roldan of threatening certain judges of the National Court with data of their privacy so that they stop investigating issues that affect the CNI. He also accused him of working against the interests of Spain by supporting Venezuelan interests or allowing the leaks about the Spanish royal family.[30]

Other accusations against him made by Villarejo has been to protect emeritus king Juan Carlos I by threatening and bribing Corinna zu Sayn Wittgenstein, a supposed lover of the monarch, who supposesly hides critical information for the former king of Spain.[30] All this accusations has been denied by Sanz Roldán and the CNI.[30]

In July 2019, the second five-years-term of the Director of the CNI, Sanz Roldán, ended.[18] At that time, the Spanish government (Sánchez I Government) was a caretaker government due to the April 2019 general election. The impossibility of forming a government provoked that the Prime Minister could not renew the director for a new term or to nominate a new candidate. Due to this situation, Paz Esteban López, who was the Secretary-General of the CNI and, therefore, the agency's second authority, assumed the direction ad interim of the intelligence service, being the first woman to hold the post.

Sanz Roldán was awarded with the Grand Cross of the Military Merit for his services.[31]

Activities in retirement

After leaving the CNI direction, Sanz Roldán was appointed Chairman of the Social Council of the University of Castilla–La Mancha in November 2019.[32]

Awards and honors

Awards

Honors

References
  1. "Chacón elogia la capacidad de mando y diálogo del nuevo jefe del CNI". El País. 7 July 2009.
  2. "elmundo.es - Félix Sanz Roldán, nuevo Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa". www.elmundo.es.
  3. RTVE.es/EFE (2020-01-31). "Paz Esteban se convierte en la primera mujer al frente del CNI". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  4. "Doctor Honoris Causa". www.uax.es.
  5. North Athlantic Treaty Organization, biographies. http://www.nato.int/cv/chod/sp/roldan.htm
  6. Royal Decree 394/1998, of March 13 (BOE)
  7. Royal Decree 623/2001, of June 8 (BOE)
  8. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2004-9090". www.boe.es.
  9. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2004-9096". www.boe.es.
  10. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2004-12021". www.boe.es.
  11. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2008-12393". www.boe.es.
  12. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2008-15371". www.boe.es.
  13. "Agentes del CNI acusan al director de cazar y pescar con dinero público | España | elmundo.es". www.elmundo.es. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  14. "Saiz respondió dos veces en el Congreso de las acusaciones por las que dimite". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  15. "Los miembros del CNI que han abandonado Cuba son tres". Europa Press. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  16. AGENCIAS; GONZÁLEZ, MIGUEL (2009-06-23). "Saiz dice haber aportado "detalles exhaustivos" sobre sus "asuntos personales"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  17. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2009-11129". www.boe.es.
  18. Águeda, Pedro. "Sanz Roldán, "el astuto": adiós a la década de poder en la sombra del jefe del CNI". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  19. "El CNI se apunta su mayor éxito operativo con la detención del etarra Txeroki". El Confidencial (in Spanish). 2008-11-18. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  20. "Eta says armed campaign is over". BBC News. 2011-10-20. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  21. "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-2014-7078". www.boe.es.
  22. "La vida inventada del pequeño Nicolás: de 'amigo' de Felipe VI a chantajista del Ibex". El Confidencial (in Spanish). 2014-10-16. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  23. Taillac, Mathieu de (2014-10-23). "L'élite espagnole dupée par l'esbroufe du "petit Nicolas"". Le Figaro.fr (in French). Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  24. "Francisco Nicolás: "Denuncié actuaciones 'alegales' de algunos miembros del CNI"". telecinco (in European Spanish). 2014-11-23. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  25. "Absuelto el pequeño Nicolás de injurias y calumnias al CNI". El País (in Spanish). 2018-05-11. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  26. "Why the referendum on Catalan independence is illegal". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  27. "How to Stage an Illegal Referendum". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  28. "Nuevo naufragio catalán del CNI: vigilaba a 'Pokemon' pero se escapó a Bruselas". El Español (in European Spanish). 2017-11-04. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  29. "Autocrítica en el CNI por las urnas del 1-O". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2018-09-28. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  30. "Quién es Sanz Roldán y por qué es la bestia negra de Villarejo". vf (in Spanish). 2019-01-13. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  31. "El ucleseño Félix Sanz Roldán, condecorado con la Gran Cruz del Mérito Militar con distintivo blanco - Detalles - Voces de Cuenca". www.vocesdecuenca.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
  32. "Sanz Roldán es nombrado nuevo presidente del Consejo Social de la UCLM". abc (in Spanish). 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
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