TRIBUTES are pouring in for two Guardia Civil officers who died while pursuing a ‘narco’ speedboat off the Costa de la Luz.
More than 100 people, including Andalucia president Juanma Moreno and crowds of local residents, attended the funeral in Huelva on Saturday.
The two officers, named as German Perez and Jeronimo Jimenez, were chasing a drug-laden speedboat off the coast of Huelva on Friday when two Guardia Civil vessels collided.
Perez, 55, is understood to have died on impact. Jimenez, 56, later died from his injuries at a hospital in Jerez de la Frontera near Cadiz.
Two other officers were injured in the collision, one of them seriously, after the suspected traffickers reportedly carried out a ‘dangerous’ manoeuvre during the high-speed chase.
Moving scenes from the funeral showed Perez’s wife, named only as Luisa and also a Guardia Civil officer, helping to carry her husband’s coffin during the service.
In a public letter addressed to Luisa, Guardia Civil union AUGC said: “We wish you would not have to go through this; we wish no one would have to part with the love of their life in this way.
“You are not alone.”
The incident has sparked outrage across Spain, with unions and authorities warning of ‘critical underfunding’ as drug traffickers step up operations along the country’s southern coast.
The AUGC criticised left-wing PSOE’s secretary general for Andalucia, Maria Jesus Montero, after she described the tragedy as a ‘workplace accident.’
“Workplace accident, Mrs Montero?” the union wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The pattern is always the same: organised violence, insufficient means, and the State looking the other way.”
Moreno, of the Partido Popular (PP), added that drug trafficking was a ‘very serious problem for Andalucia and Spain’ and called for a review of the resources and staffing needed to strengthen the response.
Both officers had received numerous commendations throughout their careers, according to multiple reports.
Perez, a veteran officer in the Maritime Service of the Guardia Civil in Huelva, was originally from Teruel and had nearly 34 years of service.
He had been stationed in Huelva since 1994, the Guardia Civil confirmed.
According to reports, he and Luisa had also recently suffered the loss of their son at a young age.
Jimenez, a captain, was originally from Villanueva del Rosario in Malaga province.
He had served in the Guardia Civil for decades and had been assigned to the Maritime Service in Huelva since 2020.
He leaves behind three children, one of them very young, and had previously worked as the Guardia Civil’s press chief in Malaga, according to Sur.
The officers’ deaths come two years after two other Guardia Civil officers were killed off the coast of Barbate when a drug-running speedboat rammed their vessel.
That incident also triggered debate over policing resources along Spain’s southern coast, amid growing concern over aggressive drug-trafficking operations.
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