In the bunker of Montjuïc
It was still night and the Castle of Montjuïc overlooked the city with its stubborn look of suspicion, with the attitude of those whose only aim is to stand there with an aura of annoyance. In the bunker beneath the granite and slate mountain, the Commander of the infantry corps was standing for about thirty minutes, the time his speech lasted, and would remain standing during the brief round of questions that the members of the General Staff had presented to clarify what happened in Banyoles street last Monday at midday.
The expression in General Roel’s face did not change during the brief monologue of the Commander. Once considered the operative failed to intercept and eliminate Francesc Bastida before he arrived in Barcelona, and because of the danger that implied by the presence of such serious subversive elements in the capital, a decision was made to make him disappear sharply. The order to eliminate the target within a period not exceeding four hours was transmitted to the command of the special operating service of Barcelona .
When the command was about to carry out the action, they received two notifications that forced them to abort the mission. The Intelligence Services warned of the presence in Banyoles street, where the operation was to be developed, of those two police officers previously in charge of monitoring Bastida’s movements. In addition, the members of the special forces operative, hidden in Travessera de Gràcia, identified two people carrying a homemade bazooka, at a few meters distance from their position.
The two armed people advanced within less than a hundred meters from Banyoles street and fired a projectile that left one casualty, agent Pujol, and several wounded. These include agent Cabanillas, the employee of a burger bar and Bastida. Both the police and the bartender had already made statements at the police station, while Francesc Bastida, in custody at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, suffered severe injuries that make his withdrawn to justice impossible.
Regarding the responsibility for the attack in Banyoles street, the first hypothesis suggest that the responsible are a rival group, not very numerous, but dynamic and with important contacts abroad. This faction was banned some months ago after the meeting in which Francesc Bastida emerged as the reinforced and undisputed leader of the Apparatus.