Jorge Caballero Sánchez

Description

On March 28, 1980, at 10:20 p.m., Jorge Caballero Sánchez and his girlfriend were leaving the Azul cinema, opposite Madrid’s Gran Vía, after watching the film A Clockwork Orange, when eight individuals approached them and began harassing them. Jorge and his girlfriend intended to take a taxi to go home when these individuals started to insult and harass Jorge, whom they labeled as an “anarchist.” Apparently, these individuals had seen the “A” insignia on Jorge, which motivated the initial aggression, although according to police sources, the victim never responded to the attacks. Given the numerical superiority of the aggressors, it seemed the most reasonable decision.

The ages of these individuals were estimated to be between fifteen and sixteen years old. Among them were Juan José Llobregat, alias “the madman,” armed with a machete; José María Vargas Villaba, alias “the man from Jerez”; and José Miguel Gómez González, alias “the mass,” a centurion leader of Fuerza Joven. Although initially, when they approached Jorge and his girlfriend, they did not appear to be armed with visible weapons, nor did they wear any political insignia, they were, in fact, armed with sticks, baseball bats, and knives. They had all gone out to Madrid’s Gran Vía in search of a victim, and that victim turned out to be Jorge.

The attackers surrounded Jorge, and quickly escalated from insults to physical violence, first hitting him in the face until he fell to the ground, and then began kicking his sides and head. When he tried to stand up, José Juan Llobregat brandished his machete and drove it into Jorge’s chest, piercing his liver and part of his right lung. Jorge agonized in the hospital for 15 days before finally succumbing to this brutal assault.

Juan José Llobregat fled abroad with the help of Fuerza Nueva’s deputy chief, Ricardo Alba, to avoid facing justice for the crime, as well as possible reprisals from anarchist or far-left organizations. However, the police arrested some of the other attackers: “the mass” and “the man from Jerez,” as well as several members of Fuerza Nueva, including Fernando Saliquet de la Torre, Felipe Queipo Zimmerman, Antonio Pagazanturdia Irache, Pascual García Porras, and the brothers Miguel Ángel and Javier Fernando Masía Linaza.

More than seven years after the events, on April 28, 1987, the Madrid Provincial Court put the accused on trial, charging them with public disorder instead of murder, as requested by the private lawyer representing Jorge Caballero’s family, María Ángeles López. The accused were only sentenced to pay fines, while the material author of the murder, Juan José Llobregat, remained a fugitive from justice. The Interpol search and arrest warrant for him remained active until 1999, according to police sources. Since then, Juan José Llobregat has been a free man, and his crime remains unpunished.