This Friday, the Police arrested 14 members of the neo-Nazi organization Núcleo Nacional for an investigation that began after riots that occurred last February in Gijón and in which several students were injured. Those involved have been arrested in a broad operation deployed across seven Spanish provinces and are being investigated for their alleged participation in a hate crime, illicit association and possession of weapons, according to sources from the Superior Court of Justice of Asturias. Among those arrested is Isabel Peralta, considered the ideologue of the organization, and the veteran leader Enrique Lemus, according to sources familiar with the operation.
The arrests and searches this Friday, coordinated by the General Police Information Commissariat, have spread since early in the morning throughout Madrid, Asturias, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Pontevedra, Burgos and Alicante. The agents have gone to the organization's headquarters in Madrid, located in a business area of the Fuencarral neighborhood, in the northern part of the capital. The place is a large place, with a gym included, which they call El Nido.
The judge in charge of the case, head of the Gijón Instruction Square number 4, has requested that seven of those arrested, whom the investigation considers "possible members of the leadership", be transferred to Asturias with the expectation of taking their statements next Sunday. The rest will be brought to justice in the corresponding duty courts.
In that dome is Isabel Peralta, who was also part of the fascist youth organization Bastión Frontal, and is one of the most visible faces of Núcleo Nacional. She is 25 years old and was sentenced to one year in prison for a hate crime against immigrants for calling for “death” against Moroccan “invaders” at a rally in front of the Moroccan Embassy in 2021. Peralta is also banned from entering Germany for trying to enter the country with objects of Nazi symbology.
Also arrested during the operation were the leader of Núcleo Nacional, Iván Rico; and his brother David, both in Guadalajara, as published by Cadena SER. Enrique Lemus, former leader of National Democracy and head of the political part of the organization, and Alberto González de Juan, known as Alberto Pugilato, have been arrested in Valladolid, reports Juan Navarro. The latter is the singer of a rock group called Pugilato that defines itself as anti-communist and has been convicted by the Supreme Court for a hate crime for the racist lyrics of its songs.
The judicial investigation was based on proceedings by the Juvenile Prosecutor's Office at the beginning of 2026, after some altercations in the vicinity of the La Inmaculada Jesuit school in Gijón, according to the aforementioned judicial sources. The members of the National Nucleus called to gather in front of the monument to the heroes of Simancas to protest against the dismantling of the sculpture with the slogan “The heroes do not touch each other.” The regional government, competent in matters of democratic memory, had reactivated the procedure to remove the sculpture group because it was considered a “symbol of exaltation of fascism” and had given the Society of Jesus, owner of the property, 15 days to present allegations against that decision.
National Nucleus, whose ideology combines racism and neo-Nazi postulates, began to take shape with the mobilizations of ultra groups in November 2023 against the amnesty law and before different PSOE headquarters, especially in Ferraz in Madrid. Since then, the organization has been involved in police interventions for public disorder and in an investigation for xenophobic speeches. This Saturday he had called a demonstration in the vicinity of the PSOE headquarters, on Madrid's Ferraz street, coinciding with the third anniversary.
The organization, monitored by security forces as a far-right youth group, registered as a political party in February. They adopted the name of National November and established their headquarters in Valladolid. Enrique Lemus is the president.
Last March, 10 people linked to this group were arrested in Madrid for a crime of public disorder for disturbing the normal functioning of the International Women's Day demonstration. In August, coinciding with the migratory crisis in Ceuta, around twenty of its members went to the autonomous city “to take part in the active defense of the city against the invasion.” The Police ended up escorting them to the port, while the neighbors chanted: “This is not Torre Pacheco.”
The ultra group was also investigated in April 2025 by the Civil Guard for the dissemination of a video on its X profile in which they called for an “active defense” of the streets and “a joint fight against the invasion”, in reference to the arrival of the foreign population. “They seek the extinction of our race, our culture and, most importantly, our nation,” this association harangued in a recording in which fifteen of its members appeared with their faces covered. The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, then considered the speech of the National Nucleus representative to be “manifestly serious” and stressed that its scenery was reminiscent of “very black, very dark, and very difficult times.”
