Natalio Grueso, former head of the Niemeyer Center in Avilés, will be handed over to Spanish authorities in the coming days. He was detained in Portugal after more than two years on the run from justice. Spanish police had issued an international warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear to serve his sentence in a major embezzlement case.
Grueso was arrested in southern Portugal on December 4. The next day, he appeared before a court in Évora, where he agreed to extradition. He is expected to be transferred through Lisbon, with the process concluding in Madrid. According to his lawyer, Francisco Miranda, the former director will be held in Soto del Real prison, where he has already received necessary treatment for a chronic illness.
Embezzlement case
In 2020, a court in Oviedo sentenced Grueso to eight years in prison for systematic embezzlement, document forgery, and misconduct during his tenure at the Niemeyer Center. Spain’s Supreme Court upheld the sentence in April 2023. Investigators found that Grueso had used public funds for personal expenses and to pay for relatives and acquaintances, submitting fictitious invoices and forged documents.
In August 2020, a court ordered his immediate detention, but by then, Grueso had already gone into hiding. His whereabouts remained unknown until February 2024, when an international arrest warrant was issued. It was only in December this year that Portuguese police managed to apprehend the fugitive.
Court rulings
Alongside Grueso, two other individuals were also involved in the case. The foundation’s former secretary, José Luis Rebollo, was sentenced to two years in prison for corporate crimes. The third defendant, José María Vigil, a former agent of a travel company, received a six-year sentence for embezzlement, forgery, and fraud. The court found that Vigil assisted Grueso in concealing expenses for family members’ travel and accommodation by attributing them to foundation staff or fictitious purposes.
At the same time, the court acquitted Grueso’s former wife and the former head of the Niemeyer Center’s production department, finding them not guilty of complicity. The prosecution opposed the petition for Grueso’s pardon, arguing there were no grounds for leniency.
Transfer and detention conditions
According to his attorney, Grueso is in satisfactory condition, though experiencing stress over his upcoming transfer. In prison, he has been provided with the necessary medication for his chronic illness. It is still unclear how police tracked him down in Portugal, but the defense remains in contact with Portuguese colleagues.
Spanish judicial authorities have already been notified of the arrest and are preparing to receive the former director to carry out the sentence. The transfer process is expected to proceed quickly, and Grueso is likely to be in a Spanish prison soon.
Incidentally, Natalio Grueso is a well-known cultural manager in Spain who headed the Centro Niemeyer in Avilés from 2006 to 2011. The center was conceived as a major cultural project, but its name later became associated with one of the most high-profile corruption scandals in the cultural sector. After leaving the foundation, Grueso worked in various cultural institutions and also pursued a literary career. His criminal case attracted significant public attention and was widely discussed in professional circles.
