Tribunal de Orden Público

The Tribunal de Orden Público is the court before which Guillermo, the narrator’s long-lost son, is due to face trial as a political subversive. Its decisive significance in the story lies in how its procedures turn family recognition into a legal barrier: Rafael knows who the prisoner is, but the relationship cannot be proved, and the pending case leaves him unable simply to visit his son.

Political Prosecution

A copy of the opening page of the case file identifies the defendant as a subversive born on 11 September 1938, the son of Juan Urbieta Campos and Amparo Priego Martínez. The document gives Rafael the concrete details he had sought in order to establish whether the prisoner was Guillermo. The case is therefore both a matter of state prosecution and the means by which a concealed family connection comes into view.

The Prison Visit

After recognizing the initials J.A.U.P. as his son, Rafael’s first impulse is to go to Carabanchel Prison on a visiting day. Rita explains why that cannot happen: the prisoner is being held on remand, is awaiting trial before the Tribunal de Orden Público, and has no legally demonstrated kinship with Rafael. Even if Guillermo himself requested the visit, she says, authorization would never be granted. The court’s pending proceedings thus shape the immediate limits of contact between father and son.

Law, Identity, and Separation

The episode brings together two kinds of identity: the personal bond Rafael recognizes and the relationship the authorities can formally verify. The case file records Guillermo through birth details and parentage, while Rafael’s own status as his father remains unproved for the purpose of prison access. A lawyer confirms Rita’s assessment and proposes writing a letter instead. In this scene, the Tribunal de Orden Público is not described through a hearing or judgment; its power is registered through the consequences of a case still in progress, which keeps a father outside the prison and makes a letter the available alternative.