On the night of August 9, the family chauffeur drove Federico García Lorca to the home of his friend the poet Luis Rosales. The Rosales brothers were all leaders of the Falange. Lorca thought it was the safest place. However, on the afternoon of August 16, a group led by former CEDA deputy Ramón Ruiz Alonso, who had accused him of being a Russian spy, secretary of Fernando de los Ríos, a homosexual and of having done more damage “with the pen than others with guns”, showed up at the house accompanied by other factious people and arrested him. There was a third search in Huerta de San Vicente (San Vicente Farmhouse) on August 15 with Lorca already absent.
The poet was transferred to the Gobierno Civil, then located in the current Law School with access on Duquesa Street. Federico García Lorca was confined in a small room containing a square table, an armchair and a couple of chairs. There he was seen by several people, among them José Rosales. He remained in the room, which overlooked the Botanical Garden, for a period of time that, according to the different versions of the investigators, ranged from ten hours to two full days.