There was something fitting about the name of the thoroughfare in which Carles Puigdemont was welcomed back to Barcelona on Thursday. Cheering supporters lined el Passeig de Lluis Companys as the former president of Catalonia arrived back in the city after almost seven years of self-imposed exile.
In 1939, seeing that General Franco’s troops were about to enter Barcelona, Companys, another former president of Catalonia, fled to France. Captured near Nantes by the Gestapo, he was returned to Spain where he endured five weeks of torture. A court martial lasting less than an hour then sentenced him to death. Refusing to wear a blindfold, Companys stood barefoot before the firing squad so that he could die touching the soil of his beloved homeland. ‘Per Catalunya!’ (‘For Catalonia!) he shouted as the Civil Guards opened fire. The cause of death was given as ‘traumatic internal haemorrhage’. Decades later as democracy was restored, numerous streets and plazas in Catalonia were named ‘Lluís Companys’ in his honour.
Thursday’s events look set to cause major problems for Spain’s national government
Nearly eighty years later, hidden in the boot of a car to escape arrest, Puigdemont fled to Belgium in 2017 after leading the region’s illegal push for independence from Spain. It was the general election held in July last year that finally gave him a chance to return. Although the vote for his separatist party declined significantly, the parliamentary arithmetic was providential: if Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s incumbent left-wing prime minister, was to cling onto power he would need the seven votes of Puigdemont’s separatist party, Junts per Cataluyna. The price Puigdemont exacted for those seven votes was a general amnesty for several hundred people accused of criminal activities during Catalonia’s secession push, including the illegal declaration of independence in 2017.
Most of the charges against Puigdemont are covered by that amnesty. However, last month Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that Puigdemont and others had had no right to use public funds to finance their illegal push for independence. They considered that the misuse of public funds is outside the scope of the amnesty law, so the warrant for Puigdemont’s arrest remains in force.
Knowing that, Puigdemont nevertheless appeared in the centre of Barcelona early on Thursday morning and delivered a rousing six-minute speech to some three thousand of his fired-up supporters. And then to national astonishment – this was broadcast live on television – he somehow contrived to disappear, humiliating the many Catalan regional police officers who were standing by waiting to arrest him. Realising their mistake, the police rushed to set up roadblocks. Although they did remember on this occasion to check inside the boots of the cars, they only succeeded in causing massive traffic jams.
At the time of writing, Puigdemont’s whereabouts remain unknown. There were rumours on Thursday afternoon that he was inside the Catalan parliament building and would appear in time to vote on the investiture of a new President of Catalonia (following the regional elections held earlier this year). But in the event Puigdemont was conspicuous by his absence.
That vote resulted in the election of Salvador Illa, leader of the Catalan branch of Pedro Sánchez’s socialist party, with 68 votes in favour, 66 against, and one vote – Puigdemont’s – not cast. Illa is Catalonia’s first non-separatist president in fourteen years; his promise to concentrate on solving day-to-day problems in the region is good news for Catalans.
But Thursday’s events look set to cause major problems for Spain’s national government. If, as now seems likely, Puigdemont has escaped arrest and leaves the country again, the political ramifications will be enormous. Spain’s right-wing opposition parties are pointing out that there is a warrant for his arrest which had to be executed if possible – and, as everyone could see on Thursday morning, it was entirely possible. The right-wing parties are laying the blame at the door of Prime Minister Sánchez and they are expressing the indignation felt by millions of Spaniards who have never forgiven Puigdemont for leading the illegal push for independence and would dearly like to see him behind bars.
It’s not clear what Puigdemont thinks he has achieved by appearing for a few minutes and then disappearing again. But during his short speech on Thursday morning he repeated one of his favourite ideas: that he, and indeed all Catalans, are somehow the victims of ‘the repressive Spanish state’. The truth however is that Spain today is a modern liberal democracy. If he is ever arrested, Puigdemont’s rights will be respected – he isn’t going to be tortured and then summarily executed.