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Fugitive separatist Puigdemont returns to Spain but vanishes again

Carles Puigdemont, the former leader of Catalonia who fled Spain over his role in a failed 2017 independence bid, returned to Spain on Thursday after seven years on the run despite a pending arrest warrant, but promptly disappeared again.

Published: 8 August 2024 09:21 CEST
Fugitive separatist Puigdemont returns to Spain but vanishes again
Catalonia's exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont arrives to deliver a speech on stage as his hardline separatist JxCAT party has scheduled a welcome ceremony, ahead of an investiture vote at the Parliament of Catalonia, in Barcelona on August 8, 2024.. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)

Puigdemont shouted “Long live a free Catalonia!” as he climbed onto a stage in Barcelona to address thousands gathered near the Catalan regional parliament which is set to elect a new leader later in the day.

“I have come here to remind you that we are still here,” he said as many in the crowd waved red, yellow and blue Catalan independence flags.

After his brief address, Puigdemont appeared to head towards the nearby Catalan parliament but the assembly began an investiture vote to pick a new leader for the region without him being present.

It was not immediately clear where he was.

Police had set up road blocks in Barcelona and were searching cars to try to find Puigdemont, according to Spanish media reports.

Contacted by AFP, police declined to comment if such an operation was underway.

Nuria Pujol, a woman in her fifties who came to Barcelona from the Alt Penedes region to see Puigdemont, called him “a very noble person”.

PROFILE: Carles Puigdemont – Catalonia’s eternal separatist

“(He’s) the only one who believes in independence and has not stopped believing,” she added.

A small group of protesters gathered nearby, waving national Spanish flags and holding signs that read “Catalonia is Spain”, in a demonstration organised by far-right party Vox.

‘Problem with democracy’

Puigdemont’s dramatic return came just days after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists struck a deal with moderate Catalan separatist party ERC – which competes with Puigdemont’s more hardline JxCAT – to make the Socialist candidate, Salvador Illa, the next head of the Catalan regional government.

The Socialists won the most seats in a regional election in May but failed to get a majority and the support of the ERC is crucial.

If a new Catalan regional government is not formed by August 26th, fresh elections will be held in October.

Puigdemont led the regional government of Catalonia in 2017, when it pushed ahead with an independence referendum despite a court ban, followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

He fled Spain shortly after the independence bid to avoid prosecution and has since lived in Belgium and more recently France.

While Spain’s parliament in May passed an amnesty law for those involved in the botched secession bid, the Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that the measure would not fully apply to Puigdemont.

“A country that has an amnesty law and does not apply it, has a problem with democracy,” he said in his speech.

Path to independence?

Sánchez agreed to the amnesty law in exchange for JxCAT’s crucial support in Spain’s parliament for his fragile minority government, sparking huge street protests that were organised by the right wing.

He is now facing opposition from parts of his own Socialist party as well as the right over a proposal to give Catalonia full control of the taxes collected in the region.

The measure was promised to the ERC in exchange for the party’s support for Illa in Thursday’s Catalan investiture vote.

The proposal has for decades been one of the main demands of Catalan independence parties but critics argue it would deprive the central state of a substantial source of revenue.

READ MORE: The plan for Catalonia to handle its own finances separately from Spain

It must still be approved by Spain’s national parliament.

A similar system already exists in Spain’s northern Basque Country, which also has an active independence movement.

If Illa passes Thursday’s investiture vote, he will be the first head of Catalonia’s regional government since 2010 who does not come from the separatist camp.

The former health minister has defended the tax agreement made with the ERC, saying it was “favourable for all Catalans”.

“They are agreements designed to improve our finances without harming anyone and whilst respecting the principles of (fiscal) solidarity,” he said after securing the ERC’s support.

But former Socialist deputy prime minister Alfonso Guerra has said the tax agreement opens “a path towards a federal system and the independence of Catalonia”.

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POLITICS

Spain rejects claim of involvement in plot to ‘destabilise’ Venezuela

Spain has rejected allegations by Venezuela that Madrid was involved in a plot to destabilise Maduro's government, following the arrest of two Spanish nationals in the Latin American country.

Published: 16 September 2024 09:42 CEST
Spain rejects claim of involvement in plot to 'destabilise' Venezuela

“Spain denies and categorically rejects any insinuation that it is involved in a political destabilisation operation in Venezuela,” the source told AFP after three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were detained in Venezuela and accused of involvement in a plot against the government.

The government has “confirmed” that the two Spanish detainees are not part of Spain’s CNI spy agency “or any other state body”, the source added.

“Spain defends a democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela,” the source said.

Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Saturday that the foreign nationals were being held on suspicion of planning an attack on President Nicolas Maduro and his government.

He said two Spaniards were recently detained in Puerto Ayacucho in the southwest over the alleged plot linked to intelligence agencies in the United States and Spain as well as to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

A US State Department spokesperson said Saturday that “any claims of US involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false”.

The arrests come amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and both the United States and Spain over Venezuela’s disputed July 28 presidential election, which the country’s opposition accuses President Nicolas Maduro of stealing.

Maduro, who succeeded iconic left-wing leader Hugo Chávez on his death in 2013, insists he won a third term but failed to release detailed voting tallies to back his claim.

The two Spaniards, Andrés Martínez Adasme and José María Basoa, were on holiday in Venezuela, Adasme’s father told daily Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

“My son does not work for the CNI, of course not. We are waiting for information from the consulate and embassy. We still do not know what they are accused of or the reason for their arrest,” he added.

Tensions between Caracas and former colonial power Spain rose sharply after Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, went into exile in Spain a week ago, after being threatened with arrest.

Earlier this week Caracas recalled its ambassador to Madrid for consultations and summoned Spain’s envoy to Venezuela for talks after a Spanish minister accused Maduro of running a “dictatorship.”

Venezuela was also angered by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to meet with Gonzalez Urrutia and warned Spain against any “interference” in its affairs.

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