Spanish generals’ veiled threat to Catalan independence movement

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

The Help Catalonia website says that these words add a whole new dimension to the political situation

THE SPECTRE of Spain's fascist leader General Franco looms behind today’s statement by retired army officers in the Spanish Military Association (Asociación de Militares Españoles – AME) saying that anyone promoting “Spain’s fracture” (i.e. independence for Catalonia) could be court-martialled.

AME named the President of Catalonia and all the members of his party as potential defendants in military tribunals.

The Help Catalonia website says:

“According to these retired army officers, all who are collaborating with or have participated in this cause should be aware that they will have to answer to an accusation of high treason in front of a military court.”

Spanish Army Colonel Francisco Alamán had previously said in an interview with Alerta Digital that Catalonia would only be independent “over my dead body and that of many other soldiers”, arguing that the Spanish Army has solemnly sworn to defend “the non-negotiable principle of Spain's unity” and that they will defend it “even with our lives”.

Help Catalonia adds that today's statement by AME adds a whole new dimension to the political situation “when we consider that the last Catalan president before Franco’s dictatorship, Lluís Companys, was court-martialed, sentenced to death, and shot by the fascist Spanish Army”.

He is the only democratically-elected president to ever have been executed in Europe.

Spanish conservatives were furious when, on Monday 10 September, President of Catalonia Artur Mas used his eve of Catalan National Day speech to call for more “justice and liberty” from Spain.

Speaking on television, President Mas said:

“Tomorrow, many compatriots will demonstrate in Barcelona. My heart will be with you because, ultimately – whether you are demanding a fiscal pact or our own state – all your voices will be raised in the same direction: for more justice and more freedom for Catalonia.”

The next day, Catalan National Day (11 September), 1.5million people filled the streets of Barcelona in support of independence for Catalonia.