More imprisonments in Spain?

In the last six months, dozens of attacks and violent acts have been committed in Catalonia by pro-Spain, far-right, and neo-Nazi groups, big and small. Neither the PP nor Ciudadanos have said a word about them (which is logical, as they are their voters), and neither have the PSOE or the PSC: on the contrary, socialist leaders have dedicated themselves to attending the demonstrations held by the so-called grassroots groups that protect and encourage these extremists. The violence perpetrated in these attacks has been very real, and doesn't need to be invented in synchronized statements by politicians (like those we're seeing these days, from leaders of the aforementioned parties) nor by the prosecutors who are acting under orders from their leaders.

When extremists attack, there are always people who end up getting injured, and public and private property that is damaged, along with insults, intimidating or degrading attitudes, and exhibition of Nazi and Franco-era symbols. All of this happens, we repeat, without any Article 155 politician appearing to offer the most minimal comment, and almost always with absolute police and judicial impunity. Those responsible for the attack at the Blanquerna bookstore, despite being sentenced to prison, are still walking around freely --remember that one of them, one Iñigo Pérez de Herrasti, is the brother-in-law of the bridegroom of death and Minister of Education and Culture Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, and cousin of the ex-Minister of Defense and arms dealer Pedro Morenés.

Speaking of families, that of the young Valencian anti-fascist activist Guillem Agulló will mourn the 25th anniversary of his murder at the hands of a far-right group one week from today. Of his murderers only one, Pedro Cuevas, went to prison, and only for four years, after which he continued to be a member of violent, ideologically extremist groups, and has even run in elections; he was also found non-guilty by Spain’s Supreme Court in a second trial for the illegal possession of firearms, and they returned the arsenal that was taken from his house. The impunity of the far right in Spain is hardly a new thing. It's always been there. Once again: do not expect to see the day when some socialist or intellectual who doesn't hesitate to write that Catalonia has been fanaticized by pro-independence totalitarianism will say something about all that.

The CDR (Catalonia’s Committees for the Defense of the Republic) have not committed any acts of violence, only acts of civil disobedience, but who cares. As with those arrested for burning photos of the king, or with councilman Joan Coma, who was transported in handcuffs in a police van from Vic to Madrid’s National Court for having said that in order to make an omelette you have to break a few eggs, the absurd and grotesque logic of repression has neither shame nor limits. They say whatever they want and do whatever they want, with the same goal as always: to subjugate the people by force and fear. The false accusations against the CDR will probably result in further arrests and who knows how many more imprisonments. The government of Spain and its accomplices don't want to see it, but these are the kinds of excesses that precede the fall of an authoritarian regime.