Blocking Catalonia’s bid for independence, 62-year-old Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, got the last laugh, firing Catalan’s governor Carles Puigdemont and the parliament yesterday after attempting to secede from Spain. Puigdemont claimed an Oct. 1 independence referendum showed that over 2 million Catalans voted 97% to secede from Madrid, despite the Catalan government’s controlled the vote. When an estimated 1 million Catalans took to the streets today to protest the secession move, it showed that Puigdemont might have skewed the results. Firing Puigdemont and the Catalan parliament, Rajoy installed Deputy Prime Minster Soraya Saenz de Santamaria to lead the Catalan state. Rajoy recognized that Puigdemont and a coterie of secession backers attempted a coup d’etat. Hiding behind the Oct. 1 independence referendum, Puigdemont nearly pulled it off.
Refusing to resign his post at Catalan governor, Puigdemont faces certain charges and arrest for subversion, rebellion and treason to the Spanish government. How Puigdemont thought that whipping up a Brexit-like vote would succeed in pulling Catalonia out of the Spanish government is anyone’s guess. British voters decided June 23, 2016 to end their ties to the European Union, not betray country-and-queen. “We have organized ourselves late, but ware are here to show that there is a majority of Catalans that are no longer silent and not longer want to be silenced,” said Alex Ramos, head of pro-union Catalan civil society. “We won’t let Spain be torn apart into pieces,” read a protester’s banner on Barcelona streets. Rajoy correctly read the mood of the vast majority of Catalans wanting no part of Puigdemont’s attempt to split Spain apart. Puigdemont tried to sell independence to Catalan voters.
Triggering his constitutional authority, Rajoy fired Puigdemont and his rubber-stamp Catalan parliament. Without firing Puigdemont and parliament, Catalanonia would not have the cash to continue paying some 200,000 government workers. Puigdemont had no way to compensate public employees other than issuing IOUs. With a million anti-secession Catalans taking to the streets in Barcelona, it’s clear that Puigdemont had no mandate to break away from Madrid. Whether or not Puigdemont resigns his post, he should still be arrested for insurrection and treason. No federal state can accept breakaway movements by ambition politicians looking to hijack states for their own agenda. Puigdemont asked Catalan’s pro-independence voters to take to the streets to peacefully demonstrate. What pro-secession voter don’t get is that Puigdemont attempted a bloodless coup.
Ousted Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras called on pro-secession backers to vote in the early elections called for Dec. 21. But with so many Catalans taking to the streets to keep Spain intact, it seems unlikely that there’s much support for the separatist movement. Resisting Madrid could result in the arrests of Puigdemont, his deputies and members of Catalan’s parliament. Rajoy believes that Puigdemont and pro-secession members of parliament engaged in “rebellion,” a charge subject to imprisonment, should Puigdemont not comply with Rajoy’s order. “It’s time to take over the streets and take over ballot boxes,” said Alerter Rivera, head of center-right Citizen’s Party, backing Puigdemont’s secession movement. Sunday’s 1 million-plus rally defended Spain’s unity, rejecting “an unprecedented attack in the history of democracy,” calling for an independent Catalan state.
Rajoy’s extreme measures firing Puigdemont and the Catalan parliament attempted to protect some 200,00 government workers faced with losing their jobs. “Catalan leaders have broken the law. The central government has let this situation go for too long, for even 30 or 40 years, thinking that we were never going to arrive at this extreme, but here were are,” said 66-year-old retiree Angelita Cusesta. Letting Spain’s separate states run as min-governments gives the wrong impression to opportunistic politicians like Puigdemont. Had Rajoy not enforced Spain’s constitution, putting an end to Catalan’s independence effort, some 200,000 Catalan federal workers would have lost their salaries. “Many of you would have lost your jobs,” said Josep Borrell, former president of the Brussels-based European parliament. Puigdemont seized power at any costs, including bankrupting Catalonia.
Puigdemont’s move to secede from Madrid was a bloodless coup, usurping the authority of Spain’s federal government. Rajoy acted to protect Spain’s sovereignty, firing Puigdemont and the Catalan parliament. Polling voters in a particular region often dismisses the more important federal issues. With Catalonia’s hefty tourism, Spain needs the region for its own revenue stream, regardless of all the local arguments supporting secession. Puigdemont’s Oct. 1independence referendum is no different than the lunacy of June 30 CalExit proposition, collecting enough signature to eventually mandate California to secede from the union. No one in their right minds believe that a ballot initiate supercedes the U.S. Constitution, requiring member states to hold loyalty to the federal government. Puigdemont nearly pulled off his coup d’etat before Rajoy figured out how to stop it.
