Like a modern-day Robin Hood, an outlaw defying authorities, embodying public dissatisfaction with unfair and tyrannical laws.
Exiled ex-Catalan separatist leader, Carles Puigdemont’s quick trip to Spain and back will be analysed for months to come. Probably there will always be more questions than answers and we’ll probably never know the complete truth: why he made this dramatic return after seven-years of exile despite facing an outstanding arrest warrant.
He fled the country in 2017, during the crackdown against the separatist government. Many leaders were arrested (later imprisoned), but he managed to elude capture thanks to a tipoff from a sympathetic regional police officer. He smuggled himself out of the country in the boot of a car.
He didn’t return when he announced his plan to win the Catalan regional election and become president again. He did it in the sleepy French town of Perpignan, just across the border. “
If I am elected president, my number one priority will be to reunite the independence movement once again”, he said. Back then, polls placed him in second place. He still decided not to return and risk being arrested on the charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement of public funds. His goal is not less than to “work out fairer treatment and respect” with the Spanish state.
In the end, he didn’t gather enough support to become president, maybe a sign that his time as the leading force of Catalan separatists was over.
Yet, on the morning of August 8, Mr. Puigdemont was standing on a podium near the Catalan parliament in Barcelona and gave a brief speech. Though some thought that he would enter the parliament building, but he didn’t do so, probably because the small army of police officers waiting for him there.
He shouted, “long live a free Catalonia” and reminded his audience that “we [the separatists] are still here”. Then he vanished in the crowd.
“It was magic”, as former Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias put it.
Neither his appearance, nor his possible reasons were completely surprising.
In the message posted on X just days before, he stated that he intended to go back to Spain to prevent the Catalan parliament from voting in favour of a socialist-led regional government. He also said that he “cannot remain silent in the face of the attitude of rebellion in which some judges of the Supreme Court have indulged”.
Another possible cause might have been his wish to pressure Madrid into extending the country’s new amnesty law to him, as well.
Re-establishing himself as the leading force of the leader and most-important person of the pro-independence movement could have played a role, too. Especially to do so vis-à-vis his party’s main rival, the Catalan Republican Left (ECR).
Or maybe all the above and some political calculations. According to his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, his return “was necessary to demonstrate the false appearance of normality that the Spanish Government is trying to sell”.
Either way, Catalan police reportedly set up roadblocks within Barcelona and leading out of the city. There was a manhunt on a previously unheard-of scale, even sewers were searched for the fugitive politician.
Pepper sprays had to be used to disperse Puigdemont supporters who gathered near the parliament, and clashed with police in a bid to breach the cordon around the building.
Yet, despite “Operation Jaula”, Puigdemont left Spain without much trouble and is already safely back in Waterloo. If the news is right, he did so once again with the help of a police officer.
Experts say that his act might not change too much as regards Catalan politics.
Catalan people seem to have gotten tired of the independence aspirations.
A hope that was once supported by more than half of Catalan voters, has lost its momentum. In the last elections, not the separatists, but the Socialists came first. Hence Socialist Salvador Illa became president. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, also a Socialist himself, has propagated a “policy of reunion”.
Illa even managed to negotiate a deal with the ECR, offering a new financial modelling system (among others) in exchange for political support. He promised to “govern for everyone”, with respect to the “diversity and plurality of the people of Catalonia”. He also swore to avoid “divisive, demagogic and populist approaches”.
Even within his own party, Junts, there have been calls for “moderation”.
Whatever the reasons for his latest step, he surely managed to create chaos.
As currently the ECR oversees the Catalan police force, Puigdemont’s show-up-and-disappear game was a serious loss of face for them. Following his escape, two police officers were arrested on suspicion of aiding him.
Conspiracy theories are plenty, so is mutual mudslinging between Madrid and Barcelona about responsibilities. Justice Minister Felix Bolanos stated that “it was the job of the Mossos [the Catalan police force] to enforce court orders in Catalonia”. Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena, the judge who has issued the arrest warrant for Mr. Puigdemont, demands answers from Catalonia’s regional police force.
Catalan police says that it would have been unfortunate to arrest Puigdemont right in front of his supporters. “With more than 2,000 people around, going in there and arresting Puigdemont would have caused a public order problem, and we have to avoid that at all costs.” And, remembering the chaos on Barcelona’s streets following the 2017 crackdown, it was probably a legitimate consideration.
In the wake of his surprise visit, his Junts party announced that it was reevaluating its support for the central government in Madrid, and there was “only a very narrow path forward or no path at all”, referring to the amnesty deal and Puigdemont.
Puigdemont’s first escape has already became a legend among his supporters.
His ability to pull the same stunt for a second time elevates his status as “the outlaw able to play authorities while fighting against injustice”.
Only time will tell, whether the modern day Robin Hood was able to change the course of Spanish politics.
