Enric Millo, the Spanish government’s delegate in Catalonia, said during the week that ‘the government of Spain is building confidence around the world, and everyone sees that we have a consolidated democracy.’ Well, let’s just consider that absolutely absurd claim, Enric, as we reflect on some of the week’s news, more or less in the order that events unfolded. Much of what has happened in Spain in the past 6 days has been slated and ridiculed in the international media, bringing further damage (if that’s possible) to ‘Brand Spain’ or ‘Marca España’ …

Last Sunday there were reports that a Spanish runner in the London Marathon spat in the face of a spectator carrying a Catalan flag; she was the daughter of another runner, a Catalan dermatologist. After the Spanish National Police had confiscated yellow T-shirts and scarves from Barcelona fans before the start of last Saturday’s Copa del Rey (in which the king of Spain was met with a ‘deafening whistle’ during the national anthem), questions were asked in the Spanish senate as to why. The Spanish government eventually denied that any order had been given, and insisted that it was a police and security decision.

Yellow roses featured prominently during Monday’s celebration of Sant Jordi across Catalonia, as a symbol of protest against the Catalan political prisoners. Spain finally began some civil war exhumations at the ‘Valley of the Fallen’ – Franco’s grotesque mausoleum. I say ‘some’ because there are around 34,000 civil war dead there (from both sides) – but only four were to be exhumed. Only in 2016 did a court finally approve the exhumation of two brothers executed by Francoist forces at the start of the civil war. ‘The bodies of Manuel Lapeña, a vet, and his brother Antonio, a blacksmith, were dumped in a mass grave in Calatayud, north-eastern Spain and then dug up decades later and reburied in the basilica without their families’ knowledge or permission,’ reported The Guardian. On Monday, the families weren’t even allowed access in order to witness the start of the search for exhumation.

Willy Toledo, the actor accused of insulting God and the Virgin Mary, failed to turn up for the court hearing (and nor did God and the Virgin Mary). Toledo has now been summoned again for 22^nd May, and threatened with arrest if he fails to appear.

The ‘number two’ at the Spanish Treasury was reported as agreeing with his Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, in that there was no misuse of public funds for the 1^st October referendum in Catalonia. It seems that five reports have already been issued stating the same thing. The news has been widely reported in the German press, as authorities there still await further evidence in the extradition request of Carles Puigdemont.

On Wednesday, the former president of the Assembly of the Council of Europe and current PP senator, Pedro Agramunt, was forced to deny all allegations against him in a report by an Independent Commission of the European institution that investigates possible corruption. He claimed it was ‘219 pages of lies’ which included reports of bribes, threesomes with prostitutes, envelopes containing €500 notes, bank transfers of €15,000, as well as gifts from Hermès and loads of caviar. He added, ‘I wish I could do these things’, but that he was ‘at an age’ and that ‘it was all false … a ridiculous accusation and without evidence.’ So there you go.

Both Oriol Junqueras and Jordi Cuixart have again requested to be moved to prisons in Catalonia; the request will no doubt be refused. Catalan MP Jordi Sànchez was ordered to remain 18 hours a day in his cell for a month as punishment for recording a voice message for last December’s electoral campaign … er, an electoral campaign in which he was legally allowed to stand as a candidate. The Spanish Constitutional Court (perhaps on the Spanish government’s instructions) has also ruled that Carles Puigdemont can’t actually be the President of Catalonia … er, despite also being allowed to stand in last December’s elections as the leader of his party, and despite gaining enough seats to retain his position as President in a coalition of the pro-independence groups. Indeed, The Times newspaper published an in-depth interview with Puigdemont this very weekend, referring to him as still the current Catalan President … as well as ‘Spain’s public enemy No.1.’ Meanwhile, Spain’s Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, told German financial newspaper, Handelsblatt, that ‘any mediation [with Catalonia] through a third party would be a victory for Puigdemont, which he didn’t win at the ballot boxes.’

A security camera video (that had been kept concealed for seven years) emerged of Cristina Cifuentes, the PP president of Madrid’s regional government, stealing two tubs of Olay anti-ageing face cream, worth about €40, from an Eroski supermarket. Eroski’s security videos are normally erased after 15 days, so it is unclear how OK Diario obtained the footage and published it. Cifuentes had already been under pressure to resign over allegations that she’d faked her master’s degree, awarded by the King Juan Carlos University in Madrid – and on whom she’d tried to put the blame. Finally she resigned without using the word ‘resign’. Instead, she said she was stepping aside to not jeopardise her administration’s achievements and not allow the ‘leftist opposition’ to take control. It was reported that Rajoy had ordered her to resign before 12 noon, which was the start of the crucial budget debate.

The ‘News Council’ of Spain’s public broadcaster, TVE, has asked the European Parliament to evaluate whether the corporation fulfils ‘the principles of objectivity, plurality and impartiality’ in its efforts to denounce cases of ‘news manipulation and censorship’. Recent controversies included playing the theme tune of The Exorcist over images of Carles Puigdemont.

A judge dismissed the case of some municipal police who’d threatened the Madrid mayor, Manuela Carmena, in a WhatsApp chat. The hate speech, that included wishing her ‘an agonising death’ and referring to her as ‘a motherfucking red bitch’ was private, according to the judge. There were unconfirmed reports of people being paid €50 euros a night to go out and remove yellow ribbons and ‘free political prisoners’ posters, after videos emerged of men in balaclavas doing so. A 3,000 person human chain at Montserrat mountain was formed to demand freedom of Catalan political prisoners still in Spanish jails.

Spain’s Interior Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, wanted to give awards to the German police who detained Puigdemont. That was embarrassing in itself. The fact that the German authorities then said that they didn’t want him to, made it even more embarrassing. The story was picked up by The Washington Post, which explained that the government of Schleswig Holstein (where the 25^th March arrest occurred) had refused to give Spain the names of the officers involved because they ‘only did their jobs’.

A video emerged of scenes outside the ‘bar fight’ in Alsasua, that appeared to contradict versions given at the trial by one of the off-duty Civil Guard officers attacked. Albert Rivera, leader of Spain’s Ciudadanos party, retweeted a collage photo published by El Mundo newspaper, identifying eight Catalan teachers under investigation for supposed ‘hate crimes’. He accused the Spanish government of cowardice for not applying further disciplinary measures. This man hopes to become the next Prime Minister of Spain.

Warning: this last piece of sickening Spanish news (and which became global news) might not be suitable for some people to read.

Back in July 2016, five men from Seville (including a Civil Guard officer and a military officer) gang raped – yes, gang raped – an 18 year old woman at the bull running festival in Pamplona. The men called themselves ‘la manada’ (or ‘wolf pack’) in their WhatsApp group. As the sickening ordeal was detailed by the three judges handling the trial, the victim was ‘penetrated in the mouth’ by all five men, in the vagina by two, and anally by another. None of the men used condoms. Two men filmed their crimes on mobile phones, and one also stole the victim’s phone. The judges described the victim as ‘crouching down’ in the videos, ‘shouting’, ‘moaning in pain’, ‘terrified’, ‘trapped against a wall’ and also ‘boxed in’ – and she was clearly ‘subject to the will’ of the attackers. The victim suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and still receives psychological treatment.

On Thursday, a Navarra court cleared the five men of rape, and found them guilty of just ‘sexual abuse’, with a sentence of just 9 years. Believe it or not, one of the three judges had even called for a not-guilty decision. Lawyers for the victim are appealing against the sentence. The article of the Spanish Criminal Code dealing with sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape makes a distinction between different crimes based on the presence, or not, of ‘violence or intimidation’ during the events. The judges ruled there had been no violence or intimidation used, and therefore no crime of rape. The verdict provoked an immediate public and social outcry, with more than 40 protests across Spanish towns and cities. The protests in Pamplona are on-going.

There are several things that need to really change in Spain, and fast.

I’d intended to blog about the main news from Spain and Catalonia again: fake masters, the fake accusations of violence from CDR groups, fake rebellion and terrorism charges, fake accusations of the misuse of public funds, the fake ‘negative effect’ on the economy of the Catalan independence process, the fake news about Russian ‘anti-Spain bots’ influencing the December 21^st elections (despite what El Pais claimed), the fake town of Sant Esteve de les Roures, first invented by the Guardia Civil because of the ‘violence’ that took place there – and now peacefully (and hysterically) adopted on social media by the Catalans themselves. I was going to blog about Roberto Mesa, the activist accused of wanting to throw ‘the Bourbons to the sharks’ … or about the benefits of tax relief if you donate to the Francisco Franco Foundation … or about the actor Willy Toledo not turning up in court to answer accusations of insulting God (who didn’t turn up either, apparently) … or about Chinese ballot boxes, or the CaixaBank and the Chinese mafia … or Manuel Valls, Noam Chomsky, ETA’s apology, or judge Llarena v Cristóbal Montoro … or about Roger Torrent meeting UN officials and the mayor in Geneva … or Artur Mas meeting up with Nicola Sturgeon (and also Clara Ponsatí) in Edinburgh … or about Letizia opening a car door for her mother-in-law. Yeah, I was going to blog about all that ‘stuff’ … but I still can’t get over what happened before last night’s football match.

Yellow. It is just a colour.

Here are some questions for you, Spain. Who actually gave the order for Spanish National Police officers to confiscate yellow scarves and shirts from Barcelona fans (many of the items not even bearing any slogans at all) before last night’s ‘Copa del Rey’ final between Barcelona and Sevilla at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid? Out of curiosity, had there been a discussion or agreement in parliament beforehand? Or a decision taken at a government cabinet meeting? Was there a court order? Who ordered the police to confiscate yellow items? The owners of the stadium? The Spanish football federation? The police themselves? A judge? Spain’s minister of interior, Juan Ignacio Zoido? Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy? The crown? Who? Who’s in charge? Who’s actually running the country – I mean, who’s really running it? The reason I ask is simple: I don’t think he (or she) should be trusted with giving any future orders. If you can order your police force to confiscate yellow items, you could order them to do anything.

People say that Spain is still a democracy. Er … okay, I’d agree with that … but the image of Spain internationally, the ‘Brand Spain’ or Marca España, is piss-poor right now. And for many reasons: from the images broadcast aound the world of Spanish police brutality against innocent Catalan voters last October, to the Amnesty, UN and Human Rights Watch reports about the suppression of freedom of expression in Spain, right up to the current and on-going farce of the European Arrest Warrents based upon non-existent ‘rebellion’ charges. Now the images of FC Barcelona football fans (captured by trusted news crews) having to remove yellow shirts or scarves – and I repeat, many of these items without any slogans on them at all – will stick with me for a long time. Do not try and compare this to the FA’s ruling of Pep Guardiola’s yellow ribbon. Do not go there. Many of these were blank yellow shirts and scarves. Some people will argue that they don’t want to see ‘political slogans’ at sporting events – and that the police had to remove all yellow shirts to make sure that all slogans were removed. No, sorry … I disagree. Don’t forget that yellow is not only 50% of the colour of the Catalan (and Spanish) flag, but it is also found on FC Barelona’s emblem, and I believe the colour is also often very visible on some of the club’s other souvenirs and shirts, such as the ‘away shirt’ and training shirts. It is a colour. What has Spain become? Seriously, what has Spain become? It’s a country I love, but this just … well, it just pisses me off, to be honest.

Not every Catalan supporter of FC Barcelona also supports the independence of Catalonia – far from it – but I’m pretty sure that a large percentage of them would have liked to have had a ‘legally agreed’ referendum on the subject to decide upon the matter themselves, rather than witness their friends, fellow citizens and family members being beaten by Spanish security forces last October. I’m also sure that not every Barcelona fan arrived at the stadium last night with the intention of whistling during the national anthem – but again, thanks to the Striesand effect, being told not to do something often has the opposite effect. I’m also pretty sure that a very large percentage of Barcelona fans would like to see the political prisoners released (especially as the charges against them don’t add up). And, okay, yes – the colour associated with the release of the political prisoners is yellow – first through the yellow ribbon, and also through many posters, and with yellow scarves (banned for people working at polling stations in the Catalan elections last 21^st December, called by Rajoy). Personally, I’d say that a yellow ribbon seeking the release of political prisoners is not necessarily a political ‘slogan’, but rather a call for democracy. I also always find it very odd that those who insist that there aren’t any political prisoners in Spain are often the same people who don’t want to see yellow ribbons and scarves … because they claim that the ‘yellow’ is a ‘political message’.

On Friday, just in time for the weekend, Spain’s Interior Ministry tweeted the following message: ‘The Penal Code specifies what is considered terrorism. We’re sharing it in case anyone needs to reflect on it over the weekend. Everyone else, go and rest, the Guardia Civil and National Police look out for everyone’s security.’ Spain’s National Police also tweeted before yesterday’s game, stating that the national anthem ‘represents us all’, and that ‘it is a symbol of a country, of a history … today, and always, respect it and don’t offend those who feel proud about it.’ Zoido had warned against whistling during the national anthem – referring to it as ‘violence’. But he hadn’t warned anyone that turning up at the stadium with a yellow scarf or T-shirt could mean that you might enter the stadium bare-chested …

You can argue that you don’t want to see yellow ‘pro-independence’ T-shirts or ‘free political prisoners’ messages at a sporting event – yes, you can argue that – you can have your own opinion about all that. I don’t have to agree with you. There were some pro-independent Estelada flags visible, anyway. For Spanish National Police officers to order football fans to remove blank yellow T-shirts, however – and for the stadium’s stewards to point out to security staff fans wearing blank yellow scarves – also ordering them to be handed over – well, I just find that revolting. I repeat: it is a colour, for fucksake. Rant over.

Let’s start with the guy on a horse who I didn’t include in last week’s blog, the one who’d posted a video of himself on Facebook saying, ‘Long live Spain!’ and ‘Long live Franco!’ – it was even reported that he was a former Spanish Foreign ‘legionnaire’. He said other stuff on the video, too. He said Carles Puigdemont was a ‘queer sewer rat bastard’, ‘a piece of shit, a parasite’, and that he hoped the Civil Guard put him ‘in a cage and transported him to the centre of Madrid in the back of a van for 16 hours’. Once Puigdemont was in Madrid, he hoped ‘prisoners fucked him in the ass non-stop, raped him and left him pregnant by one of those bastard Moors’. Then he said the ‘Viva España!’ and ‘Viva Franco!’ bit. There was another photo of him on social media greeting Xavier García Albiol, the ‘leader’ of what’s left in Catalonia of Spain’s ruling PP party, and the man recently referenced as an example of racist politics in a Council of Europe report.

The reason I’ve started with the guy on the horse is not because (as far as I know) he’s been allowed to say what he said without any legal repercussions … unlike, for example, insulting God or the Virgin Mary, or singing songs that criticise the king of Spain, which can land you in prison for over 2 years. No, it’s because of the anger and search for violence. I can only imagine the abuse he spat out on Thursday evening, after the news of Puigdemont’s release in Germany, when he realised the Catalan leader wouldn’t be spending 16 hours in the back of a van to Madrid to be fucked in the ass non-stop. I’m sure he blamed Germany and all Germans for this change of plan, in the same way many other Spaniards have done. It’s the Blame Game in Spain under this PP government, you see – it’s always someone else’s fault. It is never Spain’s fault. Don’t forget that foreign robots are to blame for the images of 1^st October. And it’s worse: they’ve started to believe their own lies.

Last week, it was the international media who were to blame for Spain’s inability to politically and democratically resolve the Catalan crisis. The Times newspaper was blamed by the Spanish Ambassador in London for its critical editorials of Mariano Rajoy’s government. Similarly, Le Monde, The Financial Times, Der Spiegel, The Guardian and The Washington Post have all been criticised for recommending political dialogue, or for demanding the release of political prisoners, or for questioning Spain’s democracy, the existence of the Franco Foundation or Franco’s grotesque mausoleum, or reporting on Spain’s ‘medieval’ Easter parades and the bizarre ‘tradition’ of singing Franco songs like ‘The Bridegrooms of Death’. How dare we criticise Spain (or Francoism)?

In the past few months, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Amnesty International and even the United Nations Human Rights Committee have all been blamed for something or other – from questioning human rights and freedom of speech in Spain, or for simply allowing Catalan politicians to stay and move around freely in their own countries, permitting them to hold press conferences and participate in debates, and even welcoming them with open arms. The PP’s Spain blames everyone else, not Spain itself, and never Rajoy. Right now, at the time of writing this, it’s the same with the Cristina Cifuentes ‘Master falsification’ story, brilliantly uncovered by journalists at El Diario online newspaper. But it is not Cifuentes’s fault that her qualifications have been falsified. No, it is El Diario’s fault for uncovering the story. How dare they? Oh, and their sources are also to blame.

Mikko Kärnä, a Finnish MP, has sent messages to both Mariano Rajoy and the king of Spain, complaining of the ‘feedback’ he’s received from some Spanish citizens whilst defending the right for Catalans to have a vote, and also for simply hosting Carles Puigdemont in Finland. One such ‘feedback’, he posted, was: ‘[You] son of a great whore, I shit on your fucking mother, if they expel Spain [from EU] I come to your country and I behead you all and your family.’ But all this is Finland’s fault, of course, not Spain’s. And then there’s a Spanish politician, Antonio Miguel Carmona, actually a PSOE member in Madrid, calling a German MP an ‘idiot’ for offering his house to Puigdemont in Germany … it just goes on and on.

So, yes, this week it was Germany’s turn to be blamed for Spain’s total failure to peacefully, politically and democratically resolve the Catalan pro-independence issue. All Germans are to blame, actually – especially those living in Mallorca. According to Spain’s ‘top right-wing radio guru’ (or simply put, a ‘nutter’), Federico Jiménez Losantos, those 200,000 Germans living in the Baleares could become hostages, and breweries in Bavaria could start to blow up. I actually cringed with embarrassment for Spain, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ‘Brand Spain’ itself when I read that the police in Germany were aware of the ‘threats’ and would be looking into the matter. I think the Audiovisual Board of Catalonia are also ‘analysing’ the issue (and so they should), but there’s been no comment or apology from any Spanish politician, as far as I know. You see, Germany is to blame, not Losantos.

Despite Germany’s Justice Minister, Katarina Barley, saying that the Schleswig-Holstein court’s decision on Carles Puigdemont’s release was ‘absolutely right’ – Spain’s Foreign Minister, Alfonso Dastis, has still labelled her remarks as ‘unfortunate’. But, hey, you know … he’s the same guy who told the BBC and CNN that the images of Spanish police brutality against innocent Catalan votes on 1^st October were fake. Katarina Barley went further with her comments. Having dismissed the crime of rebellion, the only offence that could prompt Puigdemont’s extradition would be the misuse of public funds – and according to Barley, ‘it won’t be easy’ for Spain to prove it. The above-mentioned example of a racist politician (according to the Council of Europe), Albiol, warned that the German court’s decision could undermine Spanish citizens’ trust in the European Union’s extradition mechanism. So you see … it’s the EU’s extradition mechanism that is also to blame, not Spain. Then there’s the PP spokesman in Brussels, Esteban González Pons, also criticising Germany, saying that because the European Arrest Warrant didn’t work, the whole Schengen Treaty ‘doesn’t make sense.’ You get the drift? It’s the Schengen Treaty that’s also to blame … not Spain. Never, ever Spain.

This week, there was also an unprecedented message delivered by David Kaye, a UN Human Rights expert. He urged the Spanish authorities to refrain from the criminal charge of rebellion against political figures and protestors in Catalonia that carry jail sentences of up to 30 years. Such sentences ‘raise serious risks of deterring wholly legitimate speech’. I believe that during this coming week, a Scottish judge will also refuse to extradite Clara Ponsatí on the charge of rebellion. Why? Because a rebellion simply did not take place. It will then be Scotland’s turn to be blamed. Not Spain. Never Spain.

Six months ago today, Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, failed to stop a referendum in Catalonia taking place – despite saying he would, and despite spending over €87m brutally trying to prevent it, deploying the Spanish National Police and Guardia Civil to attack innocent voters of all ages. In the weeks prior to 1^st October 2017, Rajoy’s right-wing Spanish government warned its country’s media against publishing any advertisements about the referendum, sending Guardia Civil agents to editorial offices in Catalonia – effectively banning them from doing so. Not only did it try to censor the Catalan media (in addition to clearly controlling certain media in Madrid), but it also blocked websites and apps that gave balanced and practical information about the referendum, or on how to vote. They searched printers for ballot cards (even the car boot of a printing company’s cleaner), banned posters, events and debates, blocked telephone operators and even threatened to cut off the power, clearly violating human rights and the freedom of speech. And now … for that same government and its ‘diplomats’ to openly criticise the international media for reporting the true facts about what happened before, during and since 1^st October, it is an utter disgrace.

Spain is a country full of rich material for foreign writers. But not only has Rajoy spectacularly failed to defuse the Catalan issue (in fact he’s done more for independence than anyone else on the planet), but his actions have also unearthed Spain’s underlying fascism and Francoism for us all to see. It was obviously always there … but it is now clearly visible. As Ian Gibson, the renowned Hispanist and biographer, said on Deutsche Welle radio: ‘The Spanish right-wing says that it isn’t Francoist but it has Francoism in its genes, in its DNA. It’s outrageous.’ This Francoism is ugly, Spain. It’s very ugly, and you need to do something about it. But that does not mean telling us not to write about it.

In a weird sense, I’m glad that this whole issue is now in the hands of top lawyers in Germany, Scotland, Switzerland and Belgium. I’m glad that the media from all over the world are reporting on it all, in every language. The EU Commission and Juncker himself have done bugger all. It needs international lawyers and the international media to continue to expose the truth, and if Spain’s ‘ambassadors’ don’t like it, then … tough. Get proper jobs. As the top human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar, who is representing Clara Ponsatí in Scotland, said the other day: ‘Our defence in court may make uncomfortable reading for the Spanish government in the full glare of international scrutiny. We are confident that the outcome will make it even more so.’ Go for it.

I’ve written here before about my experiences of 1^st October, and how I was incensed that the ‘Madrid media’ failed to report on the true events – unlike the international (and Catalan) media. It incensed me that the EU remained silent. It incensed me that Spain’s foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, went on CNN and BBC stating that the images of police brutality were ‘fake news’. It incensed me and it still does. Late October (I think it was), Spanish ‘politician’ Juan Carlos Girauta, the C’s spokesman, voiced his concern in Congress about the international media’s coverage of events in Spain, appearing to suggest that it should be better controlled (he then blocked me on Twitter and I wasn’t even following him). This time last week, the former First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, said on his LBC radio show, about the detention of Carles Puigdemont in Germany: ‘I thought European Arrest Warrants were for drug smugglers and criminals, not for democratically-elected political opponents of the Spanish government.’ We’ve since had the weekly German magazine, Stern, comparing Rajoy to Milosevic – and The New York Times reporting that ‘Spain is creating a situation where Europe’s judges rather than its own politicians are being asked to solve Catalonia’ – yes, because Rajoy is used to getting his judges in Spain to resolve his ineptitude. In the past few days, Spanish ambassadors, diplomats and Spanish authors have criticised The Washington Post, Le Monde, The Times and other international media for daring to question Spain’s democracy, calling it a ‘campaign of disrepute’. But, no, no, it’s not a campaign of disrepute. It’s called reporting the truth.

There was no ‘rebellion’ in the weeks prior to the Catalan referendum of 1^st October, nor on the day itself, nor was there since. There was no ‘violence’ – except the violence carried out by Spain’s national police and Guardia Civil. As far as I know (and as far as some videos now show Rajoy appearing to also confirm it), there was no ‘misuse of public funds’, either. So why are there nine political prisoners in Spain (still without any trial) and a further seven in self-imposed exile fighting extradition charges? The fact is this: there shouldn’t be. It is clearly an injustice, and it is up to the international lawyers and foreign media to finally expose it. Someone has to.