The Spanish police have just informed Supreme Court judge Susana Polo, who is investigating the Democratic Tsunami case, that they have received a notification from Interpol Paris informing them that after consulting their records they have not been able to locate Catalan president Carles Puigdemont in France. This is not fake news, contrary to what many of you must think, but rather, it is stated in the police communication, dated Monday this week, to which this newspaper has had access, and was received on Wednesday by the Spanish police's judicial unit. I trust that in other cases they would make a greater effort, because it's either that in France they have no desire to help the Spanish police or, alternatively, they have taken it as a joke that they are being asked to locate someone who is the star of at least two public events every day in the town of Argelers.
The note also states that the Spanish police are waiting for their Swiss counterparts to send them information on the deputy Ruben Wagensberg, of the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), who has been residing in Switzerland since he left Spain due to his accusation in the Democratic Tsunami case together with other independence supporters who have taken the same path after the decision of the National Audience judge who sees terrorism in the case he is investigating about events at Barcelona-El Prat airport after the Supreme Court verdicts against the Catalan pro-independence leaders. The paragraph informing the Supreme Court criminal chamber, summarising the procedures carried out, could not be more explicit: "As already indicated by this Unit of the Judicial Police, steps have been taken to carry out the assigned task, and collaboration has been requested through the National Central Office of Interpol in Spain, through the International Cooperation Division of the Spanish National Police. This division has provided the information that the Group of the National Central Office of Interpol Spain was designated to carry out the necessary collaboration efforts with the authorities of France and Switzerland, who have informed that they have received a letter from IP Paris communicating that, after consulted their records, the aforementioned persons could not be located in France."
It's either that in France they have no desire to help the Spanish police or they have taken it as a joke to be asked to locate someone who stars in at least two public events in Argelers every day
Be that as it may, before he returns to Catalonia for the investiture session of the next Catalan president in the new Parliament that will emerge from the election this Sunday, which he has confirmed he will attend whether he is the candidate or not, they can locate him perfectly between Northern Catalonia - in the towns of Argelers or Elna - and also in Brussels if he has to return at some point to gather up personal belongings before his definitive return to Catalonia. Even the prestigious American magazine Politico managed, as explained in this week's issue, to interview him in Perpinyà as part of an extensive report and has dedicated the entire front page to him with the following title: "The fugitive: Puigdemont's last shot at Catalan independence", set in an illustration in which his image appears juxtaposed with a map of Catalonia and protesters holding estelada flags.
So Puigdemont continues his campaign of taking votes from both sides of the pro-independence electorate, while also starting a bid to dig into the exclusively Catalanist sector, while the Socialist candidate, Salvador Illa, who the polls place as leader with a small advantage over the exiled president, has begun to formalize the choices he will need to make if he wins the presidency. The choice to place the focus of his decision on the Catalan interior ministry, which he plans to place in the hands of the mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Núria Parlon, seeks to give a message of a presidential candidate concerned about law and order, locating a person from Barcelona's outer suburbs who, in her municipality, has reduced crime. Another matter altogether is his proposal to appoint Mossos chief Josep Lluís Trapero as director of the police. An initiative that is controversial from at least two points of view, closely linked: placing a Mossos commander - now moved away from important functions - at the head of a purely political position, and the risks of politicization and division of a body like that of the Mossos d'Esquadra, which, after the Trapero era, has well-consolidated leadership these days.