Figures from the worlds of human rights, politics and culture in Argentina have signed a manifesto expressing support and solidarity with Catalonia. In the text, they refer to the imprisoned pro-independence leaders and call for a "political solution" to the conflict.
"The conflict between Catalonia and the Spanish state requires a political solution and respect for the right of the Catalans to decide their future", says the text, to be presented tomorrow in Buenos Aires. The signatories oppose the harsh prison sentences faced by Catalan pro-independence leaders over the 2017 referendum. "This sentence is another step in the judicialisation of the conflict and makes its political resolution more difficult," they argue.
The manifesto, entitled "Argentina with Catalonia", will be presented tomorrow evening by the journalists Stella Calloni and Carlos Aznáres, Ariel Basteiro, former Argentinian ambassador to Bolivia, and Núria Alcaraz, from the Argentinian committee of solidarity with Catalonia.
The signatories include figures like Adolfo Pérez Esquival, an activist who won the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize; Hebe de Bonafini, one of the founders of the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo; Estela de Carlotto, president of the association of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo; Fernando Pino Solanas, a senator and film director; and Miguel Ángel Estrella, a pianist and former Argentianian ambassador to UNESCO.