"Companys defended the ideas of peace, justice and love. We're also prepared to fight to the end for these ideals with all consequences." That was what current Catalan president Quim Torra said today at the ceremony in memory of his predecessor, Lluís Companys, on the anniversary of his execution by the Franco regime after a summary trial. He also called on Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez to "do the homework that corresponds to him" and "eliminate the bastions" of Francoism. "It's not enough to remove Franco from the Valley of the Fallen," he said.
The current Catalan president noted that "no Spanish government has condemned Companys's murder", for which he called for justice. He argued that the Catalan government has done its share of the work with its certificates annulling Franco-era trials.
For Torra, 15th October is a day to remember Companys, "a person who died for Catalonia", but also to remember that "the cause of Catalonia is just" and that "it's worth fighting for".
Since the end of the Franco regime, this is the first time the homage to Companys has been held whilst Catalonia has political prisoners and exiles. Indeed, last year's ceremony was headed by president Carles Puigdemont and then-Catalan Parliament speaker Carme Forcadell, currently in exile and in prison respectively.
Photo: EFE
The president led the ceremony, held on the 78th anniversary of Companys's murder by the Franco regime, accompanied by vice-president Pere Aragonès and the rest of his government. Also present at the Fossar de la Pedrera, in Barcelona's Montjuïc cemetery, where the former president is buried, were the Catalan Parliament's speaker, Roger Torrent, the JxCat and PSC members of the Parliament's Board and the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, as well as representatives of the pro-independence, PSC, and En Comú parties.
Torrent took the opportunity to note that Catalonia again has political prisoners and exiles. He called for them to be pardoned and urged the independence movement to come together to fight for basic rights. For his part, Aragonès argued that "only through freedom, through exercising the right to self-determination, will we be able to reach agreements, unions with full equality with other peoples and societies of the world".
"Presidents of Catalonia are executed, exiled or imprisoned"
Also to speak was JxCat's deputy spokesperson, Eduard Pujol, who invited the Spanish state to reflect on why the presidents of Catalonia end up executed, exiled or imprisoned. Nine of the last 11 presidents (before Torra) have suffered one or other of these situations. Speaking to the media, Pujol also attacked the head of Spain's PP party, Pablo Casado, accusing him lying and of being a political "pyromaniac". He also warned public prosecutors, ahead of the indictments expected this week, that "prison in unjust" in the Catalan case and called for them to "not come to us with last-minute reductions".
Finally, Ada Colau, expressed regret over the difference a year makes, and the fact that so many of those she was there with last year are now in exile or prison.
She also, however, took the opportunity to call for the pro-independence parties to vote in favour of the budget the Spanish government has agreed with Podemos. This call was also made by the president of PSC, Miquel Iceta, who criticised independence supporters for calling for "gestures" from Pedro Sánchez's government. "I'd like to know what gestures they've made. To call for gestures you have to load up on reasons," he argued. He said that "the great gesture of the Spanish government is the budget" because "it reverses the cuts".