Spain's Defence minister, María Dolores de Cospedal, has said that the army was "ready to act" in Catalonia, an implicit admission of the threats of military violence previously denounced by ERC secretary general Marta Rovira.
What's more, in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC, she expressed her satisfaction that there was "no comment, nor any inappropriate remark, nor any misinterpreted act" with respect to Catalonia from within the ranks of the military. In other words, the minister believes it to be "praiseworthy" that no soldier acted independently.
In a similar vein, during today's Pascua Militar parade in Madrid, the minister emphasised the armed forces' commitment to Spanish unity and said that "there is no particularism" able to ensure its future as a "united, open, well-structured and pluralistic" nation.
In her speech, De Cospedal's second as Defence minister, she indirectly alluded to the Catalan independence process, and told the king of the armed forces' "unreserved" commitment to the unity and future of Spain.