Spain's Ministry of Defence is expected to open an investigation into an army reserve officer who wrote an article threatening military intervention in Catalonia, according to eldiario.es. Lieutenant colonel Enrique Area Sacristán was the author of an opinion piece published in the Spanish right-wing digital newpaper Alerta Digital on the Catalan conflict (link in Spanish), and depending on the officer's administrative status in the army, he could face a punishment for not respecting political neutrality.
Area Sacristán, who according to the article is a sociologist with a doctorate from the University of Salamanca, does not rule out "legitimate violence" as the "only solution" and affirms that the Spanish state "has an obligation to apply this before, during or after the actual outbreak of civil conflict." The lieutenant colonel, in his final warning "to the leaders of all parties", supports the implementation of the "armed solution", if "there is not good will from the parties involved." He claims that this policy would be applied "with maximum force", although "without malice", "because we are professionals and you are Spaniards, even if you don't like it".
Lieutenant colonel Area accuses the Basque and Catalan "societies" of "indoctrination in hatred and malice". The article, although full of references to the Spanish constitution, also includes a glorification of Franco, to whom the author refers as the "Generalissimo", and describing his territorial policy as "positive discrimination". The confusingly-written text seems to be address the Spanish prime minister, although there is no explicit mention of this and the author has subsequently refused to answer media questions on the matter. Area Sacristán takes the opportunity to denigrate "the extreme purple left" - a reference to the left-wing Podemos party- which he says "wants to fritter away the Spanish nation".