Spanish Colonel Threatens Catalunya with Military Action

Communiqué de presse publié le 3/09/12 12:10 dans Europe par pour

News from Celtic Press

The Spanish Defence Minister has been called on bytwo Catalan political parties to discharge with immediate effect a Colonel inthe Spanish army who has stated in an interview that if Catalonia becameindependent it would be threatened with military action.

Colonel Francisco Alamán of the Spanish army said in aninterview with right wing magazine ?Alerta Digital? that Catalunya would only beindependent ?over my dead body and that of many other soldiers,? adding thatsoldiers in the Spanish military had sworn to defend ?thenon-negotiable principle of Spain's unity? and that they will defend it ?evenwith our lives.?

This is not the first time that a high rankingmilitary officer has threatened Catalunya with military actionshould it continue with its self determination demands. In 2006 general Mena Aguado threatened touse military action if Catalunya continued with its demand for greaterautonomy. Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) andSolidaritat Catalana per la Independència (SI) ?two Catalan political parties ? have now called on the Spanish Government andthe Defence Minister in particular to discipline Alamán, by detaining him anddischarging him from service with immediate effect.

Although democracy followed the death of Franco in 1975, many of Franco?ssupporters stayed on in the Spanish government and military. According tocommentators there is still a strong pro-Franco and fascist element amongpersonnel in the Spanish military, who have ties to right wing extremists. Evenin the Spanish parliament and government Franco supporters have lingered onsince his death, with some Spanish nationalists calling for a reduction of theautonomy granted to the semi-autonomous ?regions?, such as Catalunya, BasqueCountry and Galicia.

Relations between the Catalan and the Spanish governments have beenparticularly strained since the beginning of the economic crises, with Francesc Homs, the spokesman for the Catalan government, statinglast week that the Catalan government would not accept any ?politicalconditionality? attached to the granting of funding packages that have beenrequested by the Catalunyan government from the Spanish government in recent weeks,since Spain took an economic nose dive earlier this year.