Has Carles Puigdemont Finally Run Out of Road?

Catalans are sick and tired of paying over $3,000 a year per head in taxes that go to Madrid and never go back to Catalania. No one would want independence if Madrid was not to treat Catalonia and all the other Catalan-speaking territories as a bunch of colonies.

This column looks very much influenced from the anti-Catalan movement. I do not see any opinion coming from the pro-Catalan side. It is not at all a balanced view. Nor I see any mention to the fact, that in case of being in Spain, he would be in prison, facing “rebelión” charges for up to 30 years in prison. Non sense and repressive from any sensible point of view. Poor and biased analysis

I'm not surprised the lack of sympathy or support throughout Europe for Catalan Independence. Few in Europe (except for Vladimir Putin!) welcome this rupture which would be a calamity for Europe and a catastrophe for the people of Catalonia. Catalonia has benefited and profited immensely in post-Franco Spain though massive investments by Spain and from the European Union. Catalonia has a degree of autonomy unimaginable in Federal States (eg., USA, Germany). Little appreciation (eg., the Barcelona Olympics billions from Madrid but the Spanish flag was hard to detect anywhere during the Games). The regeneration of Barcelona and the major towns of Catalonia more billions from Madrid and the EU. Beyond that the nationalism espoused is intolerant, nasty and sectarian. One example, the assault on the rights of the Spanish people who live there who have Spanish as their 1st language. Remember as well that the majority of the population do not support independence although a majority are not comfortable with some aspects of the relationship with Madrid. Having said this, the thuggish conduct of Rajoy and his Spanish security in response to completely peaceful protests is completely counterproductive and unacceptable.

Being part of Spain, Catalonia has lived the best forty years of its history; It has a high standard of living, an excellent health system, a bright city like Barcelona and many other things. With Spain, Catalonia has prospered in peace. The separatist movement is a madness promoted by the fanatical elites of separatism, who use racist and xenophobic arguments against the Spaniards, who have always been perfectly integrated into Catalonia. Puigdemont is a clown who should not be taken seriously.

First of all: Puigdemont, aka Cocomocho, did not win the elections, Inés Arrimadas did. Second, he needs to face the justice and explain how he can afford the 4000 euros per month his new house in Waterloo costs. Also, he is part of one of the most corrupted parties in Europe (Millet finally goes to prison!) and he has to explain how he was paying this illegal separatist "process" while lot of catalan business owners and many hard working people were having economic troubles because the catalan economy went dramatically down during this political irresponsible "process" . Also, why the catalan police allowed the radical separists to disturb the life of working class catalans (strikes and violence againts politicians and people that do not think like them)? Cocomocho needs to face justice and pay for all the damage he has done to Catalonia. We the catalas, want justice. And we have to remember that just the 39% of the catalan population voted separatism last December.

Typical dismissive coverage by NYTimes journalists of both Puigdemont and the Catalan Independence question. One may note the writer's attempt to deprecate Puigdemont, with the word choice 'shirk', as if Puigdemont is failing to live up to his 'obligation' to grant Kingsley an interview? We know for a fact that NYTimes journalists find willing background interviews in Spain's reactionary far-right government, which guides the coverage. Whether Puigdemont plays by NYTimes journalists scripts or not, he will continue to be a guiding force in the politics of both Catalunya and Spain.

If I were M. Puigedemont, I wouldn't speak to you either. Your attitude is confused and hostile, as is the NYT position on this crisis, which is editorial in articles. This man is facing 30 YEARS IN JAIL if he returns to Spain. Anything he might do or have done pales in contrast to this horrible injustice.

This person was executing an illegal plan for independence that included escalating their provocation to the central government with civil disobedience and violence. He defied repeated rulings from the supreme and the constitutional courts until his government was suspended. In any other democracy he would have been stopped much earlier but Spain has waited too long till the seditious actions were consummated.

Democracy is not being suppressed in Spain. There is no right for any part of Spain to separate itself from the rest of the country. If the people of Catalonia were a suffering, oppressed minority, at least one would have sympathy. But in fact the people of Catalonia are among the wealthiest in Spain and they object to sharing their wealth, through taxes, with their less well off fellow Spaniards.

Please, fact check your news. Puigdemont did NOT win the election in December. Him and his party were not the most highly voted list. For the first time in history a constitutionalist party (Ciudadanos) won the election in Cataluña. Puigdemont is in power (“won”) because Spanish law allows him to sum for himself the votes casted for three different independentist parties. You are missing out on the real story here. Very sad, New York Times. This article is more gossip than journalism. I had a higher opinion of your newspaper.

This article evades the real issue, which is that democracy is being suppressed in Spain. If you see nothing wrong with the fact that several elected officials remain in jail, you demonstrate your contempt for democracy. It doesn't matter on which side -if any - of the independence debate you stand.

let us remember that Puidgemont is accused in spain of 'crimes' that in normal democracies do not exist. For instance he is accused of 'rebellion'. Rebellion implies the use of violence. The only violence we have seen in Catalunya was perpetrated by the Spanish government's robocops who beat up peaceful Catalunyans who only wanted to vote. When Puidgemont came to Belgium, the spanish justice initially asked for him to be arrested and surrendered by the belgian authorities, under the procedure of the european extradition demand. In that procedure the 'crimes' are evaluated by the country where the accused is living. Belgium asked some questions of the spanish justice, whereupon they retracted their demand for extradition, showing how weak the spanish case against Puigdemont really is. The crux of the problem is that Rajoy is criminalising a political problem which can only be dealt with by political discussion. Incarcerating politicians who obtained a majority vote in the Catalunyan parlement can only perpetuate this problem.

I am hopeful that Puigdemont will be forgotten like the idiotic cause of Catalonia's independence. What exactly is gained by independence, nothing worth while.

This is the silliest independence movement in history. The people of Catalonia are free. They just need to renegotiate their financial relationship with the rest of Spain. The only real reason they can give for seeking independence is based on something that happened 300 years ago. This man is a complete clown.

So much of this movement appears to rest on one man. What an irony that an independence movement seems to depend so much on the ideals and actions of one man. Sounds more like a dependence movement to me. Hopefully having Puigdemont out of the picture will promote a more tempered, logical approach to reaching a mutually favorable relationship between Catalonia and Spain.

Puigdemont chose to run rather than face the real-life consequences of his actions thus exposing lack of courage behind his convictions. Not a very sympathetic character to me.

Spain should leave him alone. Sedition isn't even a crime in most enlightened countries; and it's a dubious claim that a properly elected official can even commit sedition.

A sadly foolish existence for a man who’d assumed that he was a hero because many people who’d used him badly had told him he was one.