He responds to "outrageous" accusations of the ex-delegate of the Generalitat in that country and says that there are political prisoners "because they broke the law".
The ambassador of Spain in the United States, Santiago Cabanas, has written an article in the political publication 'The Hill' in which he defends that "Spain is a democracy and a progressive country open to the world", compared to what he defines as "the hatred and lies "that claim to expand" the Catalan separatists and their 'agents' ".
"The Catalan separatists and their agents have not only remained unperturbed by their violation of legality, but also want to actively expand to a US audience the hatred and lies that they express on this side of the Atlantic," he says, adding that their campaign is "so ridiculous that it needs to be based on falsehoods, half-truths and distorted facts".
Cabanas writes in response to an article published by the former delegate of the Generalitat in the United States, Andrew Davis, who since May 2018 has led a foundation called Catalonia America Council with the title "The Congress must prioritize human rights and democratic values".
The Spanish diplomat says that the title seemed "tempting" to him, but that underneath he only found "a thread of lies and propaganda" that does not deserve the attention of a publication "respected" like "The Hill".
Thus, he affirms that, during his his mandate as a delegate of the Generalitat, "Davis tried unsuccessfully, using the money of the Spanish taxpayers, to convince the American public that Catalonia is an oppressed region in the heart of Europe", just as it does in his article.
The text of the Spanish ambassador has been disseminated, through Twitter, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, Josep Borrell. "Spain is a full democracy that respects Human Rights, Catalonia never had as much autonomy as now, "he has written.
As well as stressing that Spain is a country that is open, progressive, democratic and decentralized, the ambassador refers to the accusations that seem "more outrageous" and stresses that politicians who are in prison awaiting trial are not imprisoned for their opinions, since that "is not a cause of imprisonment in Spain", but "because they broke the law. "
"They tried to organize an illegal referendum against Spanish and Catalan laws and against judicial orders", he says, adding that those who "fled and are now in a self-imposed exile" did so for the same reasons.
The defendants, he continues," will be judged by an independent judiciary, subject to the law and due process and in a transparent manner "and the Spanish Government" can not and will not try to interfere in the judicial process.
He adds that the Government faces "the challenges with optimism, dialogue and respect for pluralism and legality".
As for Catalonia in particular, he says that "never in history" has had a level of self-government comparable to the current one, in the fields of economy, police, employment, education and other fields. In addition, he argues "Catalonia and the rest of Spain, together as a people and a united country, began to flourish" and continue to do so within the framework of the 1978 Constitution.
RESTORE THE IMAGE OF SPAIN FROM THE SECESSIONIST ATTEMPT
The ambassador explains that "the secessionist attempt has provoked the most serious institutional crisis in democratic Spain to date", has "divided Catalan society" and has tarnished the exterior image of Spain. For that reason, he makes clear that "the priority of the Government is to restore it by highlighting Spain's long-term respect for democracy, legality and solid economic growth". According to him, Spain is proud of its democracy and its "strong democratic values" and wants to ensure that "they are represented in a fair and correct manner" both to Spaniards and abroad.
For Cabanas, Spanish democracy is now "stronger than ever", as confirmed by the latest 'Democracy Index' published by the magazine 'The Economist', where Spain is listed as one of the 20 countries considered "full democracies" between a total of 167 included in the study.
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