Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'Pujol was at home, living a normal life'

Yesterday, mid-morning, some media outlets reported for a few minutes that Jordi Pujol had been admitted to the Hospital de Sant Pau, suffering from a stroke and that he looked seriously ill. This was a lie. Pujol was at home in Barcelona, living the normal life that his 95 years allow. Someone took advantage of the false information and published it without checking it, and then had to discreetly take it down, even though it had already attracted other media outlets that had believed it. When Pujol was informed early in the afternoon that he had been "admitted" with a stroke, he accepted it with a smile.

Pujol did suffer a stroke in 2022, which affected his speech and required surgery. After a few days, having recovered, he was discharged.

And since then, he's continued attending events, receiving people, and writing letters, although he's obviously slowed down his activities. Book presentations, tributes, and, above all, topics related to the language.

And from time to time he gives interviews, like this one with the NOW, November of last year. The pace of work has slowed him down, to the point that he's turned his home on Ronda General Mitre into his new office. A few months after the revelation of the "deja" in 2014, Pujol was given a dark mezzanine in a building on Calle Calàbria, where he received visitors and where he placed a stone block engraved with the Convergència tree. When his wife, Marta Ferrusola, died in July of last year, Pujol decided to dedicate a room in his lifelong apartment on Ronda General Mitre to his new office, where he has moved the stone block with the Convergència tree. So he's leaving the house less and less. And he was there yesterday morning when he became the unwitting protagonist of journalistic malpractice.

Pujol's concerns remain the same as always: the promotion of Catalan and the integration of immigrants, which he sees the opposite of how the Catalan Alliance sees them. He continues to read newspapers, write columnists about his opinions, or write to authors about the books they send him. The oral trial against him and his family for alleged crimes of criminal association, money laundering, document falsification, and crimes against the public treasury is scheduled for November. It will be a long trial, and his presence is unclear, because Pujol is clear-headed, but he has his better and worse days, when, when he starts speaking or writing, he struggles to keep track, repeat himself, forget, or confuse names—plus he can't hear without his hearing aids. The court expects it to be a trial, but the trial is very trial-like. He is still more nocturnal than diurnal. That's why it took him so long to find out yesterday that he had been "admitted" to Sant Pau.

Good morning.