Spanish Interior Minister: “We're working to ensure that Puigdemont can't enter Spain, not even in the trunk of a car”

BarcelonaThe Spanish government wants to avoid a situation in which, as happened with the ballot boxes for the referendum, Carles Puigdemont manages to dodge the Spanish intelligence services and appear by surprise on the day of the inauguration in parliament. To this end, the Spanish Interior Minister revealed that they are working to ensure that “Puigdemont can't enter, not even in the trunk of a car”. How? The only thing that he said is that they have redoubled efforts both “at the border” and “in Spanish territory”, in reference to ports and airports.

Zoido admitted that the Spanish government is “very concerned” about Puigdemont's “irresponsible conduct”, because “nobody knows what he might do”. Thus, the head of the Interior Department said that there are many experts from the Guardia Civil and the Spanish Police who are working “intensely round the clock” to prevent Puigdemont from being able to return to Spain clandestinely. “Even though there are many country roads, and he could enter by boat, helicopter, or ultralight, we are working to prevent this from happening. And we're trying to stop him from entering, even in the trunk of a car”, he stated in an interview on Antena 3 TV.

“A special unit has been put together so that this can't happen”, he assured, and gave Puigdemont's trip to Denmark as an example. “Yesterday, what we did was to provide to the Prosecutor's office all the information that law enforcement agencies had from very early in the morning, practically during the night. The Prosecutor's Office urged that the EU arrest warrant be reactivated, and the judge handed down a resolution”, he noted. In a sense, he thus showed his respect for the separation of powers and confined himself to saying that what Puigdemont wanted by making the trip was to end up being arrested so that he could vote by proxy, “which he won't be able to do now”.

In fact, the Spanish minister stated that the only chance for Puigdemont to become president would be “to abandon the irresponsible behavior”, return to Spain, and hand himself over to Spanish justice. He noted that, in contrast to Oriol Junqueras, Puigdemont had “fled from justice” and had gone to two countries --Belgium and Denmark-- “where they paid him very little attention, despite all the noise he made”. And he also issued a warning to Puigdemont: “I can guarantee, without a doubt, that justice will fall on him at the appropriate time”.