Pujol: 'the' trial, the History

This week, the trial of President Pujol, his children, and several others involved in the case finally began. Three questions immediately come to mind, and I'll offer some initial answers.

The first question concerns the passage of time. How many years have passed since the president's public confession? The answer is well-known: more than eleven. This fact alone speaks volumes. A trial lasting over a decade constitutes a serious denial of due process for those on trial. In everyday life, if someone cannot complete a task within a reasonable timeframe, it simply means they cannot do the task.

The second question relates to the president's health. How is he really? Those of us who see him often have our own impressions, but we cannot offer a definitive opinion. Those who can do so, the doctors, have made it very clear that his current condition does not allow him to be tried with any guarantee of being able to defend himself. In this sense, keeping him on trial is simply inhumane. An injustice in the name of justice.

The third question points to the heart of the judicial investigation that has lasted so many years. What new and relevant facts have been discovered that were not known after the confession of July 2014? In this case, the answer is emphatic: none. To be more precise, the only truly new thing is the evidence that Operation Catalonia existed; that is, a setup conceived and executed from the heart of the State to decapitate individuals and organizations suspected of defending the self-determination or independence of Catalonia. President Pujol, despite his well-known reservations about the pro-independence movement, was one of its first victims, and one of the most prominent. And therein lies one of the great paradoxes of it all: the victims of Operation Catalonia have, for the most part, been tried and convicted. The masterminds and perpetrators, despite the overwhelming accumulation of evidence against them, are not even being investigated within the Spanish state. And they call it justice...

In the coming months, we will witness the trial that began this week. However, in recent years, we have already witnessed another trial surrounding the figure of President Pujol: the social trial. I know, from our conversations, that he has already judged himself; and he has done so with great severity, perhaps even excessively. I am also a witness to his sincere and enduring remorse. His sense of guilt has very little to do with what will happen in the criminal trial. Instead, it has much to do with the remorse of having failed the country and its people. I am not speaking only of his voters, of whom there have been many, but of the country as a whole. A country that he has served with passion and talent.

He attributes to himself an ethical failing, which is the one that hurts the most for a person of convictions and values. And he faces the social trial with resignation, but I sense also with hope. Enough time has passed for everyone to form their own opinion. Some will do so with indifference or detachment, others with aggression or excessive demands, and still others with benevolence or the acceptance that the human condition falls far short of perfection or stoic virtue. It is even possible, and almost natural, that opinions about him will evolve over time, and that his process of social rehabilitation will gain support. A trend, incidentally, that is becoming increasingly noticeable.

And yet, another phase remains: History, written in capital letters. We haven't entered it yet, and therefore we don't know how it will be written. However, I suspect that in this still unknown phase, the social judgment of President Pujol will be far more decisive than any court ruling. And in this sense, I have more hope and confidence that his place will be one that reflects the balance of a career where the assets far outweigh the liabilities.

I'll put forward some thoughts. Of all the politicians of the tumultuous and turbulent 20th century, Pujol is the one who transformed our country the most and the best. It will be said, rightly so, that he had the most time to do so, because unlike other eras, circumstances were on his side. True. But no less true is that he knew how to win the trust of many people like no other. Pujol was not a monarch chosen by a dictator, but a democrat who won all six elections he contested. The legacy of his government stands out above all others. Furthermore, President Pujol was able to combine two essential elements for Catalonia: identity and progress. That is, knowing who we are and what we are like, so that we can go further and be better.

And I venture a conclusion: however the trial in Madrid ends, the more politics deteriorates, the greater his stature becomes.