The image that almost thwarted Puigdemont's escape

BarcelonaA year ago, the plan to pick up Carles Puigdemont and return him was a resounding success. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), who hadn't anticipated that the former president would not show up at the Parliament for Salvador Illa's investiture after his speech at the Arc de Triomf, were unable to arrest him. But one image nearly ruined the escape of the Junts leader on that sweltering August 8th. It was the one taken by Maria, who prefers to remain anonymous, aware that the photograph she took with her cell phone could have thwarted a carefully designed plan to avoid his arrest.

In the image, which was first published by ARA on the day of the investiture and later used by other media outlets, the secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, was seen getting into a white car that had been parked in the Arc de Triomf parking lot since the day before. Puigdemont had done so just seconds earlier, but Maria couldn't see him. "Turull was wearing a cap, and I stared at him because he was incognito, and he surprised me. It all happened very quickly, and there was a silence, which made me think something was happening there," he says in an interview with this newspaper. Just before, as soon as he finished his speech, the organizers of the event requested over the PA system that a corridor be opened to escort the former president to the Catalan chamber in a diversion that was swallowed up by the Catalan police, the journalists present, and the protesters.

Journalist Josep Casulleras, author of the book Three days in August (Vilaweb), which recounts how Puigdemont's return and departure came about, reveals that that image could have changed everything: "It was a mistake for Turull to be photographed because the plan was for no one to capture that moment, and the entire operation was jeopardized." What went wrong then? The former president knew he should get in through the driver's side door and that the rear door handles are integrated into the windows, but Turull didn't know this because, in principle, he wasn't supposed to get in, and then the security team didn't tell him how to do it, or he simply didn't remember due to his nerves. "There was a lot of debate about the advisability of Turull getting into the car because it doubled the chances of being seen, as ended up happening, but Puigdemont wanted to have someone at his side who was a lawyer in case he was arrested," explains Casulleras. And Turull was chosen because Puigdemont's lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, was not part of the core group that formed part of the operation, conceived by Toni Castellà and Teresa Vallverdú, as explained by AHORA. "And that was a good thing because Boye dragged journalists and police officers when Puigdemont collapsed," the journalist adds.

The fact is that the secretary general of Junts went around the car and tried to enter through the rear passenger door. He couldn't find the handle and, nervously, opened the opposite door, but found the driver's wheelchair and was stopped without knowing what to do until the security team told him how to get in. "It's a few seconds, very few, but enough time for someone to photograph him a few meters away," Casulleras summarizes in his book, referring to the photograph taken by Maria. "Turull had to enter through the same door as Puigdemont, who had made room for him, but when he got tangled up with the handle, he lost a few seconds that were key to being seen," Casulleras recounts.

Maximum speed

And everything had been planned so that the exit could be carried out as quickly as possible and with minimal risk. The former president didn't wear a cap or straw hat, as was reportedly the case. In fact, he didn't take off his jacket during his entire stay in Barcelona (only to sleep the day before the inauguration) because if he was arrested, he wanted to do so with the respect due to the institution he presided over. But he did leave the tent, walking the few meters that separated him from the car, wiping the sweat that was running down his face with a handkerchief and holding his glasses in his other hand in a gesture that could have been intentional to go unnoticed. The Honda HRV they used to escape was also not chosen for the babalah. "It was no coincidence that it was white because that's the majority color for vehicles these days," Casulleras emphasizes.

A year later, Maria is glad the image didn't spread immediately: "Luckily it didn't spread quickly because I didn't want Puigdemont to be arrested." Despite never having voted for Junts, this middle-aged woman from Vallecas makes it clear that she attended the event because the current Junts leader is "the president of the 1-O referendum" and his return was "the umbilical cord that connected us to the referendum." In this sense, she asserts that when she saw Puigdemont arrive on Trafalgar Street, she relived the arrival of the ballot boxes at the school where she voted. Despite the controversy, she endorses the idea that the former president is on the run. "He played a Lupin, exposing the State once again," she says, alluding to the famous French fictional white-collar thief. Her image certifies a moment of that feat.