An analysis like this fundamentally has one purpose, which is to help us all understand what kind of country we live in, or what kind of world we live in, and there is news today that helps a lot with that.For example: early this morning Donald Trump promised that if the Republican Party maintains the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November 3rd elections, he will pay “every adult American a dividend” of 5,000 dollars. Donald Trump: “If the Republicans win the United States House of Representatives and the Senate, both of them, thanks to our enormous strength and our economic success, I will pay a dividend of 5,000 dollars to every adult citizen of the United States of America”.He is so worried about the results that he already wants to buy the vote. And he wraps it up in the usual triumphalist rhetoric, assuring that we are doing so well, and speaking like a businessman who manages a company and not a country, and promising a dividend. It is so low that it is not worth dwelling on. And it is a good thing he is promising money and not threatening deportations if they do not vote for him, but it will all come. It is not that they have no shame, it is that they have a plan: to perpetuate themselves in power, make money and prevent being prosecuted, if necessary, by ending democracyAnother one: Sánchez has kept his promise to make public all the reports he received regarding the massive entry into Ceuta, with the intention of demonstrating that nobody saw it coming. Well, the warnings portray the Spanish government, since the CNI warned of calls for an assault on the fence and by sea, but without anticipating the magnitude. If the papers portray Sánchez, why publish them? Because they cling to a part of the truth: they did not receive any report. They received WhatsApps and calls. But there were indeed warnings. No matter how you look at it, the Spanish government's foresight was zero, and the management was slow, and therefore bad. And what does Sánchez offer? Catchy phrases for the enjoyment of TikTok, Instagram or X. Like this one:Pedro Sánchez: “Regarding the insults, my lord, you have called me an autocrat, a dictator, they even call me a dog. They call me a dog, yes, yes, they call me a dog. Look, I will tell you one thing, Mr. Abascal: unlike you, I may be a dog, but I have no master”.It has no owner, but dialectical creativity is not enough when there is a crisis like the one Morocco has created for Ceuta. All of this is a theater that does not hold up.Salvador Illa should take note of this. Yesterday Josep Lluís Trapero resigned, his great signing for the general direction of the Police, for the reasons we explained: Trapero is very much Trapero and he did not get along with Minister Parlon. And yesterday it became clear that the straw that broke the camel's back was the appointment of Sílvia Catà as the new head of the Mossos, to the point that Trapero resigned on the day the new head of the force was to be presented, historic news because she is the first woman who will lead the police. Anyway, these things happen in politics, but it has been another dent (and quite a visible one) in the bodywork of the Illa government. He has had to replace five officials in one month. It has just been two years since he arrived at the presidency, he is halfway through his term, he has a budget for next year, but he has problems in Education, Health, the Interior, with mobility, and the discourse that a Government was coming that would actually know how to manage (unlike the “chaos” with the pro-independence Governments) no longer holds up. This Government shows signs today of difficulty in solving problems, and the president should think that they do not go away with more or less fortunate phrases. And so we arrive at a new Diada, at a new National Day. Tomorrow will mark 50 years since the first one after the Francoist dictatorship. The one in 1976 was a tolerated Diada, because the civil governor of the time prohibited the celebration in Barcelona. It was a brave Diada, in which it was possible to use the term “National Day” without fear, and, above all, it brought everyone together. That unity is the message today. Today there is less courage, more calculation, more wounds from the Procés and an extreme right with an exclusionary vision of Catalan identity. What has happened to the Diada is what has happened to the world: too much fear and too little hope.Good morning.

The resignation of Josep Lluís Trapero as director of the Police has caused a political earthquake in Catalonia. The great bet of the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to steer the Mossos force from a high political office with an experienced policeman has lasted two years, a period in which political criticisms have accumulated due to cases such as police infiltration in a teaching assembly and the force's deployment during King Felipe VI's visit to Montserrat. For this reason, after his resignation, the opposition has hit the nail on the head and pointed out the "lack of control" and "chaos" that the Interior department is suffering after Trapero's farewell, in the words of the main opposition group, Junts –Trapero's resignation comes shortly after that of the secretary general of the Interior, Tomàs Carrión–. The 'juntaires', in this sense, have demanded the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and have lamented the "authentic mess" of this Government.

"If I preside over the Generalitat, the Minister of the Interior will be Núria Parlon, who has been excellent in security policies, and, since I want to professionalize management in Catalonia, the Director General of the Police will be Josep Lluís Trapero, who is an example of a public servant." The star announcement of the then-candidate Salvador Illa in the last debate of the 2024 electoral campaign was to place the Parlon-Trapero tandem at the head of security decisions. Illa (and also Trapero) was warned of the contraindications of placing a police officer to act as a politician, but, already as president, the message he wanted to convey was one of full confidence in a decorated expert –a media protagonist and, today also a cinematic one, of the pursuit of the La Rambla terrorists– and, incidentally, to repair the injustice he perceived that the Aragonès government had committed by dismissing him as head of the Mossos.

The news broke early this morning: Josep Lluís Trapero has resigned as Director General of the Police. Trapero's decision came on a key day for the Mossos d'Esquadra, as a meeting of the police leadership had been called for this Wednesday morning at the Department of the Interior to announce who would be the new Chief Commissioner of the force, but Trapero's resignation has caused surprise among the high command of the Mossos and the Interior Department.Quick reminder: at the Interior Department there is a minister, who has a civilian political number two, who was now Trapero, and a uniformed, police number two, who until today was Miquel Esquius, who is retiring. I say this so that you are not confused, because Trapero had been the police chief (it was when he was promoted to major and was dismissed by the 155 in 2017) but now he was a political appointee by decision of Salvador Illa, who in the 2024 election campaign, like someone pulling an ace out of their sleeve, announced that Trapero would be his Director General of the Police.

A police earthquake within the Mossos d'Esquadra and a political tremor in the Department of the Interior and the Government. The Director General of Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, is resigning. He will be replaced by Commissioner Ferran López, the Mossos' envoy in Madrid. The Major of the force, who until now was the political leader of the police, is leaving the post two years after President Salvador Illa presented him as one of his major campaign announcements to tackle insecurity.Although the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, did not want to enter into controversies at the press conference, several sources admit that the relationship between her and Trapero had become complicated over the months due to various internal conflicts. One of them—the last one and, most likely, the final straw—was the selection of the new head of the Mossos after the current one, Commissioner Miquel Esquius, decided to retire in October. Parlon announced this Wednesday that his successor will be Commissioner Sílvia Catà, the first woman to assume the top operational leadership of the force, a personal bet by the minister. Until now, Catà led the Mossos in the Girona region.

The week ends with the hangover from yesterday's debate in Congress. Just 24 hours later, what we anticipated yesterday on the fly is already being confirmed: Sánchez's explanations arrived late, remain overshadowed by the reality of the thousands of people who are still wandering through Ceuta and, therefore, the Spanish president is doomed. Neither the opposition nor the investiture partners believe that Morocco had nothing to do with it (it is impossible for the illegal displacement of seventy thousand people to go unnoticed by a regime like Morocco) and therefore Sánchez moves between the figure of someone who, for the sake of state, does not want to antagonize a neighbor with the capacity to complicate your life and that of a president who is a victim of blackmail by Morocco. The fact that Sánchez is sentenced is a metaphor, but for the PP and Vox it is a wish. Feijóo said yesterday that “Sánchez will pay for his management, at the polls and in the courts”. And the fact is that Vox has long been reminding that Sánchez can be tried for treason, a procedure that is regulated in article 102 of the Constitution and which would be handled by the criminal chamber of the Supreme Court and which consists of an initiative by a quarter of the members of the Congress of Deputies and requires the approval of half plus one of the deputies (this would be 176), and the PP and Vox alone do not reach it, they are 169.Beyond when and how the legislative term ends, the case has other equally serious dimensions. For example, the power of Morocco, an ally of the United States, with a good relationship with Israel, and which receives money from the EU to regulate migratory flows. This gives it great bargaining power. As our head of International, Francesc Millan, explains today, in this column in which he draws the contrast between how the EU stands together when Russia attacks, but when the problem has been at its southern border, the problem was Spanish, not European. Mind you, while we talk about geopolitics, yesterday more than 80 people appeared dead on a migrant boat that arrived in the Canary Islands. The boat had left Gambia 26 days ago. After decades of apparently predictable life, we have entered the era of life under threat, a hybrid, indirect, disruptive threat that prevents making plans and living under the impression (more or less based on real events) that life depends on us and not on external, geopolitical factors.Speaking of violent disruptions, yesterday the film Cronos, about the attacks on La Rambla and Cambrils in July 2017.I had the opportunity to watch it and I recommend it to you. You start watching it with a knot in your stomach and you finish it the same way.The pace set by the director is very high and sustained, the script is clear, the acting is competent, and the production is well-resourced. The story is told, above all, from within the Mossos, from Trapero to the commanders who led the capture of the terrorists, which lasted four days, passing through the Mossos' communication director, Patrícia Plaja, and her impeccable crisis communication during those days. The political dispute between the Spanish government and the Generalitat over the management and information regarding the attack is noted, as well as the regrettable leak of The Mossos-The note to make the Mossos and the Generalitat look bad. What is not provided as context is that there was only a month and a half left until October 1st. And the state of shock in Ripoll is also well noted. Not so much the story of boys who were apparently integrated but were ripe for radicalization. But since we are talking about a two-hour film and not a six-part series, many narrative threads come to mind that remain to be unfolded.

Between January and June of this year, Barcelona has been the scene of 74,350 crimes and 17,359 arrests. This is 11.2% fewer crimes and a 6.7% reduction in arrests compared to the same dates last year. Therefore, crimes are generally decreasing and are sinking to the level of a decade ago, but nevertheless, the data from the latest barometer place crime as the second concern for Barcelona residents, only behind housing. This is the main conclusion of the latest Barcelona Security Board, which this morning made public the data on conflict in the Catalan capital.

Yesterday we told you in this space that “it would be good for the Minister of the Interior to limit herself to apologizing and saying that it will not happen again”. And in the afternoon, in Parliament, Núria Parlon said: "I do want to apologize, and apologize to the educational union, in this case the CGT, for this feeling of distrust and insecurity that this has generated in relation to your assembly work and in relation to your organization and protest rights".Apologizing is an effective move because it lowers the tone of public controversy and reduces the discomfort of the offended party who is asking for explanations. An apology from a politician always makes for a bigger headline. And everyone understands that those responsible admit a mistake and, furthermore, everyone can imagine that something like this will not happen again. And the truth is that the way political communication is done nowadays, it is quite infrequent: have you ever heard Trump or Ayuso apologize?Therefore, the councilor's apology is correct, but in politics everything has a meaning. Firstly, the Government is in full negotiation with the teachers' unions (today specifically, they are sitting at the negotiation table), and these days, the Government is closing the budget agreement with Esquerra. Parlon had very powerful incentives to lower her head and tone.And now let's get to the facts: some Mossos agents infiltrated in a teachers' assembly and were discovered. The Director General of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, also acknowledges the mistake and even speaks of naivety.Josep Lluís Trapero: "But in the same way that I acknowledge the error or lack of opportunity, I do not acknowledge bad faith or an antidemocratic attitude in that operation. I emphasize again: I acknowledge the error in the lack of opportunity. And, if you wish, even the naivety of the decision".The minister and director spoke of a “poorly planned operational maneuver”. In other words, there was no political order, but rather a usual modus operandi (the minister spoke of “inertias”) that was poorly resolved. And this morning, on TV3, she said that the police had the right to use an “undercover agent”, a figure recognized by law, that the method used the other day is not the appropriate one, that there are “more appropriate police legal figures when you have a risk”.Therefore, what the political leadership of the Mossos says is that the infiltration was a mistake by the uniformed officers (not the politicians), who acted routinely, without anyone with sufficient rank assessing whether or not it was necessary to spy on an assembly from which a mobilization would emerge that is often announced in the media. It must be said: whether it is a mistake by the police officers who execute or by the politicians who rule, the ultimate responsible for anything the police do are the politicians. And, obviously, the Mossos will continue to infiltrate, as all police forces in the world do. Meanwhile, today it's the teachers' strike in Girona and Central Catalonia. And the minister is meeting with teacher unions today. May it go well, because this will be good for everyone.Good morning.

1. Due to a very serious police error, with anti-democratic tics, Salvador Illa has been caught between a rock and a hard place with USTEC. At the end of a heated school year, with seventeen days of strike called ahead —starting with this Tuesday's—, the Government has lost negotiating power with the majority teachers' union. The decision by the General Directorate of Information of the Mossos d'Esquadra to infiltrate two plainclothes agents into a teachers' assembly to supposedly conduct a risk assessment in the face of a labor dispute has backfired. The act of sneaking disguised police officers into a union meeting is characteristic of a fascist state, even if the Catalan police —but no less police for that— maintain that they were acting "within current legislation". They can say whatever they want. Furthermore, the fact that the two policewomen were caught just minutes into the meeting and couldn't even say which school they worked at reveals a level of preparation for the spy squad more suited to a comic book than a professional force. It's too serious not to hold people accountable.

Whoever made the decision to disguise two plainclothes agents among the teachers meeting at the Institut Pau Claris did not calculate the effects their discovery would have, in the midst of the Government's crisis with the majority teacher unions. Salvador Illa's partners point invariably towards the Director of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, as responsible and demand his head. This Saturday, both ERC and Comuns, essential for governance, have increased pressure on the socialist executive, which from Tuesday must face a new series of strikes in public schools and institutes. "If the director general does not want to resign, it will be up to the president of the Generalitat to dismiss him," stressed the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, from Tàrrega. The leader of Comuns, Jéssica Albiach, has also called for his dismissal because "the infiltration crosses all red lines".

The creation of a specific sub-directorate within the General Directorate of Police to defend the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) has opened a Pandora's box for the Catalan government. The decision was implemented through an internal restructuring decree and stems from the desire of the Director of Police, Major Josep Lluís Trapero, to return the legal representation, defense, and advice of the Mossos to the purview of the Ministry of the Interior. This is a long-standing conflict: in 2021, the legal representation of the police was transferred to the Department of the Presidency because the government of Pere Aragonès considered some charges against pro-independence demonstrators to be too serious. Now, the lawyers will return to the Ministry of the Interior, but the measure has met with opposition from the Catalan Government's Bar Association, the Forum of Lawyers, which has challenged it before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and is demanding its immediate suspension. as it progressed The World

Sub-inspectors are the quintessential mid-level officers in the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police force). Just above sergeants and below inspectors, there are 414 officers with this rank, responsible for supervising units, groups, and subgroups. In other words, they often act as a liaison between the rank-and-file officers—the first line of defense when investigating or patrolling the streets—and the executive or upper echelon, comprised of the force's chiefs and coordinators. "We translate strategic decisions into operational work," sources within this rank explain, adding that their responsibilities are very similar to those of inspectors, especially when on duty. However, sub-inspectors have been fighting for months: they believe their duties are not commensurate with their salaries.

Organized crime related to marijuana is expanding in Catalonia, and police resources alone are insufficient to address the magnitude of this "serious security problem," warned the Director General of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), Josep Lluís Trapero, on Friday. In 2024, there were 115 violent incidents related to marijuana trafficking—including two homicides—and firearms were used in 30% of these incidents. At the same time, the illicit presence of firearms on the streets has been increasing. Last year, police operations resulted in the dismantling of more than 400 plantations, the seizure of half a million plants, and 2,000 arrests nationwide. However, only 10% of those arrested were remanded in custody.

Two Japanese tourists board a train on Barcelona's L1 metro line. Upon arriving at Arc de Triomf station, they notice someone rummaging through their bags. It's a young man wearing a Manchester United shirt who, realizing he's been caught, abandons the theft and flees. Two security guards try to stop him, but he assaults one and escapes along the train tracks. He runs to the next station, Marina, where he re-enters the platform, covered in black dust, and flees again. He's a "two-time offender," which in police jargon means he has two prior convictions, and two plainclothes officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) eventually arrest him, placing him against the wall and handcuffing him, while a third security guard, trembling, explains that he had to use pepper spray to subdue him.

On May 12th of last year, during the electoral debate, the PSC candidate, Salvador Illa, had an ace up his sleeve: he announced that, if he were sworn in as president, the Minister of the Interior would be Núria Parlon, then mayor of Santa Coloma de Gramanet, and that the director of the police would be the head of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), Josep Lluís. The predictions ultimately proved true, and Parlon was appointed head of the department, and Trapero assumed the political leadership of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police). This move, which initially generated surprise, was not the only one: with Parlon's arrival at the Interior Ministry, five senior officials also arrived who, before taking on their new positions, were police officers.

"They are two distinct concepts." With these words, the Director General of the Police, Josep Lluís Trapero, began to answer a delicate question: is there a relationship between immigration and crime? Trapero said that there are currently 8,500 inmates in Catalonia, and that 52 percent are of foreign origin, while newcomers represent 18 percent of the Catalan population. However, he pointed out that these data also indicate that only 0.3 percent of the immigrant population is in prison. "One person out of every 333. The debate on immigration affects all 333; the debate on crime, one," he pointed out.

"I felt like I was in prison; I could smell the prison from the terrace of my house." With these words, the chief of the Mossos d'Esquadra and current director of the Catalan police, Josep Lluís Trapero, recalled his most "complicated" days. They date back to the years following the October 1st referendum, when Trapero, who stepped down as chief of the Mossos d'Esquadra in 1955, was indicted for sedition and ended up being tried in the National Court. facing sentences of 10 years in prisonIn that process, Trapero "breathed the prison breath."

Former Catalan police chief constable Josep Lluís Trapero has returned to court a year and a half after being acquitted by Spain's High Court. This time he has done it to testify as a witness in the trial of an alleged plot of police corruption and drug trafficking, known as the 'Macedonia' case, which had him in the spotlight for nearly a decade. Trapero was never investigated in the case, but for eight years the judge suspected some of his subordinates, members of the Catalan police's anti-corruption unit, over their relationship with an informant, Manuel Gutiérrez Carbajo, whom the prosecution considers the leader of a drug gang. The major agreed with the defence, which claims former superintendent José Manuel Villarejo took advantage of the Macedonia case to discredit Trapero and the Catalan police force.

Never before has a change in the command of the Catalan police force, known as the Mossos d'Esquadra, been surrounded by so much controversy. The dismissal of Chief Constable Josep Lluís Trapero, the highest ranked office in the force, has been surrounded by accusations of a political purge that the Catalan government denies and the opposition wants to be investigated by a parliamentary commission. The consequences of this huge shift are not over.

The data from the Catalan local forces are unequivocal: the pandemic, and above all the months of lockdowns and curfew, has left a trace of distrust and loss of respect for authority that has resulted in a considerable increase in violent attacks against uniformed agents. With respect to 2019 (the last normal year), crimes against authority and disobedience have more than doubled. This violence, moreover, does not occur in contexts of political vindication such as the protests against the sentencing of the Independence bid leaders, but oftentimes occurs in a festive atmosphere such as street parties.