"Reverend Father, I am the Mother Superior of the congregation. I would like you to transfer two missals from my library to the parish chaplain's library." The letter, written in code by Marta Ferrusola, went viral even before things started going viral. The wife of former president Jordi Pujol was giving orders to transfer money between the family's accounts in Andorra. And this Wednesday, it was the turn of "Reverend Father" to testify. Josep Maria Pallerola, who was the Pujols' first manager in Andorra, admitted before the court that he was nicknamed "Father" because he had "a priest's face." It was prosecutor Fernando Bermejo who brought the matter to light. famous handwritten note that Ferrusola sent to Banca Reig. "I remember they called me 'Father' somewhat jokingly," Pallerola confessed.

Since the court in the Pujol trial accepted that José Manuel Villarejo and other members of the patriotic police would testify as witnesses, there was a lot of expectation –especially in the media– about what they would say. They were to answer about the obtaining of banking information from the family of the former president of the Generalitat, which was leaked to El Mundo, and about the genesis of the criminal case, which started more than ten years ago. However, they have provided few specifics, few certainties, and many shadows of doubt on all the questions the defense attorneys have asked them. With contradictory statements that have been denied by journalistic investigations and revelations in recent years.

Since the Pujol case trial court accepted that José Manuel Villarejo and other members of the patriotic police When they testified as witnesses, there was much anticipation—more from the media than the courts—to hear what they would say. They had to answer questions about the maneuvers they carried out to illegally obtain banking information from the family of the former president of the Generalitat—information that was leaked to The World—and regarding the origins of the criminal case—which began more than ten years ago following a complaint filed by Vicky Álvarez, the eldest son's former lover, encouraged by Villarejo. However, the four witnesses who have testified have provided few concrete details and few certainties, and instead have offered a display of evasiveness and sown many shadows of doubt.

Operation Catalonia is the "illicit" origin of the case against the Pujol family. This is the argument being presented by the defense lawyers for the former president's family in the trial at the National Court. The court, in fact, has accepted that the leadership of the "patriotic police" must testify as a witness in the trialAnd this Thursday, new evidence of his role in the case against the Pujol family was published. It is an audio recording from 2017. disseminated by Eldiario.esIn a recording, former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo confirms that Victoria Álvarez, former partner of Jordi Pujol Ferrusola and a key figure in the origin of the case against the family, was paid by the National Police. He states this in a conversation with former PP Secretary General María Dolores de Cospedal. According to the aforementioned media outlet, the conversation took place on September 12, 2017, shortly before the October 1 referendum, at the PP headquarters on Génova Street. "If they find out that Vicky is being paid by the Police, we're in trouble, don't you think?" Villarejo says at one point in the recording. "Well, yes," Cospedal replies, in further evidence implicating the PP leader in Operation Catalonia. The recording, according to the same report, has been in the hands of the National Court judges investigating the Kitchen case for two years, who have allegedly ignored it.

The patriotic police The issue has resurfaced in the trial of the Pujol Ferrusola family. While on Monday and Tuesday the defense lawyers denounced the "contamination" of Operation Catalonia at the very beginning of the case and the "original sin" of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office sought to draw a line between the state's dirty tricks and the trial that began on Monday at the National Court. "No evidence has been manipulated for ulterior motives, and it has been obtained with full respect for the rights of the accused," asserted prosecutor Fernando Bermejo. He reprimanded the lawyers for stirring up "political rumors" and "unsubstantiated hypotheses" by turning them into grounds for annulment and for attempting to get the court to consider "alleged maneuvers and irregularities unrelated to the facts being judged." "Political issues cannot be introduced into a procedural, legal, and substantive matter such as the investigation and prosecution of crimes," he concluded.

The first day of the Pujol Ferrusola family trial left two images for the history books: the former president of the Generalitat following the proceedings remotely from his home, and his seven children seated in the dock. It also highlighted two distinct yet complementary defense strategies: one that emphasizes the National Court's lack of jurisdiction to try the case and the statute of limitations on the alleged crimes, and another that stresses the impact of Operation Catalonia.

Former Spanish National Police Commissioner José Manuel Villarejo appeared before the Andorran courts on Tuesday to testify in the investigation against former Spanish President Mariano Rajoy regarding Operation Catalonia. In his statement, the former commissioner reaffirmed his version of events and asserted that the former leader of the People's Party orchestrated the operation to intervene in Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA) as retaliation for the financial institution's refusal to cooperate with him in his efforts to bring down the leaders of the Catalan independence movement. Specifically,The Andorran judge wants to clarify whether Rajoy and former Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz They pressured BPA executives to provide information on pro-independence politicians to the patriotic police, within the framework of Operation Catalonia.

The Congressional commission of inquiry into the state's sewage system is on hold. At least as far as appearances are concerned. The last ones were in May, shortly before the Leire Díez and Santos Cerdán cases broke out, and although several were agreed upon but still pending, no one has testified on the committee for five months. Despite the reduction in activity, this Tuesday it approved a new extension to continue working beyond October 24, when its activity was due to end. Until now, the committee has mostly testified politicians and key figures from the Mariano Rajoy administration, but it remains pending approval to appear for profiles with responsibilities from 2018 onwards, when Pedro Sánchez was in power and when the majority of the Pegasus espionage cases occurred.

Pedro J. Ramírez (Logroño, 1952) is one of the most influential Spanish journalists of the democratic period and also one of the most controversial. He has now published his second volume of memoirs (You can tell the truth, Planeta), where he defends decisions as controversial as his covers with false accusations against pro-independence leaders.

Last year, the Spanish courts blocked the Andorran judicial investigation into Operation Catalunya by closing the letter rogatory. The World The case seeking the indictment of former Spanish President Mariano Rajoy and former Interior and Finance Ministers Jorge Fernández Díaz and Cristóbal Montoro has now been reactivated, according to information obtained by ARA. Judge Stéphanie Garcia has again issued letters rogatory in Spain to the competent judicial authority to summon the political and judicial leaders of the Andorran branch of this alleged anti-independence plot.

Today, Oriol Junqueras and Xavier Trias will testify before the congressional commission on Operation Catalunya. Good luck. You already know that Operation Catalunya is a series of illegal activities organized or protected, tolerated, and ignored by Mariano Rajoy's government, including the fabrication of false evidence, espionage, and the misuse of public funds. And yet, the Spanish justice system hasn't lifted a finger to investigate it, because justice is Spanish before justice.

The last time Oriol Junqueras attended a formal session in Congress was on May 21, 2019, almost six years ago, when he was able to attend the chamber while in pretrial detention to be sworn in as a deputy. It didn't last long, because the Spanish elections were repeated that year and he had already been elected as a MEP. This Monday, he was able to express himself at length in the lower house during his appearance before the commission of inquiry into Operation Catalunya, where he wanted to send a message to the PSOE: "They have the political and moral duty to present to the Prosecutor's Office the conclusions of the evidence provided here and the lies that will be made just [of this, I am convinced."

Not even two months ago, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska boasted from Congress of having cleaned up the state's sewers, from where, during Mariano Rajoy's last government, the dirty war against the independence movement had been waged, known as Operation Catalunya, with all the maneuvers that this Monday the former mayor of Barcelona, ​​Xavier Trias, and the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras. Have irregular practices in the state security forces been eradicated? Sánchez. In times of pandemic, Marlaska dismissed Colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos as head of the command of the Civil Guard in Madrid for refusing to inform the then Spanish government delegate, José Manuel Franco, of the investigation.

Artur Mas files a complaint against former Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz and former PP Secretary General María Dolores de Cospedal for Operation Catalunya and also for espionage with Pegasus. The former president has also included former Secretary of State for Security Francisco Martínez and senior officials Eugenio Pino and Marcelino Martín-Blas in the complaint. Likewise, he has added to the list of defendants the former directors of the CNI, Félix Sanz Roldán and Paz Esteban, in addition to the heads of the company that marketed the spy software with Pegasus. NSO is trying to be behind personal and political views and alter the election results." However, he does not rule out that during the course of the judicial process he could extend the complaint to former Spanish President Mariano Rajoy and former Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, whom he believes were involved in everything. To begin with, Maslic has filed the entry for falsification of an official document by a public official, misappropriation of public resources, disclosure of secrets by public officials, and violation of fundamental rights. where he recalled that between 2012 and 2015 is when he began to be spied on via mobile phone, but that this continued until 2020. "The objective was the same, to combat ideas and to eliminate people and political ideas. They started with Operation Catalunya and continued with Pegasus [...], "What they fundamentally wanted to destroy was Convergència," he said.

While awaiting the complaint from Artur Mas and others affected by Operation Catalunya who might take the step, the commission of inquiry opened in Congress is gathering protagonists of the dirty war against the Process with the judicial horizon in its sights. In the eyes of the independence movement, the lack of consequences in the courts for Mariano Rajoy's government is an anomaly, an anomaly that the PSOE is now also denouncing. "This commission will end up with several of your colleagues parading through the courts. There are hundreds of reports, notes, that have been stored in drawers and will eventually come out. Whoever does it, will pay," Socialist spokesperson Manuel Arribas told former Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santa.

In the interview published this Sunday by ARA, former president of the Generalitat (Catalan government) Artur Mas explains that he has already filed a complaint regarding the Catalunya operation, which he announced on Monday before the Congress of Deputies' commission of inquiry. The complaint has two legs. The first concerns the publication of fake news through the so-called "patriotic police," a maneuver orchestrated by former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo on behalf of the PP leadership, as evidenced by audio recordings provided by the former police officer himself. The second refers to the Pegasus spying of which Mas was a victim between 2015 and 2020, according to the specialized Canadian laboratory.

Artur Mas (Barcelona, ​​1956) visits the ARA editorial office the same week he announced, from the Congress of Deputies, the filing of a complaint regarding Operation Catalunya. He still remembers the harshness of some of his comments during the commission of inquiry.

The everlasting Spain, identical to itself, that ofSpain and I are like that, madam. (phrase often attributed to Ortega y Gasset, but which actually comes from a play by Eduardo Marquina with a significant title, The sun has set in Flanders) was expressed on Monday, twice: on the one hand, with the appearance of former Spanish Vice President Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, and on the other, with the Supreme Court's rejection of the complaint against King Juan Carlos for five tax offenses, filed months ago by a group of retired prosecutors and judges, some of them.

During his powerful speech in Congress, President Mas said he didn't understand the "cowardice" of Mariano Rajoy or Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria and, in general, of all those political leaders who, having instigated, financed, or allowed Operation Catalunya, or who had cooperated, are now claiming that Operation Catalunya never happened. "I don't understand their cowardice; they're running away like rabbits," said Artur Mas, eager to say it.

In 2012, in the midst of the worst financial crisis that Europe had suffered in a century, Cristóbal Montoro was the Minister of Finance who said: "The men in black They won't come to Spain." The idea was received by the Spanish media as a joke, but Brussels wasn't too amused. These were the times of skyrocketing risk premiums, of systematic non-compliance with deficit commitments by the Spanish government, and of uncertainties following the restructuring of the banking system, especially since the supposed clean-up process still led to the final big scam, that of Bankia (headed by another former PP minister, in this case of the Economy, Rodrigo Rato). Rato's successor in the Economy department in Rajoy's government was Luis de Guindos, who always refused to admit that Spain refused to admit that . 000 million euros as a "loan on very favorable terms." While the bailout was being negotiated, Rajoy encouraged Guindos as if he were a Real Madrid striker, with a mobile phone message that was mocked by half the world."Hang on. Spain is not Uganda.". In fact, Uganda's economy had grown by 17.5% between 2008 and 2012, while Spain's had contracted by 2.5%. Black, pink, or patterned suits, a troika A group of representatives from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank (which directly supervised the Bank of Spain) took control of the Spanish economy. The European Union Banking Authority was also added to this trio, given what was called the "special nature" of the bailout. The underlying message was that the Spanish government could not be trusted.