The decision to return the political prisoners to the jails of Lledoners and Wad-Ras by suspending their open "third-level" prison regime and more than likely their permission for work leave too, granted by the respective treatment boards of the prisons in which they are held, is the most blatant demonstration that the government of Pedro Sánchez is not working either for judicial de-escalation, for a political agreement with Catalonia, or for the fulfillment of any of the commitments it has been assuming. It is a sad day for democracy when it is shown that there is no difference between the PSOE and the PP, that it was a major strategic error to collaborate in overthrowing Mariano Rajoy to install as PM a character like Sánchez, who is politically small but highly corrosive, as he is capable of putting on any disguise. Who is Pedro Sánchez? The figure who promised everything or the one who gave nothing? The man who claimed that the prosecution service depended on him or who, insensitively, allowed action to be taken against Catalan political prisoners in a fast-tracked decision of abundantly clear injustice?
Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Sànchez, Oriol Junqueras, Joaquim Forn and Raül Romeva slept on Tuesday night in Lledoners prison and former speaker Carme Forcadell in Wad-Ras prison, not knowing when they will leave again after their open prison regime and work leave provisions have been revoked; Jordi Turull, Josep Rull and Dolors Bassa have also done so in Lledoners and Puig de les Basses and, in their case, as the prosecutor is on holiday, they will have a few more hours of time out than their colleagues, but the ruling is already written. In the hands of the Supreme Court, the Spanish judiciary, far from rectifying a sentence with a marked bias and few legal arguments behind it, has decided to tighten the screws and intervene in the regime of semi-liberty which the political prisoners enjoyed.
It was already written days ago and, above all, from the moment the deep state demanded revenge rather than justice, through the Spanish media, and especially in the devalued but still influential printed press. It was palpable that no one was going to remain sitting on their hands and it was relatively easy to violate rights and freedoms again. The independence movement has been falling into the same trap for too long thinking that there is a path to dialogue and this is not the case. On October 3rd, 2017, the speech of Felipe VI left no margin for politics and only the path of repression remained, something that has been so well practiced first by the PP government and now the PSOE executive, with a deputy PM and four ministers from the Podemos party who are only able to raise their voices when it comes to the corruption of the monarchy and maintain a deafening silence when the Catalan pro-independence leaders go back to prison.
The script needs to change and people have to grow up quickly to avoid the Spanish left crushing the most dynamic and massive popular mobilization that has been generated in Europe since World War II. With them, there is no longer room for hope and, without waiting for them, it will be necessary to build a new path on which to travel, since the repression is not over. The decision to return the prisoners indefinitely to prison is a major statement and the response must rise to it. Because the impotence of the state to provide a way out cannot be met by simply turning the other cheek and trusting only in persistence to lead to a solution. That time has already passed.