Of the whole torrent of statements which have been made since the dramatic detention of nine pro-independence activists accused of terrorism, rebellion and possession of explosives, none of them reaches the level of the words spoken by public works minister and PSOE's organisation secretary, José Luis Ábalos. PSOE's number three, and one of the few politicians with a direct line to prime minister Sánchez, has shown himself to be very satisfied by the operation and with the fact that, according to him, an attack has been avoided. That's all far from proven and what the passing of the hours does is dissipate the false narrative. But the important thing for Ábalos is to maintain the framing of the 10th November election campaign: independentism and terrorism go hand in hand. And so to stay in the land of frivolity for a handful of votes and to be forgiven in Spain for the confidence motion it won against Rajoy with the support of the independence movement.
The dangerous spiral which Spanish politics has entered with the criminalisation of the independence movement is very bad news since it is, above all, a sign of desperation. The deep state seems to be preparing itself for an overwhelming response to the reaction there could be to the Supreme Court's sentences, to be released in about two weeks. Otherwise how are we to understand that they accusations of terrorism and rebellion which are enormously serious and for which there's been no evidence provided should have so easily incorporated.
It's not normal that a judicial organisation, in this case Jueces para la Democracia (Judges for Democracy), should have so quickly questioned a filing like the public prosecution service's one on the operation against the Catalan Committees for Defence of the Republic. Nor that they should have corrected them upon the discovery of "too many adjectives" when in the "terrain of suspicions". It's a warning when Spanish politics is full steam ahead to discredit the independence movement, the Spanish government is looking to tie the hands of its political representatives and there's even talk of banning political parties, the security forces have stepped up the repression and the justice system still has enough proceedings to come to keep the tension alive.