The head of Global Spain, the country's international campaign to improve its image, Irene Lozano, has compared the Catalan independence referendum with rape in an interview with British channel Sky News.
NEW: A Spanish official has compared voting in the 2017 Catalan independence referendum to rape. @lozanoirene told @DominicWaghorn “Sex is not forbidden, like voting is not forbidden but you can’t do it forcefully. You have to have the permission to do it, otherwise it’s rape” pic.twitter.com/WzzK1BnnxB
— Andrew Connell (@andrewiconnell) 14 de febrer de 2019
Lozano starts by saying that whilst Catalans "wanted to hold a referendum, they didn't have permission". She then begins her very next sentence with the words: "I normally use this metaphor of sex".
The metaphor in question? "Sex is not forbidden, like voting is not forbidden, but you cannot do it forcefully. You have to have permission to do it, otherwise it's rape." The presenter, Dominic Waghorn, doesn't hide his surprise: "I'm sorry, you're comparing organising a referendum against the wishes of central government to rape?".
"Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly", says Lozano after a nervous laugh, "what I said is that any act you can do, it's different if you have permission or you don't have permission. And I say sex is okay, but if you don't have permission it becomes rape".
Lozano's response
The head of Global Spain admitted in a tweet this Thursday that she "didn't make the best of comparisons". "I was trying to explain the difference between doing things with or without the consent of those affected", she wrote, "the 1st October referendum was held without the agreement of half of Catalan society and has left it divided".
Anoche no hice la mejor de las comparaciones. Trataba de explicar la diferencia entre hacer las cosas con o sin el consentimiento de los afectados. El referéndum del 1-O se hizo sin el acuerdo de la mitad de la sociedad catalana y la ha dejado dividida.
— Irene Lozano (@lozanoirene) 14 de febrer de 2019