The discovery that he was spied on by, according to the National Intelligence Center (CNI), coordinating from “clandestine” the Defense Committees of the Republic (CDR) has motivated Pere Aragonès to assure that “the Catalunya operation has had a second part: massive espionage of people” committed to independence. “If a part of national security is in the hands of an intelligence service, which makes errors of this magnitude and justifies violations of fundamental rights based on lies, I would be worried,” he stated from Vilablareix (Girona), after the inauguration. from the Madrenc school the president of the Generalitat. “It seems laughable and an adventure between Mortadelo and Filemón. It’s unfortunate,” he added.
The Republican has regretted that the documentation sent by the Government is “incomplete” and “censored” since it has “whole pages stained black” so that the content cannot be seen. From what he has been able to read, Aragonès emphasizes that some of the information contained “is beyond all reality and common sense.” Something that makes Aragonès think that the CNI lied to the judge to violate his rights.
Aragonès has stressed that he will go “to the end” so that responsibilities are resolved. The president has clarified that the documents do not give arguments to justify the espionage and the idea that he coordinated the CDR.
The words of the head of the Government come after the new Vice-Minister of Strategy and Communication of the Generalitat, Sergi Sabrià, confessed this morning that it is “very difficult for him to think” that the Government of Pedro Sánchez did not know about the spying with Pegasus on mobile phones of Pere Aragonès when he was vice president of Quim Torra on behalf of the CNI. Sabria has been more forceful than his leader and has described as “political garbage” the documents declassified by the Executive on the so-called Catalangate that justify espionage in the suspicions about the current president in relation to the fact that he was the leader of the CDR in hiding. , information that, on the other hand, was advanced by La Vanguardia in 2022.
“It is not easy to take over the forces of the State, but not knowing it is very difficult for me,” Aragonès’ right-hand man acknowledged in an interview in Ser Catalunya, about the investigation that began during the Mariano government. Rajoy, but whose judicial endorsement for the wiretapping already comes with Pedro Sánchez in Monclola.
Regarding whether this new chapter will have consequences on the relations between Esquerra Republicana and the PSOE, Sabrià explained that with the socialists “we have very little affinity”, that “it is more a matter of opportunity, of numbers.” “The PSOE does not do anything, it is forced to do something,” said Sabrià, adding that “after the amnesty comes the referendum.”
The Government’s Deputy Minister of Strategy and Communication has criticized the declassification of CNI documents on Catalangate. “It’s political garbage,” he snapped. “It is full of blackouts where atrocities can be said and there is no justification for saying that Aragonès was a leader of the CDR, but the phrase is repeated.” Sabrià has said that they hope that “declassification is only the first step.” And he recalled that when they cut off relations with the PSOE, in addition to that declassification, they asked that the espionage not be repeated.
The Esquerra representative in Congress Teresa Jordà has also spoken about the issue, in an interview on TVE’s La 2. Asked if the relationship between ERC and the PSOE would change if it is proven that Sánchez’s Government was aware of the espionage, the deputy admitted that “it is always very important to know who you have in front of you when you are negotiating, if on top of that you are negotiating and they are spying on you, obviously “Everything has effects.” After pointing out that if confirmed it would be “extremely serious”, Jordà has not specified how the relationship could change but has pointed out that where we need to shed light is on the “dirty war”. In any case, regarding the declassified documents he has said that It is “one more nonsense” from the CNI.
Last night after learning the content of the documents, Moncloa sources emphasized that “now there is transparency, guarantees and the rule of law, while with the PP there was a dirty war and parallel police forces.”
The same sources recalled that the aforementioned wiretaps “are caused by operations initiated by the CNI” before Sánchez’s arrival at the Moncloa and always had judicial authorization” and added that “neither the CNI nor the Supreme Court have to inform, logically , to the government”.
The statements from Brussels by the Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, follow this line. According to Ester Herrera, she defended this morning that there was “a normal functioning of the rule of law” when the CNI espionage on Aragonès occurred, when he was vice president, because at that time neither the Supreme Court nor the intelligence agency informed the Executive. of these actions.
According to the minister, the Government was not aware of nor had it authorized these wiretaps, “which came from before”: “The Government, at that time, when these episodes occurred, neither had knowledge nor had it authorized, because they were operations that had come from before “Bolaños assured upon his arrival today at an informal council of Justice Ministers in Brussels.
Bolaños has insisted that “unlike what happened with previous governments, this government respects the rule of law and there is no pressure or interference in the normal functioning of the institutions,” he assured.
However, the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, from Sumar, assured this Friday that those responsible for the wiretapping of Aragonès should “be held accountable.” “This must be investigated to the fullest extent (…). The news we have learned is extremely serious, so I think it must be clarified,” said Bustinduy.
This morning the Government sent to the investigative court number 29 of Barcelona the three orders of the Supreme Court that endorsed the attack with Pegasus, which constitutes the only secret documentation related to the espionage of Aragonès that the Council of Ministers has agreed to provide, one day before that the former director of the CNI, Paz Esteban, declares that she is under investigation before the judge.
Esteban will answer the questions by videoconference, from a court in Madrid. Aragonés already declared himself a victim in December and there he explained that the espionage lasted at least between 2018 and 2020 and included relevant political moments such as Sánchez’s investiture negotiations in 2019 or conversations to approve Catalan and Spanish budgets.
