Association of Municipalities for Independence explains Catalonia's political process to 500 mayors worldwide

Barcelona (CNA) .- The Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) is sending letters to more than 500 mayors around the world. The aim of this campaign is to report on the pro-independence process, the roadmap to achieve the independence and the Catalan Government’s will to hold a referendum in September 2017. The internationalisation initiative wants to avoid the filters of Spanish diplomacy and build direct bridges of communication between cities, as detailed by the president of the organisation, Neus Lloveras, in an interview given to the Catalan public radio station, Catalunya Ràdio. The submission is being coordinated with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and includes a letter written by Lloveras and a brochure in six languages; Catalan, Spanish, French, English, Italian and German.

The AMI has already started to send the letters to the 194 state capitals in the world and the 100 largest cities. In a second phase, correspondence will be sent to towns twinned with Catalan cities attached to the AMI. In this case, the correspondence will include a personalised message by the Mayor of each city. This second stage includes 249 municipalities in Europe, six in Asia, 22 in Africa and 76 in America. In total, the organisation estimates that 548 mayors from five continents will receive a letter explaining the Catalan reality “without interference from Spain”.

“This campaign aims to promote city-to-city contact, to avoid the transmission of information through the states”, Lloveras stated. “In the municipal sphere, we have lines of communication and these are the ones we are using”, she stated.

In the letter, the organisation explains the will of the people of Catalonia to become an independent state, the peaceful nature of the pro-independence process and Spain’s refusal to allow a referendum. The letter makes clear that the AMI is a network formed by mayors representing “more than 80% of the population of Catalonia” and highlights the involvement of local authorities in the pro-independence process.

The correspondence also includes three main arguments for the Catalan people staking a claim for independence. The first is the historical one and refers to the language and culture and the wish to be able to develop them without “restrictions”. The second is economic in nature and states that the Spanish Government benefits “year after year” from other Autonomous Communities in Spain “in detriment” to Catalonia. Finally, the letter mentions the matter of democracy. “Catalonia doesn’t want to live in a society such as Spain, with poor democratic values, with a non-clear separation of powers and widespread corruption in the institutions”, it explains.