Pro-independence association of Spanish-speakers complains about Madrid's biased news on Catalonia

Madrid (ACN).-  Súmate, an organisation mostly formed of people of Spanish origin living in Catalonia who support independence from Spain, presented on Monday its views during a ceremony at the Friends of the UNESCO headquarters in Madrid. The organisation, described as plural, independent, and non-partisan by its members has entitled its intervention ‘Escucha España. Los catalanes quieren votar’ (Listen Spain! The Catalans want to vote). For its President, Eduardo Reyes, the main objective is to encourage a democratic debate on the ongoing process in Catalonia, since for now “all the news that is reaching Spain about Catalonia is false”. Reyes believes that the Spanish institutions are “creating hatred” and said that he had decided to go to Madrid to explain that “there is no social fracture” in Catalonia. “We wish to help them, that they will help us and ask them to listen to other points of views. If we need to come to Madrid, and come here more often, we will create a Súmate here”, he added. Not a single Madrid-based printed media talked about the event.

Ramon Cotarelo, a Professor of Political Sciences at Madrid-based Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distanci, UNED (Spain's distance learning public university), was in charge of presenting Monday evening’s event in Madrid. He started by introducing himself as a Madrid and Spanish citizen but defended "the Catalans’right to decide" on their own future, which is to say the consultation vote. Cotarelo explained that Spain should accept the democratic result of this process. He then added that it is “an honour” being able to share his views on the matter in such an event.

“A country cannot be permanently focused on an identity matter” stated Cotalero, adding that “the problem of Spanish nationalism is not the Spanish nation, but Spanish nationalists”. Cotarelo considered that if Catalans do not give up to their independence claims, “it would be so terrible for Spanish nationalists they would not accept the breakup. They have a problem with evil”, he stated. Finally, Cotarelo said that the will to impose a single idea of what is Spain “is what ultimately caused the living-togetherness problems”.

During his speech, Súmate’s President Eduardo Reyes said that the citizens would be the ones driving forward the independence process, since “we are tired of these ministers and of this [Spanish] government which is unintelligent, greedy, with crooks ​​and thieves”. The President of the organisation acknowledged that the “Spanish people is being massacred just like us”, stating that “we should all be united against those who are taking advantage of us”.

Súmate members regretted that Spanish institutions follow a strategy to delay the consultation vote but added that such a vote was the only way out of the current situation. They therefore requested the help of the Spanish society in order to encourage the economic and political power to end “this delay because it will only lead to a deadlock”.

The event was attended by a hundred people and several MPs, notably Catalans living in Madrid, including politicians from the Left-Wing Catalan Independence (ERC) or the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU). Aside from Súmate President Eduardo Reyes, the Spokesperson for Súmate in Tarragona (Southern Catalonia), Nicolás Fernández, and other members of the organisation, such as Carlos Treviño, Manolo Ortega or José Rodríguez, have also attended the event. Ironically, no Madrid-based printed media covered the event.