Every time I hear President Aragonès say that the head of Paz Esteban (director of the CNI sacrificed on the altar of the Pegasus case) is not enough “to consider the espionage crisis resolved”, I am reminded –excuse me– of the photo of the king emeritus in Botswana, posing shotgun at the ready next to the recently killed elephant. What does one case have to do with the other? Little, if we stick to the purpose of the hunts and the identity of the hunters and the prey. But much more if we compare the eagerness of one and the other to collect new trophies: both have behaved like compulsive hunters, apparently without end.
The emeritus, recalcitrant hunter –of partridges, leopards, bison, bears… and whatever came within range– believed in that distant 2012 that he had well deserved a romantic-hunting getaway to Africa. And there he went. But the party ended in misstep and hip fracture. Then came a stumble with worse consequences, through which he fell from the heights of popular appreciation to the depths of collective reproach, and then further down, as previous reprehensible behaviors were revealed.
For his part, Aragonès is upset – rightly so – at the espionage he suffered when his predecessor occupied the Generalitat, that president-hooligan who encouraged the CDR to “tighten up”, and he is upset – even more so, if possible – at the espionage which he suffered some time later, when already from the presidency of the Generalitat he contributed decisively to the investiture of Pedro Sánchez.
That said, it can be said that King Juan Carlos's undying passion for big game hunting is now reflected in Aragonès, whom I imagine in a dressing gown, slippers and a drink, lounging in his favorite chair, contemplating his panoply of trophies, lamenting loneliness of Paz Esteban's head and wishing to remedy it. For example, accompanying it with the head of the Defense Minister. Or with the Minister of the Interior. Or, for that matter, with that of the director general of the Civil Guard (tricorn hat included) or that of the director of the National Police. Being able to aspire to these trophies, who is satisfied with a grouse, a deer or a lion? Or with a collection of brave bull heads?
I would not like to offend anti-hunting readers with this comment. But it is difficult to forget that in Spain hunting is a widespread hobby. Before the crisis, more than a million federal licenses were issued. If now there are less – some 750,000 – it is not for lack of desire to go out and shoot, but because the cartridges are not given away, and when you have to save they fall off the shopping list. Still, hunting is popular enough that some communities have proposed giving hunting licenses to children under the age of fourteen. Here we are.
Now, one thing is hunting and another is not getting tired of hunting. Dickens defined hunting as "a passion deeply rooted in the human being". But he did not say that this would make us serial hunters, capable, with the game just caught at our feet, still hot, bleeding, with an empty look, of forgetting it and already thinking about the next one. This is what Aragonès refers us to when he warns that "whoever believes that with [Paz Esteban's] dismissal the purge ends is mistaken." He gives off the ugly impression of someone with an insatiable thirst for reparation; or revenge and punishment, which tarnishes his image; and, furthermore, it is far from that poster of the peaceful movement, which has never broken a plate, so fond of independence, in which it likes and recreates so much.
In addition to taking down new pieces –either in the rival ranks or in their own, which has everything–, the pro-independence leadership would do well to prioritize other more peremptory and convenient issues for the smooth running of the country, and even for their own interests. All the more reason now, when according to a survey published on Monday in this newspaper, more than 70% consider that independence should not be a priority for the Government. Aragonès himself is aware of this, although he does not proclaim it, and as a general rule he acts accordingly. Perhaps that is why he sometimes believes it appropriate to compensate for his political pragmatism with declarations of a compulsive hunter. Is that the explanation?
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