I'm not surprised at all. Rather, I enjoy the petty satisfaction of having been one of the first – allow me to be immodest for a day – to denounce some of the abuses that are now definitively coming to light. I say this in reference to Manel Pérez's formidable report on the Catalonia operation published on these same pages and which brings light and method to a communication system overloaded with self-interested chatter. In the end, as Goethe said, the truth always ends up shining. Too bad everyone left by then.
Because there is nothing new in the finding that the former Minister of the Interior, Mr. Fernández, even by the undemanding standards of his profession, has turned out to be an exceptionally liar. Nor in the fact that the relations between the high officials of the ministry, the police leadership and the multi-purpose commissioner Villarejo have ended in a frenzy of betrayals, duplicity and backstabbing worthy of the last meeting of the Spice Girls. Nor in the fact that the processes against the Catalan pro-independence activists and their environment have been based on tricks incompatible not only with the law, but with a minimal sense of decency.
At the end of the day, the brutal and inept politics of recent years surrounding the Catalan issue has been nothing more than the logical consequence of the elevation to positions of responsibility of a series of subjects that, unfortunately, have only turned out to be foolish means: with with a little effort they could have aspired to be complete idiots. I refer to the results of his political action and the content of La Vanguardia's investigation.
Do not see this as frivolity or the slightest moral indifference. People who have reached a certain age are often said to be bitterly cynical and misanthropic, but this is not true. The only thing that happens is that we have had enough time to listen to the repetitive and sad music of humanity, as always performed by a band of oil-soaked bread scrabbling for an audience. This must be why those of us who have lived since the second half of the 20th century are more or less resistant to disappointment, have lower expectations and tend to despise any promise of political content. At the end of the day, experience amply shows that no one learns anything, no one makes amends or apologizes and, with a bit of luck, the only thing that happens is that the next day someone goes to the slaughterhouse and passes the hose.
Still, I wonder without much enthusiasm what the State will do now with the dirty past that has been crudely exposed, with those investigations tainted by illicit evidence and abuse of power, with those judicial proceedings - fueled by reports bogus cops and bought witnesses – ankylosed through delaying tactics, dragged out for years to drain their victims of energy or even have them die and their cases die with them. I wonder what will be done with cases, for example, like that of Pujol.
Whatever one thinks of Pujol (who can be hated more than tofu soup for his political action, that's not the point), it's hard to find in the history of judicial precedents a greater compendium of nonsense : from false statements of witnesses before the UDEF urged by Commissioner Villarejo to pen drives with evidence so illicit that the judge had to remove them from the case and for which the previous DAO of the Ministry of the Interior was judged and condemned; from the extortion of Andorran banks to the congratulatory messages from Jorge Moragas to Victoria Álvarez; from the absurd dialogues of Fernández Díaz with his henchmen to the assault by hooded men on a van containing items confiscated from the family. I'm sure they think I'm resorting to dark humor, but I assure you I'm just telling the truth.
This has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of the accused. The rule is different: the State has all the means at its disposal, Police, Tax inspectors, Prosecutor's Office and courts, and can use the full weight of this power to do justice with a single limitation, play fair and appear as honorable as you can expect from a world where that is out of fashion. If not, it's all for naught.
At least that's what old liberals with bad fleas doomed to discouragement think.
