There are times when reality surpasses fiction. Or if we are talking about Catalonia and ‘Procés’, it leaves Berlanga’s best and funniest scripts behind. It’s nothing new. In the comedy he has been writing since the illegal referendum of 2017, there are a few scenes left between political history and the comic strip. All with a good dose of memes.

“Container containers” of October 1 (1-O), “Republic of the eight-second”, the escape that allegedly took place in the luggage of Carles Puigdemont… And now, seven years later, The old president staging an escape busy time This is worthy of Berlanga’s films as much as Copperfield’s shows.

Move according to the movement.

And on day 2,475 it reappeared (briefly). Continuing with the cinematographic references, the story of ‘Procé’, like ‘Star Wars’, is best understood from the end. And the final chapter, or at least the last chapter to date, is the one Puigdemont played in Barcelona this morning.

Seven years after the illegal independence referendum and after 2,475 long days of fleeing Justice abroad to fully avoid the legal consequences of his sovereigntist appeal, the former president of the Generalitat reappeared today before thousands of people at the gates of the Catalan Parliament.

Come come…and I was scared. Neither the day, nor the hour, nor the place were coincidental. The Junt’s leader was first seen on Spanish soil just before the start of the inauguration session of socialist Salvador Illa, who was called to break the pro-independence political monopoly that had lasted more than a decade in the Catalan Generalitat.

It means more than anything to the PSOE, which achieved its first success minister There are those who interpret Illa’s appointment, 14 years after Montilla, as the end of the ‘Procés’. In this environment, Puigdemont took part in a repair that was said to be complex and eventually went crazy in Barcelona today.

Reason: The old president He lived up to expectations and appeared before 3,500 people, but after a short speech and against all odds, he disappeared without a trace. Quoting from the Latin proverb: Come come…and I was scared.

“Return from exile”The return of Carles Puigdemont to Catalonia after seven years abroad, after he fled justice to avoid arrest, has created such expectations that yesterday political analysts from all walks of life began to speculate what would happen when the former president crossed the border and set foot in Catalonia.

After all, in his tweet announcing his “return from exile” on Wednesday, Puigdemont took it upon himself to join the debate over Illa’s appointment as an MP – he was in fact the second-most-voted among the autonomous powers – but the reality surrounding his case is much more complex.

Despite the Amnesty Law, Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena commented that Puigdemont still has a pending account with the Spanish justice system for embezzlement of public funds, a crime that forces him to be searched and captured and could lead to a sentence of several years in prison.

Bad day for pools. So the biggest unknown was… The old president Will Catalan be seen on national soil? Would the Mossos, the National Police or the Civil Guard be able to stop him? And if so, where in the Parlement? How would this affect Illa’s appointment? Will they transfer the leader of the Junts to Madrid? With a temporary prison? There were pools. And they all failed. Or almost. None of these possible scenarios came true. Puigdemont disappeared.

Without further ado.

How did he disappear? There is no script worth its salt without a good plot. That is what Puigdemont left at the doorstep of the Catalan Parliament today. The former president disappeared after a short speech in front of 3,500 people in which he complained about “a country where amnesty laws do not grant amnesty.”

There is no other way to say it. There was no trick or surprising staging. It just stopped being seen. And this despite the fact that thousands of people followed them on site during the intervention and the facility was protected by the police. The Junt deputies went to Parliament for a plenary session and he himself played a part worthy of Carrillo’s famous wig.

Escape with accomplices? But as the hours passed, some keys were learned that would help understand how the madness had become possible. For starters, Puigdemont was expected to attend the investment session, so the first question was not if there would be an arrest, but when. Everything seemed to indicate that it would happen just before the general assembly.

Country Yesterday, it was reported that Mossos had made an agreed and secret detention offer to the former president days ago, but he had rejected the option. Another important point that emerged this morning is that Puigdemont may have received more help than initially planned. Mossos arrested one of its own agents for allegedly helping the politician evade the authority of the Supreme Court.

white car bus. It is logically unprecedented that a high-profile figure like Puigdemont could reappear in Spain after almost 2,500 days on the run, give a short speech and disappear again, all in front of thousands of people and with hundreds of agents present, and he got along well with the police. Country A few hours ago, I was interviewing leaders who were clearly talking about “historical nonsense.”

What happened to him? The old president It is only known, or rather suspected, that he was travelling in a white vehicle and that he was accompanied by Jordi Turull. The police officer arrested this morning was in fact the owner of the car in which the pro-independence activist allegedly got into to escape.

And ‘Operation Cage’ is comingThe big question that is being asked right now in Catalonia and throughout Spain, and probably in other countries as well, is: where is Carles Puigdemont? To find and locate him, the authorities have activated ‘Operation Gábia’ or ‘The Cage’, which involves checks on the roads, including those at the exits of Barcelona and those connecting to France.

The SER network says that authorities know the model, color and license plate of the vehicle in which the former president was traveling, and that agents have orders to stop cars at checkpoints at the exit from Barcelona. Surveillance has also intensified in Girona, and according to Ser, the Mossos have even requested support from local police forces. In addition to searches in which passengers are asked to leave their vehicles, the result is soon apparent: traffic congestion.

There is talk of police officers checking car trunks and even agents checking sewers, but the footage of police officers looking into sewers could be from yesterday or today when security measures are being taken due to the politician’s arrival.

A (long) series of comedies. Carles Puigdemont’s latest move only adds a new chapter to the long-running serial comedy that the Catalan sovereigntist ‘Procés’ has become. And there are already several; starting with the container ballot boxes deployed at 1-O or what may be the shortest declaration of independence in recent history, carried out in eight seconds by Puigdemont himself in 2017. He announced the commencement and suspension of Catalan independence.

In the ironies (or not) of political history, the most popular symbol of the frustrated DUI was a meme depicting a woman going from jubilant celebration to the rawest and most meaningful disappointment in the blink of an eye.

And this goes beyond Spain. Neither the very rapid independence that provoked a heated debate on Wikipedia about whether Catalonia had been autonomous for eight seconds, nor the 2017 polls were the only elements of the humorous tone adopted by the ‘Procés’. If Carles Puigdemont disappeared this morning in the wildest possible way, it was because seven years ago he had already starred in another Hollywood escape film, in which he managed to sneak into a ballot box, although he would later swear that it was a hoax from the “sewer”.

His journey was also marked by his time in Belgium, his arrest in Germany, his brief stay in Neumûnster prison, from which he was released after paying a 75,000 euro bail, the media announcement that he would return to Spain to pay for the full investment. And finally, as in the best film by José Luis Berlanga, his appearance at the gates of Parliament before again throwing smoke bombs at the media. Not before setting the political agenda several times over.

Image | Together (X)

In Xataka | There has been a heated debate on Wikipedia about whether Catalonia has been independent for 8 seconds