Tag: Spain

• Monday, November 13th 2017 - 06:44 UTC

  Rajoy campaigns in Catalonia and calls on the silent majority to convert voice in vote

  

  Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has said regional elections next month in Catalonia will help end “separatist havoc” in the northeastern region. Rajoy addressed a campaign event on Sunday on his first visit since imposing direct rule on the region a fortnight ago.

• Thursday, November 9th 2017 - 11:04 UTC

  Madrid admits constitutional changes to allow referendums in Spanish regions

  

  Spain is considering constitutional changes that could allow its regions to hold referendums on independence in the future, the foreign minister says. Alfonso Dastis has told the BBC a nationwide vote on the issue could be held.

• Tuesday, November 7th 2017 - 08:59 UTC

  Argentina surfaces three Spanish Malvinas documents from 1767

  

  Argentine former vice president and currently Senator of the ruling coalition, Julio Cobos has announced the discovery of three letters dated 1767, revealing an exchange of information between then Buenos Aires city governor, and Felipe Ruiz Puente, described as the first Malvinas Islands governor. At the time was part of the Spanish colonial empire.

• Monday, November 6th 2017 - 07:25 UTC

  Catalonia leaders released; Belgium has 60 days to decide if they are sent back to Spain

  

  Catalonia's sacked separatist leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his former ministers were released with conditions in Belgium on Sunday after turning themselves in to face a Spanish warrant for their arrest.

• Friday, November 3rd 2017 - 08:12 UTC

  Ex members of Catalonian government jailed by Spanish prosecution; Puigdemont remains in Belgium

  

  A Spanish judge has ordered nine ex-members of the government in Catalonia jailed while they are investigated on possible charges of sedition, rebellion and embezzlement.

• Thursday, November 2nd 2017 - 09:01 UTC

  The silent majority of Catalonia and the December 21st election-referendum

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - It's been going on for a while. “Recently in Catalonia we have been living through a kind of 'soft' totalitarianism...the illusion of unanimity created by the fear of expressing dissent,” wrote best-selling Catalan author Javier Cercas in the Spanish newspaper El País in 2014. Those who didn't want independence kept their heads down and their mouths shut, in other words.

• Tuesday, October 31st 2017 - 07:21 UTC

  Catalonia returns to normal; sacked president Puigdemont in Belgium

  

  Sacked Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has gone to Belgium, a lawyer he has hired there says. The lawyer, Paul Bekaert, did not comment on reports that Puigdemont could be preparing an asylum claim.

• Monday, October 30th 2017 - 06:29 UTC

  Hundreds of thousands march in Barcelona in support of a united Spain

  

  Hundreds of thousands who want Catalonia to remain part of Spain have rallied in Barcelona, two days after separatists voted for the wealthy region to secede. Organizers said the goal of Sunday’s march’s was to defend Spain’s unity and reject “an unprecedented attack in the history of democracy”.

• Saturday, October 28th 2017 - 08:11 UTC

  Western world leaders rally behind Rajoy and support Spain's territorial integrity

  

  Leaders from the world have largely rallied behind Spain's central government after the Catalan parliament voted in favor of splitting from Madrid and establishing an independent republic. Spanish president Mariano Rajoy on Friday announced the dissolution of the Catalan parliament and called for snap regional elections in a swift response to the Catalan MPs' declaration for independence.

• Friday, October 27th 2017 - 17:13 UTC

  Catalonia and Madrid double the stakes and move into unchartered waters

  

  Spain's Senate on Friday authorized the government to apply constitutional measures to take control of the government of Catalonia. A majority of senators gave Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy the go-ahead through Article 155 of the constitution to apply unprecedented measures, including sacking Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont and his cabinet. It also authorized him to curtail Catalan parliamentary powers.