(CNN)The President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, failed
to clarify Monday whether his administration had officially declared
independence from Spain and instead repeated his call for talks to resolve the
ongoing constitutional crisis in the country.
In a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy,
Puigdemont asked for two months of dialogue over the status of the region in
northwest Spain, which held a disputed independence referendum on October 1.
Rajoy had set a deadline of 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET)
Monday for Puigdemont to say definitively whether an ambiguous speech he
delivered to the Catalan Parliament last week in the wake of the referendum
amounted to a declaration of independence.
Catalonia had "earned the right" to become an
independent republic, after 90% of voters in the October 1 referendum chose to
split from Spain, Puigdemont told the Catalan Parliament. But he suspended the
effects of the declaration to allow for talks.
"The suspension on our side of the results that come
out of the vote on 1 Oct, shows our firm commitment to find a solution, and
avoid confrontation," Puigdemont wrote in his letter to Rajoy on Monday.
"Our call for dialogue is sincere and honest. That is
why over the next two months our main objective is to invite you to have
dialogue, and that all those international, Spanish and Catalan institutions
and personalities who have expressed their will to help establish negotiations,
have the opportunity to explore this option," he wrote.
Pro-independence supporters react as they watch on broadcast
screens outside the Parliament of Catalunya as the Catalan President Carles
Puigdemont announces he will abide by the referendum results on October 10,
2017 in Barcelona, Spain.
Pro-independence supporters react as they watch on broadcast
screens outside the Parliament of Catalunya as the Catalan President Carles
Puigdemont announces he will abide by the referendum results on October 10,
2017 in Barcelona, Spain.
Thursday deadline
Rajoy had put Catalonia on notice that, if it had officially
declared a split, he would invoke provisions contained in Article 155 of the
Spanish constitution, which allow the central government to dissolve the
Catalan administration and order new elections.
The Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria
told a press conference in Madrid that Rajoy had replied in writing to
Puigdemont setting a deadline for a clear answer by Thursday.
She said the Prime Minister asked Puigdemont "to answer
with the clarity any democracy needs. We don't understand why he perseveres
with being confusing unless it is his strategy to escalate the situation
further."
Rajoy's letter, seen by CNN, also underlined that EU
countries have backed the Spanish government's claims that the referendum was
illegal.
Protesters wave Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags in
a call for unity on October 8, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain.
Protesters wave Spanish, Catalan and European Union flags in
a call for unity on October 8, 2017, in Barcelona, Spain.
In his letter to Rajoy, Puigdemont called on Madrid to
"stop the oppression against Catalan people and Government,"
complaining that "non-political" Catalan leaders and the head of the
Catalan police force, Josep LluĂs Trapero were being investigated for sedition
Puigdemont wrote that "fundamental rights are being
repressed", with bank accounts frozen, media censorship, private mail
being interfered with, civil servants arrested and "brutal violent acts
carried out by police against peaceful citizens on 1 October."
"Our call for dialogue is sincere, despite everything that
has occurred, but it obviously incompatible with the current climate of
escalating oppression and threats," he wrote.
Response:
I believe, based on this article that the targeted audience
is in the age bracket of 18 and up, for both male and female. The audience is also
is most liking going to be from Catalonia, or they will be for the Catalonians.
The targeted audience will not have a specific religion either, but rather the
audience could have any religion.
The bias that I as the reader have before, reading was not
very strong to any sides of the article, since I am not familiar with the
Catalonian people or of the situation at hand between them and the people
representing Spain. But when reading the article my opinion towards the topic became
more present. I am usually for the underdogs, or the side that doesn’t have the
higher hand. I am for the refugee, or the foreign alien; in this situation it
is the Catalonians. I feel for them, no matter what the situation is, even if
they are in the wrong, mainly because of their position in society.
Based on the strong language, and opinionated statements, it
was not difficult to tell which side the author stood. The author is on the
side of the Catalonian people, the author was of strong opinions, defending them,
even when they were in the wrong. The author had compassion on them, simply
because of their position, and I would agree with the author on that stance.
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