A total of 56 former Spanish military commanders have signed a letter calling for the dismissal of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and fresh national elections over plans to give amnesty to Catalan separatists, warning of a “grave danger” to law and order.
This is bound to add tensions to the already strained situation in Spain, as the country has a long history of the military attempting—or actually executing —coups d’état against the government.
According to a report from the newspaper El Mundo, which claims to have seen the letter, those who signed all served in a high capacity in various branches of the Spanish armed forces, including 24 colonels, four brigadier generals, and three major generals.
The 56 signatories criticised “the absence of Justice, equality, and democracy in Spain” and claimed that recent events have shown that there is no longer a real separation of powers between the Spanish executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
In particular, the signatories denounced the Spanish Constitutional Court as being made up of “magistrates who have recently held relevant political positions in the Executive branch, which nullifies its neutrality.”
The former military officials take umbrage with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), who has promised amnesty for Catalan separatists involved in a coup attempt in 2017, including amnesty for those on trial for terrorist offences, in order to win support from Catalan parties to become prime minister.
The officials argue that the amnesty law for the Catalan separatists would violate the Spanish constitutional order.
“It would eliminate the equality before the law of all Spaniards and erase the crimes committed by those who carried out the coup d’état in Catalonia,” they said.
They added that they believed it was only being passed out of the “personal interest” of Prime Minister Sánchez in order to hold on to power.
Alongside amnesty, Prime Minister Sánchez has promised a future referendum on Catalan independence, which the former military officials also warn could destabilise the unity of the country.
The letter comes as Prime Minister Sánchez has faced substantial backlash from a number of different circles for his move to grant the Catalan separatists amnesty.
The Spanish government has gone as far as sanctioning some who have spoken out, such as Agustín Leal, the spokesman for Justice for the Civil Guard (JUCIL), an advocacy group representing a majority of the country’s civil guards, after Leal publicly expressed his criticism of the amnesty law on social media.
Protests, sometimes turning violent, have been seen every day for two weeks outside of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, attracting thousands of people.
Spain may also face the possibility of strikes, as the union Solidarity, which is linked to the populist-conservative party VOX, has called for a general strike later this month.
VOX leader Santiago Abascal, meanwhile, stated earlier this week, “If this investiture is achieved, there will be no return to normality; we are not going to forget.”
Abascal’s party has made legal challenges to the Spanish Supreme Court on the issue of amnesty for the Catalan separatists.
On Thursday, November 16th, Prime Minister Sánchez was able to secure enough support to remain prime minister after around four months of deadlock in the parliament, but protests and resistance continue.
Sánchez has even come under scrutiny from the European Commission, which called on him to explain the law earlier this month.
Members of the European Parliament have called for a debate on the issue, with members of the centrist European People’s Party requesting earlier this week that a debate be held during the Strasbourg plenary session of the Parliament, set to take place this week.
