The Diplomat
A total of 60 retired diplomats, most of them former ambassadors to Spain, have signed a manifesto in which they express their rejection of the amnesty law promised by Pedro Sánchez to Catalan independence supporters. In addition, they reproached him for ruining the work carried out years ago by diplomats, following the instructions of the government, to counteract the discourse of these pro-independence supporters abroad.
In their letter, the diplomats express their “deep concern and indignation” at what is happening in Spain, “because of a person – they say – who, in order to remain in power, is making pacts with the enemies of the nation and is prepared to make unimaginable concessions at the expense of Spain and the Spanish people, even if he wraps them up in the euphemistic garb of a ‘change of opinion'”.
They also recall the statements made by Sánchez and other PSOE leaders before the 23 July elections, against the amnesty, and stress that the issue was not on their election manifesto. They add that the acting prime minister said at the time that the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont was a fugitive whom he would bring to Spain to be brought to account before justice, and stress that “he will indeed bring him, but not as a criminal to be tried for his crimes, but in the odour of a crowd”.
The signatories of the letter, most of whom have been ambassadors and have held posts under both PP and PSOE governments, indicate that as diplomats they are concerned about “the high degree of disrepute to which the government has brought Spain with its nonsensical foreign policy, which has made it a laughing stock in Europe”.
They go on to denounce: “Our colleagues who devoted their best efforts to counteracting the false narrative of the pro-independence agitprop and to explaining to the foreign ministries the coup d’état carried out by the Catalan authorities – and who managed to get not a single state to recognise the Catalan Republic – now see that all their work was in vain, because the coup plotters apparently acted correctly and Puigdemont is no longer a fugitive, but an honourable politician who works tirelessly in the interests of Spain”.
After stating that “a responsible Prime Minister cannot submit to the blackmail of the enemies of Spain and ally himself with those who seek to destroy it”, they call on the government “to recover rationality, abandon dangerous friendships with the enemies of Spain – which are not essential for the formation of a government – and try to reach state agreements with the main opposition party, as happens in the democratic countries around us”.
The letter comes days after the diplomat Javier Benosa published an article in El Mundo inviting his colleagues to react to the future amnesty law and also stressing that the work carried out by himself and his colleagues to explain abroad the illegality of the procés was revealed as a “vain and frustrated effort”.
The text was signed by the following diplomats:
1.-Alabart, Álvaro
2.-Alba, César
3.-Ansoain, Ramón
4.-Arias, Inocencio
5.-Barañano, José Ramón
6.-Benavides, José Ignacio
7.-Bordallo, José Antonio
8.-Buitrón, Alberto
9.-Cacho, Manuel
10.-Cámara, Manuel de la
11.-Camuñas, Ignacio
12.-Carvajal, José de
13.-Cerro Eduardo
14.-Cervera, José Manuel
15.-Cosano, Antonio
16.-Díaz Valcárcel, Carlos
17.-Elorza, Javier
18.-Fernández-Mazarambroz, Miguel Ángel
19.-Fernández-Pita, Rafael
20.-Figa, María Jesús
21.-Flores, Juan Luis
22.-Fuentes, Jorge
23.-Fuertes, Miguel
24-García Bañón, José
25.-González Cebrián, Juan
26.-Jiménez Ugarte, Javier
27.-Jover, Rafael
28.-López Álvarez, Fidel
29.-López Jacoiste, Widow, María Fernanda Ortiz
30.-López Jorrín, José Ángel
31.-Lorenzo, Manuel
32.-Martel, Erik
33.-Mendívil, Rafael
34.-Miguel, Ramón de
35.-Mora-Figueroa, Santiago
36.-Nagore, Javier
37-Núñez Montesinos, Julio
38.-Ortiz Díaz de Tortosa, Gonzalo
39.-Ortiz Ramos, Alfonso
40.-Peña, José Luis de la
41.-Pérez Martínez, Arturo
42.- Pérez Villanueva, Joaquín
43.-Perinat, Luis Guillermo
44.-Pico de Coaña, Yago
45.-Prat, Juan
46.-Quesada, Eduardo de
47.-Remacha, José Ramón
48.-Rupérez, Javier
49.-Sánchez de Boado, Carlos
50.-Sánchez Jara, Antonio
51.-Segovia, Luis Fernando de
52.-Stampa, Leopoldo
53-Tapia, José Luis
54.-Urtasun, Juan José
55.-Villavieja, Manuel
56.-Viñal, Antonio
57.-Viqueira Francisco José
58.-Ybáñez, Eloy
59.-Yturriaga, José Antonio de
60.-Zaldívar, Pablo
