“Operation Catalonia” hushed up by Madrid papers
Only El País mentions the existence of a “patriotic” police unit
BarcelonaSuperintendent Villarejo of Spain’s National Police force —who has no penchant for Catalonia’s independence bid— has openly admitted that Spain’s Home Office took action against the Catalan independence process following political criteria. This is what is known as Operation Catalonia, which in any half-decent democracy would have caused a string of resignations. Not so in Spain. And to understand why, you simply need to compare the way Barcelona and Madrid-based newspapers have reported on the issue.
In Catalonia, the news made the front page of El Periódico, El Punt Avui and ARA. La Vanguardia was more coy about it. Even though the story got 3,344 reader comments under its online version, the print paper put the piece on the very last page of the section —a discreet spot on the left hand side page, to be precise— as a second-rate item in two columns and with no photo. Still, the headline was unambiguous: “Superintendent Villarejo admits to Operation Catalonia”. The other papers printed similar headlines.
What about in Madrid? Obviously, the story didn’t make any of the front pages. La Razón just didn’t run it. ABC printed a short piece, but focused on the Superintendent’s statement claiming no involvement in the Nicolás case and made no reference to Catalonia. El Mundo also picked the Nicolás angle and they included a loose reference in the last paragraph: “He stated that he had worked with Martín Blas in what he called Operation Catalonia”.
El País is the only Madrid newspaper that approached the item as a police scandal: “Villarejo hints at “patriotic police” unit”, although it was followed by a disquieting sentence: “Some see Villarejo’s statement as admission of an operation in Catalonia”. Now then, if there is no Operation Catalonia to speak of, where on earth is the “patriotic police” unit supposed to be active. Perhaps in Ciudad Real, deep in the Spanish heartland?
