The former president of the Extremadura Regional Government Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, of the PSOE, compared this Wednesday a possible amnesty for the Catalan independence leaders with “violating 40 million Spaniards”, their votes and the Constitution.
At a Forum Europe breakfast, the socialist reflected on a possible amnesty law in exchange for the support of Junts in an investiture of Pedro Sánchez and assured that “no one would think of giving amnesty to a rapist.”
The PSOE, for its part, has asked the former socialist leader to “be restrained when using certain verbs” because “they do not contribute anything positive.” The party’s spokesperson, Pilar Alegría, has defended that Sánchez is responding to the results of the polls on July 23 because the Spanish said they wanted to continue “on that path of progress and growth.”
Previously, Rodríguez Ibarra had referred to the “monumental scandal” because some rapists have benefited from the Law of only yes it means yes, whose entry into force has reduced the sentences of hundreds of sexual offenders or has made it possible for them to be released before serving their sentences. convictions. “How can you tolerate someone raping 40 million Spaniards? Because whoever violates the Constitution is violating me, they are violating my vote,” continued the socialist, who emphasized that an amnesty would help Spaniards be “more unequal” and would constitute a “betrayal” of PSOE voters.
In this context, he has attacked members of his own party for “paving the way” for Carles Puigdemont, who in his opinion “is trying to humiliate” the acting president. “I don’t understand very well the leaders of my party when they are paving the way for Puigdemont,” he stated. The socialist considers that the leadership of the PSOE, instead of saying “let the general secretary (Sánchez) do what he has to do”, they would have to tell him “do what you promised to do to the citizens on 23-J”, remembering that the The acting head of the Executive did utter the word amnesty before the elections, precisely to ensure that there would not be one.
“He said that there would be neither amnesty nor self-determination. And he has not said anything else,” he stressed. Rodríguez Ibarra, who has praised the Constitution and has stated that he “has the feeling” that “democracy is in danger”, has reflected extensively on this measure of grace for the 1-O leaders and believes that, if approved, “we would agree” with the leader of Junts.
“(We would say) that we are effectively facing a repressive State and a State that is persecuting the independentists for their thoughts,” he lamented, before emphasizing that Puigdemont’s intention is to “continue boasting with his seven deputies, trying to humiliate the general secretary of the PSOE” and the party itself. “I resist this man, this fugitive, this man in the trunk, being the one who decides the future of the country,” he added.
The former president of Extremadura, on the contrary, believes that he becomes “a defender” of Sánchez if he attacks the independentists, because in this way he “tries to safeguard the honor” of the PSOE and its 140 years of history, which “cannot submit to the whims , to the whims of someone who has demonstrated immense cowardice, fleeing from Justice and not being held accountable for his actions.
In parallel, Rodríguez Ibarra has questioned whether the pardons for the Catalan independence leaders were “a success”, as Sánchez assured this Tuesday after receiving the commission from King Felipe VI to be a candidate for an investiture. “That they have not been bothering during these five years is very good, but (…) that we are discussing amnesty is proof that the pardons did not give the result that it seemed they were going to give,” he explained.
