Sovereignty claims the memory of Terra Lliure with tributes to terrorists
The historic pro-independence militant Carles Castellanos, arrested on several occasions and accused of belonging to the terrorist organization Terra Lliure (he always denied that condition), will be the protagonist of a “national tribute” that will be paid to him on July 1 at the venue municipal building of the old Fabra y Coats factory, in Barcelona. Castellanos, arrested in the 1980s and 1990s for his connections with the armed organization, was a partner of fellow activist Eva Serra, who died a short time ago.. Currently, he is a member of Poble Lliure, the largest of the parties that make up the CUP. In addition, he is a member of the Catalan National Assembly, of which he became vice president in 2013 and within which he created the critical platform Drassanes, which he later terminated..
The tribute is organized by Poble Lliure and in its claim it highlights that Castellanos is the symbol of “six decades of militancy for independence and revolution”. The party highlighted in a tweet that “today is a very special day because we announce that this year we pay tribute to our colleague and historical reference of the independence movement Carles Castellanos”. Two weeks ago, in the digital Llibertat, Castellanos signed up for conspiracy theories, denied that Spain is a democracy and accused the State of “covering up suspicious crimes (such as the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017), not allowing them to be investigated”. These theories are maintained by an extremist specter of the Catalan independence movement.
In the same article, Castellanos, who always abused the secessionist epic spirit, says: “If the extreme right were not Spain, we could say that Spain (in all its forms and political expressions) loves the extreme right and appreciates (dirty) work ) that makes him, that allows him to reach the repression where that of his legality does not arrive”. And he ends with a reflection consistent with which he explains, generalizing and extrapolating the reflection, the supposed collusion of Spain with the rise of the extreme right: “The maxim of the regime that is continuing the essence of the Francoist spirit was the well-known 'Spain, before red that rotates', which has become 'Spain, before self-destructed than free Catalonia'. And this is all the plan they have in their heads. What they don't know is that —perhaps unintentionally— they are creating the ideal scenario for our independence and thus digging their political grave.”.
critical of the ANC
This website is the one that provided its server to host the site of the “National Anti-Repressive Conference” held in autumn 2021 and organized by the ANC, Òmnium Cultural and 11 other sovereignist entities. Behind the Llibertat portal are activists related to the CUP and, directly, to Poble Lliure. The portal is edited by the entity Research on Information and Communication in the Catalan Countries, whose president is Marià Miró, councilor of the CUP in Berga and until this month third deputy mayor. But the treasurer is Carles Benítez, one of the historical figures of Terra Liure, arrested in 1982, released in 1985 and arrested again in 1989 for having joined the leadership of the armed organization.. This activist is precisely the co-author of the book History of independence 1979-1994 together with Carles Castellanos, David Bassa and Raimon Soler. Benítez is also a member of Poble Lliure.
Castellanos was one of the founders of the Partit Socialista d'Alliberament Nacional (PSAN) in 1968, which years later suffered several splits. In 1979, he participated in the creation of Independentists of the Catalan Countries (IPC) and the Socialist National Liberation Organization (OSAN), a party that ended up allying itself with Endavant, which today is the core of the CUP. And, in the 80s, he was one of the promoters of the Moviment de Defensa de la Terra (MDT). In the 70s, 80s and 90s, he was arrested on several occasions and accused of belonging to Terra Lliure and occasionally collaborating with ETA. An industrial engineer and linguist, he earned a doctorate in Translation from UAB. As a qualified militant of the ANC, he considers that the civic list that the current leadership of the organization wants to propose is a mistake and a few months ago he warned of the possibility of a split in the veteran civic entity, since he considers that behind the presentation of That list (which, by the way, harms the big parties, including the CUP) includes interests of “personal ambition or simply impulses of a personalist nuance.”.
A report from the information services prepared in full process dissected the main activists of the independence movement, among which included Castellanos. He emphasized that “he provided 15 kilos of gunpowder (according to the terrorists' statements, not proven in the trial) to the members of Terra Lliure Marcellí Canet and Sebastià Datzira, accused of the death of Emilia Aldomà (the only victim of the terrorist organization). Both terrorists, after serving their sentences, were recruited by ERC. Currently, both are civil servants of the Generalitat of Catalonia”. Emilia Aldomà, 62, died when a wall fell on her at her home in Les Borges Blanques, when the terrorist command planted a bomb in the premises of the local courts. The prosecutor said that the gunpowder was provided by Carles Benítez during a meeting in a cafeteria on Las Ramblas on June 23, 1987 and, although he could not prove that Castellanos was integrated into the leadership of the organization nor did he know for what specific event the material was going to be used, he assured that he did know that it was for criminal purposes.
Another tribute from the CUP
The report also mentions Eva Serra, who had been his partner, “arrested on many occasions for crimes of terrorism” and Blanca Serra, the former's sister, “involved in the same activities. Accused of collaborating with ETA in July 1980 and of belonging to Terra Lliure”. The Serra sisters, together with Castellanos, were arrested in 1992, in the framework of the so-called Operation Garzón. Josep de Calasanç Serra, another of the brothers, went into exile in France and was one of the founders of Terra Lliure, although in 1982 he was expelled from the organization due to his moderate views.
On January 28, the CUP also paid tribute to Blanca Serra, who “belongs to a family of long-standing resisters”. The event was attended by a large representation of high-ranking leaders from Cuba, such as David Fernández, Gabriela Serra, Eulàlia Reguant, Maria Sirvent, Julià de Jódar and Basha Changue, who was the mayor of Barcelona on 28-M.
Tributes to Castellanos or Serra are not isolated events: pro-independence circles often promote articles of recognition for terrorists or activists “killed in combat”. Two weeks ago, some circles remembered the “accidental death of the independence fighter Fèlix Goñi 'Bruc'”, who died in 1979. The gloss says of him, “he died accidentally when handling an explosive that was intended to denounce extraditions”. In reality, behind that euphemism is the fact that the activist died when the bomb that he was going to place in the offices of the Renault company in Barcelona exploded.. The sovereignist Twitter account keeps Catalan anniversaries up to date, highlighting the profiles of terrorists. Thus, I remembered a few days ago that “the armed organization GRAPO” placed 4 explosives in ETT offices in Barcelona on June 8, 2000.. He also remembered May 30 that the same day, but from 1981, “a Terra Lliure commando destroyed the TVE repeater in Montserrat”.
remembered terrorists
Estat Català, a Catalan extremist group, honored the activist annually at the place where the bomb exploded. In an appeal a few days ago to celebrate the memorial again, he published a poster from 2012 about the tribute to the terrorist, which included a portrait of the activist, the estelada and the Terra Lliure logo..
Another of the activists publicly honored is Martí Marcó. The ERC Youth dedicated a mural to this pro-independence fighter in Sabadell in which they say that he “marked the independence struggle” and stress that he was a militant of the ERC Youth and that “he was assassinated by the Civil Guard on January 26, 1979 ”. Marcó was trained by ETA in the south of France and they provided him with an arsenal of weapons to strengthen Terra Lliure at the end of the 70s. On January 26, 1979, when he was preparing an assault on an armored van with his commando (which included Fèlix Goñi, Fredi Bentanachs, Quim Pelegrí and Griselda Pineda), he encountered a police checkpoint. Wounded after a shooting, he was abandoned by his companions and helped by some neighbors and passers-by, but he died in hospital two days later, becoming the first Catalan terrorist killed by security forces.. The hard core of the CUP published, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his death, posters inviting a tribute and describing January 26 as “Day of the Catalan Combatant”..
Periodically, certain tributes to activists are made on the networks. On May 22, the news echoed that the same day, but in 1999, “Pere Bascompte, historic leader of the armed organization Terra Lliure, returned to Manresa, his hometown, after 16 years of exile in the Northern Catalonia”. It specified the reminder that Bascompte returned “once the legally prescribed causes that he had in the Spanish State”. The truth is that, in 1983, he had been sentenced to 9 years in prison for the kidnapping of Federico Jiménez Losantos, but a judicial error released him the following year, which led to his escape to France.. Precisely, on May 21, the Twitter profile highlighted that in 1981 there was “an action by Terra Lliure against Jiménez Losantos, one of the main signatories of the Manifesto of the 2,300 that sought to divide Catalan society”.