BARCELONA: The party of Catalonia’s dismissed president Carles Puigdemont will run in a December regional election called by Spain’s government in response to a declaration of independence by Catalan leaders, a spokeswoman said Monday.
“We will go to the polls on (December) 21. We will go with conviction and with a commitment to letting the Catalan people express themselves,” Marta Pascal, spokeswoman for the PDeCAT party, told reporters.
The Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) party of Puigdemont’s equally deposed vice president Oriol Junqueras said it would “participate” in some fashion in the election despite judging the poll “illegitimate” having been called by Madrid.
“Catalans do not fear the ballot box ... and December 21 should be another opportunity to consolidate the republic,” said ERC spokesman Sergi Sabria after a party meeting in Barcelona.
“On December 21 we shall find a means of participating, be it in standing or not,” Sabria added.
He added that “our republic does not for the moment fully have the capacity to impose itself as we would wish — but it is up to us to defend it,” a visibly emotional Sabria said.
On Friday, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he had dissolved the Catalan parliament and called a snap vote for the region under sweeping powers approved by the Senate to stop the secessionist movement.
Separatist parties of all political stripes, from Puigdemont’s Catalan Democratic Party conservatives to the far-left, have dominated the Catalan parliament since the last election in 2015, holding 72 seats out of 135.
An opinion poll for Spain’s El Mundo daily, taken before the secessionists declared their breakaway republic, on Monday said pro-independence parties would lose their parliamentary majority with a score of 42.5 percent, if elections were held now.
Deposed Catalan leader’s party will run in snap vote
Deposed Catalan leader’s party will run in snap vote
US might keep or might sell oil seized near Venezuela, Trump says
- “If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough,” he said
PALM BEACH, Florida: US President Donald Trump said on Monday it would be smart for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to leave power, and the United States could keep or sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks.
Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels allegedly trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation. At least 100 people have been killed in the attacks.
Asked if the goal was to force Maduro from power, Trump told reporters: “Well, I think it probably would... That’s up to him what he wants to do. I think it’d be smart for him to do that. But again, we’re gonna find out.”
“If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough,” he said.
“He’s no friend to the United States. He’s very bad. Very bad guy. He’s gotta watch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the US“
In addition to the strikes, Trump has previously announced a “blockade” of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela. The US Coast Guard started pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela on Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful.
“Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it,” Trump said when asked what would happen with the seized oil, adding it might also be used to replenish the United States’ strategic reserves.
