Memory slip of the Rajoy government

Former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, his former deputy Soraya Sáenz de Santamaria, and his former interior minister Juan Ignacio Zoido all pleaded ignorance about the Spanish police operation during the 2017 referendum in their testimonies this week in the trial of independence leaders in the Supreme Court. The three former officials who should have been ultimately responsible for the operation that saw 6,000 Spanish police officers drafted into Catalonia to stop the vote, were unable to provide any details to the defence lawyers cross-examining them.

Like a game of dominos, the apportioning of responsibility was passed downwards, starting with Rajoy pointing to his deputy, while she pointed to the Spanish government delegate in Catalonia, Enric Millo, and the former interior minister. In turn, Zoido pointed to the former secretary of state for security, José Antonio Nieto, and colonel Diego Pérez de los Cobos, who coordinated the deployment, as those who designed the strategy and gave the orders to the police. These two, along with Millo, will testify in the trial next week.

The lapses in memory were shown particularly by Rajoy and Sáenz de Santamaria when it came to incidents of violence, with both former officials limiting their knowledge to what they could remember from a certain TV channel. The former deputy prime minister even said she “did n’t remember” the apologies Millo later made for the police violence during the referendum. When one defence lawyer wanted to refresh her memory with a video of the violence, the judge denied permission.

Meanwhile, the defence lawyer questioning Rajoy about the efforts of Basque president, Iñigo Urkullu, to mediate had to ask eight questions before the former prime minister admitted some involvement, which contrasted with Urkullu’s evidence the next day in which he gave a profusion of details.