26.03.2014 - 09:19
The latest media maneuver of Manos Limpias [‘Clean Hands’ in Spanish] is the suit against the Catalan National Assembly. Recently, it also brought claims against Catalonia’s President Mas for sedition, but was unsuccessful. Manos Limpias has presented suits in various affairs, against a variety of people and groups, from the Plaza de Mayo mothers, the children’s television show “Los Lunnis”, footballer Samuel Eto’o, and Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, among many others. Behind this organization, which wants to be known as a union, is a hidden structure. It is directed by Francoist-friendly leaders who hoped to construct a National Front in Spain like that of Le Pen in France, but they have been unsuccessful.
Miguel Bernad is the president of this association, which was created in 1995 with the goal of having influence in the Spanish political system, an influence it had been unable to achieve through the ultra-right parties—like Fuerza Nueva and Frente Nacional—during the seventies and eighties, when Bernad was the visible leader of the extreme right in the City Government of Madrid. Bernad’s past and present are clearly Francoist.
In declarations to the Madrid-based paper El Mundo, in February of 2005, he said, “Objectively, with all of the defects that Fuerza Nueva might have, Blas Piñar’s party played an important role in the Spanish Transition. Without an opposition of this kind, that is, violent, maybe the Transition would have happened another way. As it was, there was a balance of powers, and it ended—with incidents along the way—with a constitutional text.”
The article in El Mundo where these declarations appear cites “close sources” to Bernad as it explains that he tried to form an extreme right party like Jean-Marie Le Pen’s Front Nacional in France, with widespread electoral support, just like we saw in this weekend’s municipal elections. But Bernad failed: the candidacy that he headed for the European Parliament elections in 1994 only managed to attract a handful of votes.
The following year, he founded Manos Limpias, which shared an office on Quintana Street in Madrid with the Fascist-friendly Fuerza Nacional del Trabajo. But while the organization’s activity was ramping up, concentrated on denouncing cases of corruption and anything that went against its “moral principles”—gay marriage, abortion—Bernad struggled to sweep any ties with the extreme right under the carpet.
In a much more recent interview with El Mundo, in January of this year, he said, “I ran with Front Nacional in the European elections but I have never been a card-carrying member of Fuerza Nueva. I have always defended democracy, the constitution, the legal order. I won’t take lessons on political freedom from any totalitarian.”
But the past is relentless. And his complaints against Judge Baltasar Garzón for having wanted to investigate the crimes of Francoism earned him a recognition from the Francisco Franco Foundation, which, in December of 2011, named him “Gentleman of Honor”. Manos Limpias was awarded a prize “for its service in defense of the ideals of the Movimiento [Franco’s party]” according to declarations made by one of the foundations’ spokespeople to Público newspaper, and Bernad received the prize personally from Franco’s daughter, Carmen Franco.
Besides the extreme right connection of the organization, these last years have brought other dirty laundry to light. It is known, for example, that Bernad was indicted for alleged corruption in a court in Madrid, related to an investigation into swindling and coercion stemming from a bribery case of the ex-mayor of Totana in Múrcia.
Most of the suits brought by Manos Limpias have come to naught, with the exception of a few notable cases. The first led to the indictment of Cristina de Borbó in the Nóos case. And the second, the Atutxa case, in which the former president of the Basque Parliament had to declare before the Spanish Supreme Court because he hadn’t dissolved the Parliamentary Group Sozialista Abertzaleak.
Suit against Catalan National Assembly
On Monday, Manos Limipias brought a suit before Spain’s Attorney General demanding that the Catalan National Assembly be illegalized. It also demands that a criminal procedure be opened against the group for the alleged crime of inciting sedition and another for the alleged crime of misuse of public funds “in the joint cooperation of the Government of the Generalitat and the ANC”. The suit was presented against the president of the Assembly, Carme Forcadell.
In the suit, Manos Limpias emphasizes the facts that it considers illicit: for example that the ANC’s primary objective is the independence of Catalonia. And also that the Assembly is acting “against the constitutional order” and “calling for insurrection”.
Forcadell responded by saying, “The Spanish State and the extreme right organizations will do everything they can and more so that we don’t vote. It is very clear to us.” In declarations made to radio station RAC-1, she said that since the attacks in the Spanish press and from some political formations, the ANC has received broad support from the public, which was evidenced by an avalanche of new members.
Forcadell also said, “I am not surprised by Manos Limpias’ reaction. This right wing union denounces a democratic, peaceful process. First they tried with the president of the Generalitat, and now they’re trying with us, because we are an important part of the process.”
