Spain prepares to suspend Catalonia's autonomy amid independence disagreement
Catalonia is an autonomous region, but Spain could act to take control.
— -- Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont has missed the deadline to offer a final answer on whether the region is declaring independence. Now, Spain is deciding whether it will enact a rule that would allow it to directly control the currently autonomous Catalonia.
Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister of Spain, gave Puigdemont until 10 a.m. local time Thursday to clarify whether Catalonia is moving forward with separating from Spain, after the region voted for independence in a referendum this month.
Puigdemont responded to the request with a letter to Mariano Rajoy, warning Madrid he would ask the Parliament to vote on the independence question if Spain chooses to act on article 155 of the 1978 constitution, which allows Spain to take administrative control of any of its 17 autonomous regions. The article has never been invoked in the history of post-dictatorship Spain.
"If the government keeps preventing dialogue and maintaining repression, the Parliament of Catalonia could go further, in due course, and formally vote the declaration of independence that was not voted on October 10th," Puigdemont wrote in the letter.
The Catalan leader is attempting to show the world he is prepared to talk with Spain before moving forward with separation, according to an expert in Catalan history at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs.
"Carles Puigdemont wants to show internationally how pacifist and open to dialogue Catalonia is," Marc Gafarot told ABC News. "Spain refused to meet him in person despite the ongoing conflict."
After Spain arrested independence activists Jordi Sanchez and Jordi Cuixart this week, many in Catalonia fear that Spain enacting article 155 will result in new repression and violence in the region.
Around 200,000 protesters took to the streets of Barcelona after the arrests, demanding that Madrid release its "political prisoners," as Puigdemont called them in a tweet last Tuesday.
A special extraordinary cabinet meeting hosted by Rajoy is scheduled for Saturday in Madrid to discuss what measures Spain will take.