Jumping from one Spanish-speaking country to another, this week we will be focusing in on the issues facing Spain. Spain currently finds itself in the most precarious of positions and most people don’t even realize how bad the situation in Spain truly is. Just as a quick history refresher, Spain is located on the Iberian Peninsula, and was once a massive, extremely wealthy kingdom that possessed colonies throughout the Americas. The modern Spain, however, is no where near as wealthy as it once was. This was particularly true for Spain in the years of 2008 though 2014 although the citizens of Spain still feel the after effects of this hard recession to date.

This economic crisis, experienced by Spain at a similar time to the US recession, is a major root to the cause of the problems that Spain is experiencing today. In October of 2017, the Catalonian region of Spain held a referendum in order to secede from the rest of Spain. The main reason for this was largely economic-based. The people within the region feel as if though they contribute an immense amount of cash into the Spanish government and receive barely any benefits from the government. This anger towards paying more towards you get is certainly justified- except it is difficult to prove just how much more they are contributing than receiving as they claim. Catalonian was also angry because in 2006 a statue was passed that gave the Catalonia region more independence from Spain but was struck down four years later in 2010.Regardless, this referendum was held to become independent from Spain and it passed.

This referendum, however, greatly angered Spain. The Catalonian region of Spain produces roughly 20% of Spain’s economy– despite only making up 16% of Spain’s population. To help visualize that, this means that the Catalonian region of Spain contributes more to the Spanish economy than the state of California contributes to the economy of the United States (in terms of  percentage- the United States remains the worlds largest economy by far). This is largely from things such as tourism and exports. The Catalonian region is home to some of the most famous areas of Spain, such as Barcelona and Ibiza. Therefore, Spain doesn’t want to lose such a profitable region. Following the referendum, chaos ensued in the region as police and protestors clashed against one another. The resulting encounter between the two sides resulted in numerous arrests, injuries, and deaths.

Spain’s constitutional court deemed the referendum illegal. Furthermore, the overall legitimacy of the referendum is questionable. Organizers of the referendum claim that 90% of the voters supported the secession movement. This is problematic however, because voter turnout was only at an alleged 43%- therefore, it is impossible to know what is an accurate and true reflection of the Catalonian people’s opinion on if they want to leave Spain.

All of these events lead us to the present events of Spain. Although the referendum was a year and a half ago, the trials for the secessionist leaders will be beginning on February 4th, reigniting tensions in Spain as well as reinvigorating the secessionist movement within the Catalonian region. The leaders on trial could face up to 25 years in prison for their actions. Additionally, the trial marks a critical moment in the Spanish judicial system and whether or not the courts can actually be impartially and just consider the facts that are presented in court.

The referendum has led to other long term consequences within Spain aside from the secessionist movement. With this referendum, Spain has experienced a rise in nationalism as well as a rise extreme right-wing parties being elected into office.