Marta Rovira returns from exile in Geneva after more than six years, accompanied by Esquerra Member of the Catalan Parliament Ruben Wagensberg and other defendants in the Democratic Tsunami case

“I had often dreamt of this moment. We are back, ever more convinced that we have to finish the job we had to leave half done. We will win our freedom and that of our people!” Once again treading Catalan soil and with emotions running high, Esquerra Republicana Secretary General Marta Rovira assured friends, party colleagues and a crowd that had travelled to receive her that her return from exile was “an absolute victory.”

On arriving in the village of Cantallops, Alt Empordà county, on Friday after crossing the Catalan countries border together with Esquerra MCP Ruben Wagensberg and the other three defendants accused of terrorism in the Democratic Tsunami case, Jesús Rodríguez, Oleguer Serra and Josep Campmajó, Ms Rovira denounced that “they tried to silence us and stop us, violating human, civil and political rights,” but that “ours is an unstoppable democratic movement that will never use violence to defend its ideals,” maintaining that “we are democrats defending the freedom of our country.”

“This is a cause that is about democracy and human rights, and wherever these have a place they will hear us out, generating complicity, and we win,” said Esquerra’s leader, who conveyed a very special thank you to Switzerland, the country that had welcomed her in her exile for over six years. “Everyone listened, because it is a democratic land, and we were able to defend the independence of Catalonia and the right to self-determination that is ours,” she explained.
Esquerra Republicana’s Secretary General assured that she is returning to “finish the job” and “to start again, to unite the entire independence movement.” “Only together will we make it possible. What day did we forget that together we are stronger?” she exclaimed.

Ruben Wagensberg, who had been in exile in Geneva since Christmas last year, also took to the improvised stage in Cantallops. “This town and this country is a land of exiles, we have discovered what it is to be forced to leave home, and we have learned the value of an inclusive society that takes you in,” he said. Which is why he defended that “this is also Catalanism, knowing how to include everyone who comes to our country.”

“We are very happy to be here, we were falsely accused of terrorism, really nasty; the feeling coming home today is inexplicable,” said Mr Wagensberg, while he recalled those who are still in exile: “We cannot forget that there are those who have not yet been able to cross the border and that the Amnesty Law has not been applied to them. We will continue to fight for all of them.”