Catalan President Quim Torra successful tour to US

Catalan president Quim Torra started on Sunday January 13th a trip to the United States which took him to San Francisco, Washington DC and Idaho, and during which he hold political, economical and cultural meetings. The aim of the trip is none other than to raise awareness among international public opinion from the United States of the loss of civil rights in Spain and the repression of the independence movement. Especially the fact that part of Catalonia's legitimate government has had to go into exile and the other part is in pretrial detention and just weeks away from a trial in the Supreme Court lacking the minimum in legal guarantees, since the narrative the indictment is based on is false and, as has been shown, there was neither rebellion nor misuse of public funds. Despite this, and the verdicts of the courts of various countries, the Supreme Court is going ahead. Torra wants to play the international card and supplement the work president Puigdemont is doing from Brussels, and that of Jordi Cuixart and Òmnium Cultural through a very select network of international contacts.

This was his second trip to the US and, unlike the first last June which was markedly cultural in nature, this time the main focus was on his speech at Stanford University, invited by the influential Martin Luther King Jr Research & Education Institute, with whose director, Clayborne Carson, also took part in a joint class. With this gesture, the institute is settling the fake media controversy unleashed in Madrid last year saying which claimed there was great unease in the institute over references made to the human rights activist and comparing the independence movement's peaceful fight for its objectives with him.Even though Carson himself ended that debate at the time, this event aims to make it clear that he finds any movement which uses the non-violent techniques King promoted to be admirable. In any case, president Torra's presence at this forum can only but confirm the growing interest in the worlds of academia and journalism in Catalan demands for an independence referendum to be agreed upon with the Spanish government. News agency Associated Press has also held an interview with Torra.

The Catalan President met with Congressists John Lewis, Paul Cook, Mario Díaz-Balart and John Garamend, as well as Brett A. Champman, leading Native American attorney from Tulsa. This meeting was very important after the strong language by Spanish FM Jose Borell against Native Americans. Champman said "I'am very honored to meet the President of Catalonia Quim Torra today to discuss language revitalization (very important to all Native American nations), cultural identity, human rights, and Catalonia's non-violent movement to determine their own future as a unique people in Europe". John Lewis is a well known activists for civil rights in USA as he was imprisoned 45 times. The Catalan President also met the American PEN.