Prison visits

No-one could say that our Balearic Minister for tourism and Vice President of the Balearic government, Bel Busquets, is not a busy woman. She is in charge of one of the key local government departments, is Number 2 in the Balearic government and leading member of the Mes nationalist party. But Busquets is in the firing line for visiting one of the architects of the so-called illegal referendum on independence in Catalonia in jail. Busquets along with other officials from her Mes party visited Oriol Junquera and other Catalan officials who are in prison awaiting trial for organising the referendum which the Madrid government said was illegal. Busquets is facing a political storm with opposition parties slamming the visit and calling for her resignation. To be perfectly honest I do not really understand why former members of the Catalan government and backers of the referendum are in jail anyhow. Under house arrest, yes, but behind bars for organising a referendum? I think not. Yes, the referendum was said to be illegal but at the end of the day they are facing longer jail terms than those which are usually handed out to murderers. But, Busquets was unwise to visit them in prison. At the end of the day she could have shown her support in other ways. A political storm is now brewing in the Balearics and it could even split the Balearic government. Busquets has plenty of important business but prison visits are not part of her job.