A confidential source within the Spanish intelligence community has revealed the existence of plans to construct internment camps for Catalan separatists. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the extreme sensitivity of the material, claims that the Spanish government, through a covert military branch loyal directly to the Crown, has already begun constructing a facility capable of holding up to 30,000 detainees.
According to the source, the blueprints for this operation were drafted shortly after the 2017 Catalan independence referendum, which Madrid deemed illegal and repressed with force. Though several leaders were arrested and tried, and the movement’s political momentum appeared to wane, high-level security planners feared the long-term consequences of Catalonia’s defiance.
“The objective,” the source said, “is to prevent the disintegration of the Spanish monarchic state at all costs. The lesson from 2017 wasn’t that the threat had passed -- it was that next time, they needed to be ready.”
The result is a militarized response plan involving the physical extrication of pro-independence individuals from Catalonia. The camp, which is not located in Catalonia itself, is reportedly being constructed by a discreet military division that operates outside normal parliamentary oversight --answering directly to the Spanish king.
Though the timeline for implementation remains uncertain, the source explained that the facility will only become operational following the declaration of a state of emergency and formal insurrection. Planners believe this could occur sooner than 2027, particularly as Spain -- and much of Europe -- faces worsening economic conditions.
“Economic collapse breeds unrest. They know this. They’re preparing for a moment when fear will give them license,” the source said.
This is not counter-terrorism as conventionally understood; it is political preemption. The operation is designed to isolate and detain individuals viewed as potential separatist agitators or influencers --leaders, organizers, academics, journalists, and youth activists -- before they can mobilize resistance.
Spain’s democratic constitution, born from the death of Franco’s dictatorship, was built on a fragile social pact: never again. Never again the prisons for political enemies, never again the secret police, never again the erosion of regional identity through centralist power.
Yet this revelation points to a clandestine return of repressive logic. Rather than dialogue, it is containment. Rather than integration, it is internment.
The question is not whether Spain can prevent Catalonia’s independence -- it is whether, in doing so, it can remain a democracy.
The existence of a military arm that operates solely under royal command raises grave constitutional questions. In a parliamentary democracy, secret construction of detention centers, outside civilian oversight, amounts to a shadow government policy with no legal basis.
If this information is correct, then Spain is laying the groundwork not just for the suppression of a region, but for the institutionalization of a state of exception.