Jordi Coronas (Barcelona, 1969) has been a councilor of the Catalan capital's City Council for ERC since 2015, but for the last month he has been Captain Coronas. Or 'El Capi', for those with whom he had more confidence. Under his command have been three ships of the Flotilla that set sail on August 31 and was intercepted by Israel on October 1.
First, fortune had the whim of making this Republican captain the Bribón, a former ship of King Juan Carlos I. “It was something very funny,” he himself admits, with an omnipresent smile that has accompanied him in all the public appearances he has made since he got off the plane last Sunday. He smiles despite having spent a month on the high seas and four days in a high-security Israeli prison.
He, who considers himself a “not at all authoritarian” person, had to enforce his position, which placed him as the highest authority on board. He was in charge of settling conflicts, ensuring that shifts were completed and organizing the crew. And also to ensure that they arrived safely to Gaza.
“When you are a captain, you don't decide for yourself. You decide for the people who are with you on the ship. And I couldn't allow myself or consider anything other than continuing. Because on board there were values, commitment, courage and the determination to continue even if we were getting closer to the den of the wolf. Despite the breakdowns and the drone attacks, almost no one wanted to return,” says Coronas.
Although life on the ship was organized collectively, responsibility fell on him. It was he who reorganized the guard shifts after the first night attacks with drones, to prevent anyone from having to sleep on the deck, unprotected. He was also the one who towed the Family when it stopped working. And he was in charge of 'Macgyvering' when something went wrong.
“Those ships were bought by the organization, which was in charge of looking for some that were for sale. But, as a criticism, it is true that next time someone who understands a little should buy them, because we have found ships with very serious problems,” confesses the captain. The Bribón was one of the ships that perished halfway, despite Coronas' efforts.
“I lost the pilot, then the hydraulic circuit. Then one of the two engines failed and, although my intention was to repair it, I stopped being able to control it and we abandoned it.” They had to board another boat, which, due to the problems, also fell by the wayside. Finally, he took control of the Adara, a ship with 22 other people on board and which was the third largest in the entire Flotilla. It was on his bridge where he saw, for the first time, the coast of Gaza and where he came to imagine that, perhaps, they could disembark and break the humanitarian blockade. But they didn't succeed.
hell in prison
They were a few miles off the coast of Gaza when an Israeli Army boat ordered them to shut down their engines. They had everything rehearsed: they knew where they should stand, how to sit, who should answer the questions and what they should say. “We had thought about it and practiced a lot. We also knew what to do in case they took a woman downstairs (to the cabins) and committed sexual assault,” he confesses.
Ultimately that didn't happen. They were also not hit or physically abused during the boarding. “It was very peaceful,” says Coronas, who immediately corrects himself: “If it can be considered peaceful that they point assault rifles at you… They told us that they were coming to protect us. From themselves, I understand.” They were put in groups of nine in cabins designed for three people. Until they arrived at the port. And there everything went wrong.
Asked about his experience during detention, Coronas is forceful and laconic: “I'm fine. I'm here and safe. But if I were Palestinian, I wouldn't be here.” He, who is a councilor and who ended up joining the flotilla almost by chance, was handcuffed, with his hands behind his back. Head and knees on the ground, while the Minister of Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, approached them to mock them, make himself selfies with the prisoners and show off their “war trophies.”
“It was the demonstration of being in a fascist state and facing a war criminal. In fact, I allowed myself to shout in his face,” Coronas recalls. Ben-Gvir paid special attention to Greta Thunberg, who was very close to him. “They placed her on a luggage cart, with an Israeli flag, and they started making fun. She surprised me, because she maintained her integrity and dignity throughout… But the rest of us reacted,” she explains.
They shouted, booed, chanted and demanded the liberation of Palestine. It was a small uprising of the more than 400 detainees, but it was paid, above all, by the few people who were not white or European. “They went after the people of Arab origin. They took the beatings,” says the captain. “I think there is a red line that with us they do not dare to cross, but with the Arab people and with the Palestinians, above all, they do not even think about it,” he adds.
Although they did not use physical force against him, they did use other types of torture. They were denied food and medicine. They were kept in overcrowded cells, they were not allowed to sleep and they were constantly insulted. “If they tell me that I was in Nazi Germany, I believe it. Israel's behavior is psychopathic, a deep-rooted hatred that has not been brewed in a week,” he says.
They were denied the most basic rights because, as the soldiers told them, these are for the people. But they were animals. “And of course, that caused riots,” he acknowledges. Captain Coronas recounts how the detainees broke things, kicked the floors and broke the windows. They even used red peppers from dinner to write Free Palestine on the cell walls. “It still surprises me that he participated in a revolt, because I am a peaceful person, but when you are with people capable of doing it, you join in,” he says with an incredulous and somewhat mischievous smile.
Lack of government support
It has now been 72 hours since Coronas, like the first 21 freed Spanish crew members, arrived home. And he still has not spoken with President Pedro Sánchez or with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. The only person in charge and close to the Government with whom he has spoken, he says, is Mayor Collboni. “I want to think it's not because of inaction, so I don't want to make any judgments yet.”
Corona gives the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time he is disappointed with the Government's role during the days he was, first on the high seas, and then detained. “They were not up to the task in any way. Israel attacked a ship that, in my case, carried the Spanish flag and there has been no effective response,” he says.
He recognizes the gesture that both Spain and Italy sent support frigates, but at the same time he recognizes that he never understood what their mission was. “First, because the Spanish woman never arrived and the Italian woman, when it was important for her to be there, was not there. What did they do? Did they accompany us for a bit? Was it of any use?” he asks. “I don't see any more sense in it than the media revenue they have been able to get from sending them,” he confesses.
Coronas assures that “this will not be solved with lukewarm responses” and demands forceful actions from the administrations. “When you are a politician, this is part of your public responsibilities,” he considers. He acknowledges that joining the Flotilla was a personal decision (“neither the mayor nor my party sent me there”), but assures that, on board, he was still a Barcelona councilor. “I am 24 hours a day. It is true that I have acted outside the administration and I have missed meetings, but I have not been on vacation.”
He says this in response to those who have criticized that he has not given up his public salary during the 35 days that he has been away from Barcelona, a situation in which the CUP deputy Pilar Castillejos also finds herself. Against both, Vox has initiated procedures to return the money received. In the case of the anti-capitalist one, the Parliament Board has denied the request. And in the case of Coronas, this still has to be debated in the council.
“I will abide by the decision that is made, but I wonder if all those who criticize us have given up their salary when they have gone for a week to a far-right convention, or when they have gone to Milei's investiture. I do not believe that Abascal has given up his salary when he has done all those political activities outside of his institution,” reflects Coronas.
He defends that the Palestinian cause is a duty of anyone who considers themselves anti-fascist and democrat. Therefore, when, by chance, an activist who was in the hunger strike organized by Mi Hoa Lee in Barcelona He proposed to him to be captain of the Flotilla, he didn't think too much about it. He says he wouldn't do it again, but he doesn't regret it. “I don't think I would ever get on a boat again, but I would help them choose the ones they should buy,” he jokes.
Now, its place is on dry land. In the Barcelona City Council (where he has already resumed all his functions as a councillor) and from where, he assures, he will do what he can to demand that the administrations do what they should never have had to try. “It is their turn to open the humanitarian corridor and stop the genocide. The only one that is committing illegalities is Israel and, if it is not stopped, flotillas will continue to arrive. There will be another and another and another. And more actions. Because this is not going to stop, but it is up to the States to act now,” he concludes.