Claims of the Sovereign Assembly of Mallorca
The Sovereign Assembly of Mallorca (ASM) has asked the Consul of Ecuador in the Balearic Islands, Julio César Lalama, to correct his recent statements published in the media on April 16. In these statements, Lalama expressed that ‘Catalan penalizes and wastes the talent of many Ecuadorians’.
According to the ASM, these words convey to Ecuadorians and all Spanish-speakers resident in the Balearic Islands the idea that their language is a nuisance and does not deserve to be taken into account, considering it an insult and contempt for Mallorcans, Menorcans and Ibizans .
Reactions of the Assembly
The entity considers that Lalama’s statements place him on the same level as the Spanish colonizers who occupied Ecuador until 1822, ending three centuries of abuses by the Hispanic administration. In addition, they criticize the supremacist Spanishism displayed by Lalama, comparing it to the hated ‘chapetones’, a term used to refer to Spaniards who went to America to get rich.
The ASM hopes that Lalama publicly acknowledges his mistake and urges all Spanish speakers to learn and speak Catalan as a sign of respect and integration into the community that has welcomed them.