CATALONIA -- Plain-Talking Historian Is a Force Behind Catalan Independence Push - WSJ
Insight on #Catalan politics published in the Wall Street Journal.
"Oriol Junqueras heads the pro-independence Republican Left of
Catalonia, which topped all other parties in Catalonia in last month's
European Parliamentary elections, highlighting the friction between
Spain and its leading industrial region."
http://online.wsj.com/articles/plain-talking-historian-is-a-force-behind-catalan-independence-push-1402574598
Oriol Junqueras delivers a speech during a campaign
meeting for the European Parliament elections in Cornella, near
Barcelona, on May 20, 2014.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
BARCELONA—In the drama over the wealthy
Catalonia region's push for independence from Spain, much of the script
is being written by a blunt-speaking historian whose leftist party
drives the debate.
Oriol Junqueras heads
the pro-independence Republican Left of Catalonia, which topped all
other parties in Catalonia in last month's European Parliamentary
elections, highlighting the friction between Spain and its leading
industrial region.
Support for
Republican Left, whose greatest previous electoral success was in the
1930s, has surged as Spanish living standards have sunk over the past
six years of economic hardship, with many Catalans embracing Mr.
Junqueras's no-nonsense message on independence.
In
Spain's button-down political culture, the burly, bearded Mr. Junqueras
is known for his directness, especially when talking about what would
happen if the central government makes good on threats to block a
nonbinding referendum on independence planned for the region on Nov. 9.
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