Historian Enrique Ucelay-Da Cal , author of Catalan imperialism and one of the great experts in the evolution of the separatist movement, argues that one of the weaknesses of independence is its lack of leader. In the past, he points out, there were important personalities, even caudillismos, both in the Second Republic, with the former presidents of the Generalitat, Francesc Macià and Lluis Companys , and even recently with Jordi Pujol (1980-2003). Today, the independence leadership is divided into several heads, but none generates an absolute consensus for these two million Catalans who want to separate from the rest of Spain. United in a common goal, disagreements between the different worlds of the movement increase in form and styles.

The right-wing center that previously encompassed the CiU coalition has broken into pieces, according to the degree of obedience due to the former escaped president, Carles Puigdemont . ERC, with its leader Oriol Junqueras already sentenced to 13 years in prison and disabled, and his leader Marta Rovira fleeing to Switzerland, seeks to consolidate the vice president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonés , as successor.

In parallel, the influences of the civil organizations that revolve around the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural , and the consolidation of an organized guerrilla system, territory by territory, through the CDRs are reinforced again. The new actor, with no heads in sight, is Tsunami Democràtic . One of the consequences of the month of anger , as this violent October has been baptized in Catalonia, may be the definition of new leadership scenarios in separatism. These are its protagonists, its past and presumable future.

The future of Puigdemont is an unknown once the Euroorder is reactivated

In the European elections of May 26, 2019, Carles Puigdemont won the elections in Catalonia. As leader of the list JxCAT obtained 981,537 votes. It was the first time he faced face to face with his former vice president, number one on the lists by ERC. Oriol Junqueras won 727,039 votes. A month earlier, in the generals of April 28, ERC, without Junqueras, had won a million votes; twice as much as JxCat, without Puigdemont.

"These figures," explains a businessman very close to the former president of the Generalitat, "guarantee that he is the undisputed leader, the only one who, at any given time, can sit face to face with a president of the Spanish Government to start spinning the end of conflict. " The future of Puigdemont is a mystery once the Euroorder is reactivated and after being released with precautionary measures by the Belgian Justice. It maintains the threads that move its puppet, Quim Torra , in the Palau de la Generalitat, and does not yield to the pressures exerted by the more moderate sectors of the heir party of Convergence, PDeCAT, to take a step to the side. Puigdemont wants to keep sending, controlling and executing.

He will be, in short, who will decide the successor of Quim Torra as the next candidate for president of the Generalitat under the acronym JxCat or as his new political instrument is renamed. Torra is amortized. The current president of the Generalitat lives his last days offering his final shows. Not even, as was evident in his last intervention in the Parliament of Catalonia asking for a new referendum on self-determination this Thursday, is he seconded by his own. Unpredictable as it is, no one rules out that he wants to end his last days in the Palau de Sant Jaume in search of martyrdom, making decisions that force Justice to lock him in jail or flee hidden outside of Spain.

The battle for the succession of Torra has opened. In another situation, Jordi Sanchez , former president of the ANC and also convicted by the Supreme Court, was called to have greater responsibilities. In the independence world of this magma of the post Convergence has always had sponsors in the pujolista sector that controlled the money of the party, and a fluid contact with the most radical separatism.

Torra is amortized. Live your last days offering your final shows

He is a personal friend of David Madí , today president of Aguas de Catalunya and former secretary of communication of the Generalitat under Jordi Pujol and right hand of Artur Mas ; and of Carles Riera , leader of the CUP. The three met in the extinct Crida a la Solidaritat movement . In the absence of public office, Sanchez will continue to be one of the movement's moral leaders.

Elisenda Paluzie was dean of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Barcelona, ​​one of the first economists who publicly defended the independence of Catalonia as the only way out of the fiscal oppression to which she would be subjected by the evil Spanish State. Tertulian habitual, vehemently, in the media and ability to maintain a good relationship with the leader of Waterloo , in addition to having belonged to ERC, he used it to the presidency of the ANC to replace Jordi Sànchez, also a substitute for another convicted, Carme Forcadell . Their parliaments in the Diada and this Friday at the close of the strike continue to rise on the steps leading to the independence Olympus.

Three other women, with different characteristics, aspire to continue climbing. Laura Borràs , the face of JxCat in Madrid, former Minister of Culture of the Generalitat, is one of Puigdemont's personal bets. He also went through television and radio gatherings from his position as cultural activist. Elsa Artadi aspired to everything while serving as a spokesman for the Generalitat before joining the lists of JxCat by the City of Barcelona, ​​where the candidacy with the damned Joaquim Forn failed. His star has gone out for now, but because of his relationship with Waterloo, he will return.

Àngels Chacón , Business Advisor, worked in companies in the paper and health sector traveling around the world before deciding to pursue politics. It is the connection with the Catalan business sector of the Minimum Government. He supported the candidacy of the ANC to control the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona and maintains a good relationship with its current president, Joan Canadell , current visible face of secessionist entrepreneurs. Together with these three women, two men: Eduard Pujol , voice of JxCat in the Catalan parliament and the Minister of Territory, Damià Calvet , move behind the curtains.

Three women aspire to continue climbing: Laura Borràs, Elsa Artadi and Àngels Chacón

Àngels Chacón also maintains a good relationship with the president of the PDeCAT, David Bonvehí , who has been promoted by Puigdemont in his interest in controlling that game after the cessation of Marta Pascal . In recent times, Bonvehí has ​​been distancing himself from his former supporter. He wants to maintain the personality of the match against the whole JxCat movement.

Bonvehí aims to re-found the weight of the Catalan center right from the possibility. He does not see with bad eyes the flirtation of Marta Pascal and former deputies of the PdeCAT that come from the old Convergence, such as Carles Campuzano or Jordi Xuclà , even of the former Councilors of the Generalitat resigned in the summer of 2017 Jordi Baiget and Jordi Jané , with the various operations to create a new moderate nationalist political space.

The key to these operations lies in the role Artur Mas wants to undertake, which he wants. The former could return to public office once his disqualification ends on February 23, 2020. Puigdemont knows that an electoral advance before this date could put a definitive end to a return of Mas, whom he already sees as a rival, to The active policy.

The relationship between Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras broke down between October 26 and 27, 2017. A multitude of opinions have been written about who made the final decision not to advance the regional elections and launch the suicidal Declaration of Independence. The accusations crossed between the faithful of one and the other have been maintained. The escape of the former president was never well received at ERC.

Junqueras from prison, like Puigdemont from Waterloo, wants to continue choosing his dolphins

Neither one nor the other has intoned the mea culpa for what happened that month. They felt messiahs from the Catalan people. Junqueras, with its apparent bonhomy, has never hidden from jail its most radical position towards the ultimate goal. It pretends to be the Nelson Mandela of independence. Since ERC has sold in recent months the theory that now it is time to slow down the objective "widening the base", but without giving up positions.

Junqueras from jail, like Puigdemont from Waterloo, wants to continue sending in ERC, choosing his dolphins. If Torra is amortized, the Junqueras disciple, the Vice President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, breathes. Maintains a more technocratic profile. Do not shame yours. At the last meeting of the Circle of Economy, in Sitges, he was even applauded by the business sector. He showed arithmetic knowledge. However, today nobody sees Aragonès as a potential leader of the entire movement, even if it ends up being president of the Generalitat one day if ERC wins the next regional elections.

The history of ERC has been full during the last 20 years of convulsive leadership, internal coup d'etats and changes of direction. Marta Rovira, escaped and disappeared in Switzerland, would have been the safest option to replace Junqueras. He continues to maintain moral authority, but he is not expected to return to Spain unless he feels like going through the courts.

Only two names, today, could overshadow Aragones' leadership in ERC. One is Roger Torrent , president of the Catalan Parliament; the other is Joan Tardà , former deputy in Madrid of ERC, who, within ERC, many have as an intellectual reference. No one, with a minimum of common sense, believes that Gabriel Rufián may have options. But it is already known that common sense is not precisely an attribute in current Catalan politics.

The future leadership of the independence movement will always have to count on the CUP

The future leadership of the independence movement will always have to count on the CUP, which will continue to be necessary for the formation of parliamentary majorities. The CUP, which aspires to obtain between two or three deputies in the next general elections, first in which it is presented, can improve its electoral results with respect to the last municipal elections, maintaining its most radical positions in the current Catalan political framework. From ERC they fear an escape of votes towards this anti-system coalition. Carles Riera, Jordi Sànchez's friend, remains his visible face, but the real power is maintained by activist David Fernàndez and another fugitive in Switzerland, Anna Gabriel .

Will new leaders appear? Will there be a leader, as Ucelay-Da Cal cites? Definitely. Who? It is too early to know, but it may not be any of those that are being considered today. In the absence of knowing the evolution of the bitter and violent events of these days, the independence movement, after sweeping the street violence of the CDR, knows that its strategy cannot continue along this path. There are no more smiles. Not everything is peaceful protesters who aspire to turn Catalonia into an earthly paradise. The masks have been removed.

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  • ERC
  • Catalonia
  • Carles Puigdemont
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • Cup
  • Jordi Sanchez
  • Marta Rovira
  • Quim Torra
  • Artur Mas
  • Carme Forcadell
  • Anna Gabriel
  • Gabriel Rufián
  • Elsa Artadi
  • Roger Torrent
  • David Bonvehí
  • Joaquim Forn
  • Proced judgment
  • Violence Catalonia

Spain From the sentence

Editorial Neither impunity nor recklessness

SpainThe weak unanimity of Marchena and the nougat of Junqueras, at home