Carles Puigdemont: The man who wants to break up Spain

By Patrick Jackson
BBC News, Girona
5 October 2017
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Catalan president Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference in Barcelona, on October 2,
2017.Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Catalonia's leader Carles Puigdemont says the region has won the right to break away from
Spain
The drive for independence that delivered the banned 1 October referendum did not begin
under his leadership. But such is his zeal for secession, that Catalonia's President Carles
Puigdemont is prepared to risk its existing autonomy to achieve it.
In defiance of the law and Spain's constitution, he has pushed forward in the hope of
international recognition.
It may well be a doomed journey in the eyes of Spain's allies in Brussels and Washington - but
the meek-looking village baker's son from Girona is undaunted.
Spanish lessons
Born in Amer in 1962, he grew up under the dictatorship of Gen Francisco Franco and was
taught in Spanish at a church-run boarding school, but spoke Catalan at home like others of his
generation.
Joan Matamala, a few years his senior at the school, remembers the boy everyone got on with,
even the older pupils.
A picture of Joan Matamala, taken on the street in Girona in October 2017
Image caption
Bookseller Joan Matamala went to school with Carles Puigdemont
Mr Matamala runs a bookshop, Les Voltes, that has been promoting Catalan language and
culture in Girona for 50 years. The young Puigdemont did not come over as a natural leader at
the time but he was someone you did not forget, he says.
As a young man, Puigdemont had a passion for his native tongue, going on to study Catalan
philology at the local university and polishing colleagues' copy when he first found work in the
city's newspapers.
Miquel Riera worked with him at the fiercely pro-independence paper now known as El Punt
Avui, often late into the night.
Miquel Riera worked with Carles Puigdemont at the pro-independence newspaper now known
as El Punt Avui.
Image caption
Miquel Riera worked with Carles Puigdemont at the pro-independence newspaper now known
as El Punt Avui
"Right from the start he was very interested in new technology and the internet," says Mr Riera.
This may have fed Puigdemont's awareness of social media, which was crucial in promoting the
referendum campaign.
"He's a man who makes friends easily," says Mr Riera, whose 25-year-old son, he says, was
bruised on the chest by a police rifle butt at a polling station on Sunday.

Media captionThe BBC's Tom Burridge on how the crisis in Spain is likely to unfold
Mr Puigdemont served as mayor of Girona from 2011 until 2016 when he was elected regional
president of Catalonia.
There is no denying his star appeal among his supporters, who clamour to take selfies with him
at rallies.
His popularity cuts across class, coming as he does from comparatively modest origins, outside
the Catalan elite which dominated the local centre-right alliance, Convergence and Union (now
known as the Catalan European Democratic Party), for years.
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"Puigdemont has been absolutely key to bringing Catalonia to where we are now," says Montse
Daban, international chairperson of the Catalan National Assembly, a grassroots pro-
independence movement.
"He's been an absolute and positive surprise for Catalan citizens, who were already supporting
the independence process and saw with dismay that it was facing several burdens."
The Catalan protests lead Catalan papers (pictured) but not Spanish ones
Image caption
The Catalan protests lead Catalan papers (above) but not Spanish ones
But his actions have brought him into conflict with Spanish law. And in the eyes of Spain's
government, the Catalan leader has ruthlessly created a crisis, burning all the bridges in order
to make a unilateral declaration of independence.
"Democracy is not about voting - there are referenda in dictatorships too," a Madrid government
source told the BBC. "Only when you vote with guarantees according to the law is it a
democracy."
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The images of violence at the polling stations were "150% part of Puigdemont's plan", the
source said.
"It's unfortunate because it was a trap. There's no doubt it looks bad for the Spanish
government."
Thousands of people pictured on 3 October chant slogans to protest against the violence that
marred Catalonia's referendum vote.Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image caption
Thousands protested in Barcelona after the 1 October referendum was marred by violence
Mr Puigdemont talks the language of independence in a way his more cautious predecessor,
Artur Mas, did not during the dry run referendum of 2014, which was also banned by Madrid.
Speaking to the BBC following Sunday's violence, Mr Puigdemont said: "I think we've won the
right to be heard, but what I find harder to understand is this indifference - or absolute lack of
interest - in understanding what is happening here. They've never wanted to listen to us.
"How can we explain to the world that Europe is a paradise of democracy if we hit old women
and people who've done nothing wrong? This is not acceptable. We haven't seen such a
disproportionate and brutal use of force since the death of the dictator Franco."
He has called for mediation - something the Spanish government says is unacceptable.
A Madrid source dismissed the idea, telling the BBC it would be "mediation between Spanish
government and part of the Spanish state… mediation between law and someone who has no
framework.
"Mediation about what?"
Rebellion
According to the same source, Mr Puigdemont is bypassing his own party in his zeal to declare
independence, meeting grassroots pro-independence groups instead of conducting regional
government business.
Would Mr Puigdemont risk a split at the top of the independence movement that could be fatal
to the cause?

Media captionCarles Puigdemont spoke to the BBC on Tuesday evening

Out on the streets, expectations have soared as the concepts of independence and democracy
blur into one.
Some independence supporters seem to have lost all fear of the Spanish police as their sense
of outrage over Sunday's violence grows.
A handwritten poster on a Girona shop front reads: "Whoever sows rebellion reaps freedom. 1
October."
"He may be Spain's most dangerous man, since he seems to be heading towards a unilateral
declaration of independence," says Manuel Arias Maldonado, political science professor at
Málaga University.
"A different question is whether he controls at all what happens in Catalonia right now.
"If this is a revolution - and it looks like one - his power is diminished since he cannot dictate
events."