The Esquerra rift: the book about the Junqueras-Rovira split

BarcelonaAfter October 1, the independence movement entered a phase of disorientation and strategic revision. This was also true for the Left. Repression hit the party hard, forcing it to reposition its internal components and design a new political strategy: the Republicans were the first to open dialogue with the State. However, in the midst of this process, mistrust and internal disputes grew to the point of bringing down the tandem that had led the party for more than ten years: Oriol Junqueras and Marta Rovira. All this erupted after the defeat of the March 12 elections. Journalists Adrià Santasusagna and Bernat Vilaró review the evolution and the damage the party has suffered over the last decade in their book. The Republican Rift (The Bell), which was presented this Thursday at the Ona bookstore in Barcelona. "The party is restructuring itself to survive the repression, but at the same time it's a problem," Vilaró noted.

The book begins after October 1st, when Oriol Junqueras was imprisoned and, a few months later, Marta Rovira went into exile. A new generation, with Pere Aragonès and Marta Vilalta heading up the engine room at the headquarters on Calàbria Street, assumed control of the party throughout the period of repression and piloted the start of negotiations with the Spanish government. According to the two authors, however, it was Marta Rovira who was the architect. of the international mediation process with its epicenter in Switzerland, in which Junts and the CUP were also initially involved. Throughout this period, the authors describe details such as how the current Spanish Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, already put the pardons on the table of the Republicans in 2018, as well as how the party's main leaders positioned themselves in the debate over whether to allow 2019: Oriol Junqueras and Pere Aragonès were in favor, while Marta Rovira was opposed. Esquerra ultimately rejected them, and Sánchez brought forward the Spanish elections.

The pardons emerged from the mediation process and the dialogue table with the Spanish government, a measure that shook the party and for which the Spanish government had designed the schedule on an A3 sheet of paper that Félix Bolaños carried under his arm at one of the meetings. The authors also recount Pere Aragonès's arrival at the Palau de la Generalitat and the campaign designed by Sergi Sabrià—which revolved around two ideas: allowing Oriol Junqueras to hold rallies and then-Health Minister Alba Vergés to relax pandemic restrictions—and an episode involving the former president of the Generalitat in a Kremlin-linked lobby. A contact Aragonès ignored. The former president had been highly critical of the alleged Russian plot being investigated by the courts.

The internal war and the posters

Internal warfare is also a central part of the book. "[A leader's] environment usually ruins it," Santasusagna stated. Since Oriol Junqueras's release from prison, suspicions have been growing between Pere Aragonès and Marta Rovira's entourage and that of the current party president. The authors relate that this distancing began during the investiture of the former president of the Generalitat. The cooling off—and subsequent rupture—between Junqueras and Rovira began to be palpable, they explain, when Rovira informed Junqueras of his intention to fold, before the 2023 municipal elections.

The war worsens with the case of the posters against the Maragalls, uncovered by the AR. Regarding this case, the book explains that Junqueras was informed that this scandal arose from within the party and that the reports prepared by the then head of compliance, Xavier Mombiela, pointed to the party's former communications director, Tolo Moya, as the person responsible. ARA also found that Also involved in this scandal were the former vice-secretary of Communication of the Catalan Government, Sergi Sabrià, the former vice-secretary of communication of the Republicans, Marc Colomer, and the Anoia activist who commissioned the posters.This newspaper also confirmed that Structure B had an invoice system that was paid by an external company and did not need to be justified..