When I spent time in Catalunia in the late 1960s they did not consider that they were part of Spain. They saw themselves as separate and held that they were going to independent as soon as Franco popped his clogs.

They identified as Catalan, not Spanish. They resented the Spaniards bussed in to work the hotels springing up in the region. They considered that Spain was taking unfair advantage of their potential earnings from the tourist trade which was just taking off.

The bombings of the separatists started soon after I stopped going there regularly.