Plan to honour Mario Vargas Llosa stirs up Catalan separatists
But the love that the Nobel prize-winning Peruvian had for Barcelona, the city he credited with establishing him as a writer, may be unrequited, at least officially.
Vargas Llosa, who died this month aged 89, opposed Catalan separatism with such vehemence in later life that calls for Barcelona to name a street in his honour face stiff opposition from the region's nationalists.
Aleix Sarri, a leader of the Catalan separatist Junts party, said: 'Vargas Llosa was an irredeemable anti-Catalan, he legitimised repression and always lined up in favour of the colonial forces. Our country has no reason to pay special tribute to
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