Catalan separatists use coronavirus crisis to argue for independence

FILE PHOTO: Catalan pro-independence demonstrators attend a protest to call for the release of jailed separatist leaders in Barcelona, Spain, October 26, 2019. The word reads "Freedom". REUTERS/Albert Gea/File Photo

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalan separatists have used the coronavirus crisis as a fresh motive to argue for independence from Spain, some bluntly saying the pandemic would have caused fewer deaths had the wealthy northeastern region been on its own.

But with mistakes by both national and regional authorities, the separatists' strategy to harshly criticise Madrid and suggest they would have done better could also backfire.