Salvador Illa sworn-in as new Catalonia president ending decades-long separatist government

Salvador Illa's appointment comes as the region's former controversial leader Carles Puigdemont returned to his home state from exile.

Transcript

00:00Socialist Salvador Illa has been sworn in as Catalonia's new president at an inauguration

00:07ceremony in Barcelona.

00:09The new appointment ends over a decade of separatist rule in the region.

00:14The close ally of Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, secured the support of leftist

00:19parties earlier this week, guaranteeing his power.

00:22At the ceremony, Illa said he wanted to use his presidency to unite Catalans in the face

00:28of divisive agendas.

00:30Days before, the former president of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, briefly returned to Spain

00:36following a years-long hideout in Belgium and France.

00:40Puigdemont spearheaded the 2017 failed referendum for Catalonian independence and faces multiple

00:47criminal charges led by Spanish authorities.

00:50But the fugitive politician managed to once again escape Spanish police and revealed on

00:56social media he returned to Belgium.