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Antoni Gutiérrez, who has died of a heart attack aged 77, was the main figure in the Catalan communist party, the PSUC, during Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy in the 1970s. An inspiring leader, committed to unity in the struggle against the Franco dictatorship, "El Guti", as he was known, was the incarnation of the PSUC, a singular party that brought to Spain the Italian spirit of Eurocommunism.
Gutiérrez was born in the coastal town of Premià, north of Barcelona, to parents who had migrated to Catalonia from Andalusia and Extremadura. He studied medicine and, after graduating in 1953, practised as a paediatrician in Barcelona hospitals. He joined the PSUC in 1959 and was prominent in organising health workers; at Christmas 1962, he was jailed for eight years for subversive activities. While in prison he became friendly with Julián Grimau, the communist leader executed by the dictatorship in 1963. Released after three years he took the nom de guerre of Julià in tribute to Grimau. In the late 1960s, his activity and political intelligence made...