True enough. Although this is a problem of Madrid's own making. By suppressing the referendum, they virtually guaranteed these results. It seems to me the political situation there is worse than if there has been a peaceful referendum, under protest by Madrid, and Catalans had narrowly voted for independence. They could probably have defused that with some sort of marginal concession to increase the region's autonomy (as they have in the past). But the problem they have now may not be solved so easily.