But with Spanish royalist officials refusing any autonomy, calls for independence soon followed.

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Aruba broke from the Antilles in 1986 and seemed to be heading for independence, but soon chose not to.

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But he, too, is cautious about putting the independence question to the public soon.

ECONOMIST: Scottish politics

We became colonies claimed by distant crowns, but soon declared our independence.

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By in effect conceding the election to Labour, and admitting that independence cannot be achieved any time soon, he hopes to blunt the edge of a Tory anti-nationalist campaign similar to that mounted in 1992.

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Yet as soon as the Greek nation regained independence in 1830, the force of the moral argument was always on the Greek side.

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He was soon hired by the Daily Mail where, Waterhouse said, he was allowed to retain his treasured independence.

BBC: Obituary: Keith Waterhouse