His appointment aroused a lot of controversy – the decision to put a bullfighter in charge of Culture generated controversy – and, after a few months of silence and without going into details about his political proposals, the vice president and Minister of Culture and Sports, Vicente Barrera, has made it clear that one of the priorities of his mandate will be to combat what he considers “cultural pan-Catalanism.” A strategy that, in his words, “conspires” to “steal our Valencian identity and separate us from the rest of Spain.”
In his debut in Les Corts, where he appeared to explain the basic lines of the Ministry, Barrera indicated that he will fight “those who try to convince Valencians that Catalan is spoken in the Valencian Community.”
Along these lines, he has stressed that he will not allow “supremacist pan-Catalanism to end Valencian uniqueness” and that he has no intention of financing those who “seek to conspire against our culture.” All of this, amid the applause of the Government bench and the fuss of the opposition.
It was no surprise when the Minister of Culture announced that contrary to what has happened until now, “two centuries-old Valencian entities ignored” such as the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture and Lo Rat Penat – both contrary to the unity of the language and defenders of regulations foreign to that of the Valencian Academy of Language – will have the doors of the Ministry open, as well as those constitutionalist organizations in the face of the complicated situation that, in their opinion, Spain is experiencing.
Vox’s nods to these two secessionist institutions could be clearly seen on Tuesday in the Valencia City Council, where Vox forced the PP to adapt the city’s toponym to the Puig regulations, against the criteria of the AVL.
Furthermore, Barrera has announced that the criteria that will guide the work of the Department will be freedom, respect for the Law and the rational use of public funds. Thus, he has emphasized that linguistic criteria will not be part of the scales. Throughout his intervention he has defended the need to promote authors and creators regardless of the language in which they express themselves.
Regarding freedom, he has argued that he will promote a culture “without good guys and bad guys, without Cinderellas, cornered people (in reference to bullfighting), so that no one feels discriminated against.” On several occasions, he has used himself as an example of a bullfighting professional who suffered “ignorance” and “mistreatment” from the political leaders who should have protected him.
Finally, the first vice president of the Consell and Minister of Culture and Sports, Vicente Barrera, has guaranteed the support of the Generalitat for “religious, musical or bullfighting expressions rooted in tradition.”
