Vox and, above all, the PP tried last Tuesday to separate their decision to eliminate the Guillem Agulló award that Les Corts gave to recognize the fight of people and institutions against xenophobia, racism and hate crimes, from any political and ideological. They raised formal and legal issues and tried to show some solidarity with the young anti-fascist from Burjassot murdered by Nazis in 1993 in the town of Montanejos.
However, the councilor of the ultra formation in the Valencia City Council, Juanma Badenas, has not been careful this Thursday and has shown his party’s discomfort with the fact that the name of the murdered young man is on a walk in the location.
At the beginning of the extraordinary plenary session, the person in charge of Parks and Gardens and second deputy mayor of the city has “obviously” taken for granted the elimination of the Guillem Agulló promenade that exists in the Viveros Gardens. A space that was inaugurated in 2018 – with the local government of Compromís and PSPV – to remember the young man 25 years after his murder.
Badenas has justified his decision by the fact that the inauguration of the modest promenade was “an imposition of a part of Valencians that is now no longer the majority” after the elections, towards that part that is now the majority. Therefore, Badenas understands that it is necessary to “name this walk with a name that corresponds to what the majority of Valencians think and feel.”
An announcement that has taken his PP government partners by surprise. The municipal spokesperson, Juan Carlos Caballero, has assured the media that he had just learned of the proposal from the person in charge of Parks and Gardens.
Who has not been caught by surprise is the PSPV, which yesterday already warned of this possibility. Following Vox’s statements, the spokesperson for the socialist municipal group, Sandra Gómez, regretted that the local government wants to “erase part of history” and, above all, that it “sides with the people who murdered Guillem Agulló” .
