New controversy in the Valencia City Council due to the proliferation of fires in the protected area of ??El Saler. The Vox councilor responsible for Devesa-Albufera in the Valencia City Council, José Gosálbez, accused the opposition this weekend of being behind the proliferation of fires in Saler: “It is curious that since the left has gone opposition, the fires have multiplied, burning up to 16 hectares of La Devesa, one of the main natural areas of the city.
Some statements that provoked a reaction this Monday from both PSPV and Compromís and forced the mayor, María José Catalá, to speak out.
The socialist spokesperson in the Valencia City Council, Sandra Gómez, announced yesterday that she will take legal action for insults and slander against the PP Government and Vox, following the councilor’s statements in which she points out that the opposition would be behind the fires.
In a statement, Gómez warned that the Vox councilor is “a political arsonist” and “his statements are out of place.” “It goes beyond what is politically admissible, since they point out and accuse the opposition without any type of rigor, beyond their inability and sectarianism,” he warned. Furthermore, Gómez fueled the controversy and recalled that, in the last legislature, when Gosálbez was in the opposition, he “shared videos showing sources of several fires.”
For his part, the other aforementioned also responded to the words of the councilor of the far-right formation. Compromís councilor Sergi Campillo described it as “unworthy” that Gosálvez “has accused without evidence of an alleged political motivation” in the latest wave of fires in El Saler.
Campillo recalled that Compromís already proposed in a municipal plenary session to increase surveillance of the Devesa by creating a specific Local Police unit, but the Government of María José Catalá voted against.
Specifically, the mayor of Valencia had to go out once again to put out the fire created by one of her councilors from her government partner. Asked about the statements of the Devesa-Albufera councilor, the popular one had to interpret that what her government colleague meant was that “we have an arsonist on the loose.”
“Valencia has a problem: there is a person who wants to harm La Devesa and we must do everything possible to stop him from doing harm, regardless of his motivation,” he added. The mayor tried to justify Gosálbez’s statements – they are “humanly understandable” – because of “that anger of thinking that we still have a problem.” “We have been governing for a few months and there is someone who, whatever his motivation, is creating fires in La Devesa that worry us all,” she told the media.