The Government comes out in a storm before the intense controversy unleashed by the racist insults that VinÃcius suffered during the match between Real Madrid and Valencia, held last Sunday in the Mestalla field, which has even caused a forceful reaction from the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, one month after his official visit to Spain. “Racist behaviors in Spain do not go unpunished: they are persecuted and punished,” said the spokesperson for the Executive, Isabel RodrÃguez, this Tuesday from Moncloa at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
“Zero tolerance for racism in football,” warned Pedro Sánchez himself yesterday. “Hate and xenophobia should have no place in our football or in our society,” said the President of the Government. Along the same lines, the minister spokesperson has expressed “absolute rejection and condemnation of this type of behavior.” “These are behaviors that in Spain do not go unpunished, in Spain they are persecuted and punished”, underlined Isabel RodrÃguez. In fact, the National Police have arrested three young people allegedly involved in these events on Tuesday in Valencia. “Our state security bodies and forces always act against any type of xenophobic or racist behavior,” the government spokesperson celebrated.
It is evident, however, that these events happen, not only in the field of sport, has acknowledged Isabel RodrÃguez. “But we have all the mechanisms to work to prosecute this type of crime,” she defended. “There are also those who justify this type of behavior, but it is a matter on which it is not possible to be neutral. You have to be blunt. It must be said clearly that we are anti-racist, because from Spain we are fighting this type of behavior, we condemn it and we are working to eradicate itâ€. “There is no room for chiaroscuro or greyâ€, she has insisted.
The spokesperson for the Executive has indicated that she is not aware of any contacts in this regard with the Government of Brazil. But she has highlighted that in Spain legal certainty is guaranteed, both in police and judicial actions. “What we say to our compatriots and to the international arena is that in Spain this type of behavior does not go unpunished, and therefore all the judicial and police bodies work to persecute them at all times”, stressed the Socialist Isabel RodrÃguez.
“We can feel very proud of being a country in which the regulations pursue this type of act and behavior, in which the State security forces and bodies and judicial institutions act accordingly, and where, in addition, for the most part, we condemn the behavior , and we also condemn those who justify these behaviorsâ€, the minister spokesperson assured. “And forcefulness when it comes to marking a speech of zero tolerance in the face of this type of event,” she has settled. A zero tolerance that has warned that it challenges everyone as a society, not only the Government but also the media, the educational field, families. “There are more of us who are facing this type of behavior and we want a Spain in coexistence”, she concluded.
