We had to wait until the last day to be able to see ministers of the Government of Spain in the streets of Valencia on the big days of Fallas. The Minister of Science, Innovation and University and new leader of the PSPV, Diana Morant, went to the Cremà in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, while the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, took a Fallas tour with leaders of his partner Compromís and ended up watching as the monument dedicated to Vicent Andrés Estellés burned. Today, by the way, Urtasun will present the acts and projects of his Ministry on the occasion of the centenary of the Burjassot poet.
However, not even the President of the Government of Spain; Pedro Sánchez, and the vice president of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, were seen around the city on such important days. A circumstance that contrasts with the massive presence of PP officials who, once again, turned their attention as happened the previous year in the days before the municipal and regional elections. It seems that the popular people feel more comfortable in this type of celebrations than the members of the central Executive.
On this occasion, the leader of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, was in Valencia; the general secretary of the party, Cuca Gamarra; the vice secretary of Organization, Miguel Tellado; or the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida (who already celebrated a mascletà in Madrid, not without controversy).
It is true that the Minister of Science, Innovation and University, Diana Morant, was on the balcony of the City Hall the first days (where the Minister of Territorial Policy, the Canarian Ángel Víctor Torres, also attended). However, a personal issue of hers forced her to cancel her weekend agenda, where she had various events planned in other towns that also celebrate Fallas outside the city of Valencia. This forced absence of the already general secretary of the PSPV deflated the socialist agenda planned for these days.
It seems that the family of the fist and the rose plans to focus on the Valencian Community next weekend, coinciding with the celebration, in Benicàssim, of the PSPV congress that will elevate Diana Morant. In addition to the President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, the First Vice President of the Government and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, and the spokesperson for the Executive, Pilar Alegría, will attend.
Although in recent years the PSPV of Valencia has attempted an evident approach to the Fallas world (it signed Nuria Llopis, a reference for the party, to place her as head of Festive Culture), it seems that the Valencian socialists still show a certain suspicion of the parties. Not like that, I promise that since when he entered the local government in 2015 he did not hesitate to take care of this area to dismantle those theories that the Fallas are a conservative party.
The Valencians tried to introduce some changes to the festival (some were realized, others were not) but they fought and managed (with the support of the PSPV) to have it declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Furthermore, he pledged that he has dedicated years to working in his think tank – the Nexe Foundation – on the Valencian festival to adapt his political story to this popular tradition.
