The Vox spokesperson in the Castelló de la Plana City Council, Antonio Ortolá, has announced that his municipal group, which governs together with the PP in the city, is going to begin the procedures to replace the name of the País Valencià square and also wants to change those of other streets such as, among others, those dedicated to the writers Isabel Clara Simó or Joan Fuster, stating that their objective is to “stop the feet of ‘pancatalism’ and return pride and identity to Valencians.”
In a statement, Ortolá justifies his intention to change the name of the País Valencià square “due to his pan-Catalan status,” considering that “it is a degrading and partisan invention.” “The Valencian Community has never been called a ‘country’ in its entire history,” he maintains, and affirms that “Vox has arrived to stop pan-catalism and return pride and identity to Valencians.”
“To say that we are ‘País Valencià’ does not correspond to the historical or social reality and is to recognize that we belong to the ‘Catalan Countries’ and that one day we will want independence. However, Castellón and the Valencian Community cannot be conceived without Spain and vice versa,” he insists, pointing out that “the left has run out of the party they had going on with their separatist partners in Catalonia.”
Along these lines, he claims that the people of Castellón do not want “unity with Catalonia, neither physical nor linguistic”: “The only unity we want is that of Spain. Faced with their Catalan delusions, we are not going to take a step back and the announcement of the start of procedures for this name change is the first proof of this.”
Furthermore, the Vox councilor advances that they intend to replace the name of these streets and squares in Castelló de la Plana: Isabel Clara Simó, with “separatist and Catalan journalist and writer”; Joan Fuster, for being “a key figure of pan-Catalanism and promoter of the term ‘Països Catalans’”; Empar Navarro, for being “a communist activist who was a member of the editorial board of the magazine ‘Pasionaria’”; Francesc Vidal Serrulla, to recover the name of Francisco, with which he assures that “his entire life was called” to this painter, and Pare Ricardo by Father Ricardo “as he was known by everyone.”
From Compromís, its municipal spokesperson, Ignasi Garcia, remembers that the changes in the street map are not the responsibility of the council headed by Ortolá, but rather correspond to the area of Culture, in the hands of the PP. “It remains to be seen to what extent [the PP] will allow Vox” to materialize “this ideological and identity announcement” that, in Garcia’s opinion, is behind this “symbolic and sectarian battle” driven by the far-right formation.
Gnasi Garcia also highlights that the term País Valencià “is part of our Statute” and ignoring this “is an attack against our history.” He adds that the rest of the streets under the Vox spotlight pay tribute to “people who fought to defend democracy and protect rights and social advances.”