A neighbor from Maracena passes in front of electoral posters in the town of Granada. Fermin Rodriguez
With nine electoral lists competing for 21 seats in the Maracena City Council (Granada) next Sunday and a court order, revealed this Thursday, ordering an investigation of three PSOE positions —the mayoress, a councilor and the ‘number three’ of the party in Andalusia—the electoral campaign has suffered a shock. But that is noticeable in the headquarters of the parties, not in the streets of the town, with 22,293 inhabitants, adjacent to the capital, where tranquility is breathed and a majority of those interviewed are unaware of the new details of the case.
Julio Pérez, the popular candidate for mayor in Maracena, says he is devastated. “I know all of them and I cannot understand why they have done this,” he comments, giving some credibility to the arguments of the judicial order that, based on the exclusive account of the kidnapper, has determined that new investigations into the three local socialists are necessary. . “But mostly it’s Vanessa who’s having a terrible time.” Asked if the judge’s decision this Thursday will have an influence on the electoral result on Sunday, Pérez says: “I don’t know if he will modify it. Also, in a way it is secondary.” However, he believes that Berta Linares, since she cannot leave the electoral list three days before the elections, “should issue a statement saying that if she is elected she will not take office and that it will be her second to do so. They have plenty of councilors to do it”.
Regardless of whether the content of the kidnapper’s statement on which the car is based is real or not, Pérez believes that Berta Linares lied. “The judge, and the cameras, show that Berta saw her ex-partner when he returned from Armilla to Maracena to the hardware store. And she kept the next day in a full that she had not seen him. I questioned him and he stayed. Now we know that she lied, so she must go, ”he concludes. The mayor and socialist candidate, for her part, accuses the PP of giving the case “a despicable political use” and argues that that party wants to “link her to everything that happened in the case.”
Antonio Garrido, candidate of the Free Federation Socialist Party, has also demanded in a statement on Facebook that those investigated resign. The rest of the parties – I want Maracena, Together for Maracena, The United Left for the People, Vox, Maracena Conecta and Podemos-Alianza Verde – have not ruled on the case.
In the streets there is calm in the face of the news of the case on the part of many who, at this point and judging by their responses, already seem to care little about what happens to the politicians of the city.
Most of those asked do not know the details of the latest developments and the order of the judge, who has asked to transfer the case to the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia to investigate whether Noel López, current organizational secretary of the Andalusian PSOE and mayor for 13 years; Berta Linares, mayor since 2021; and Antonio García Leyva, their right-hand man for years, urged or participated in some other way in the kidnapping of councilwoman Vanessa Romero on February 21.
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Mónica, 37 years old and not a PSOE voter, believes that Berta Linares, who is running for re-election for the Socialists, will still win: “We still don’t know what happened and I haven’t heard much about today. I imagine, in any case, that she is going to come out of it because she knows how to come out of it to seek the votes and give people their ears ”. Conchi, 46, and Félix, 51, care little what happens. “They are all superfluous,” says Félix. “I don’t care whoever comes in,” says Conchi. Iván, is unemployed and claims to have gone “a thousand times” to ask the City Council for a job and they never give him anything, they send him to the INEM. He believes that the PSOE will not have as many votes as on other occasions.
Maracena Town Hall (Granada), this Friday. Fermin Rodriguez
Javier is also of the same idea, who at the age of 50 runs a dry cleaner’s on Calle Real. “Maracena has more than 20,000 inhabitants, but even so, it is a town where we all know each other. All this has us all very surprised ”, he explains. “I imagine that it will affect the result because people have lost confidence in them with everything that has happened.” Javier explains that he himself stopped having faith in the PSOE a long time ago: “They started out well, but over time, things are no longer the same.” That is, more or less, the thread of all those asked. Andrea, a 23-year-old music teacher who also works in a clothing store, is cautious: “It is a complicated issue because a psychological illness is involved. [del presunto secuestrador, según reveló en febrero la alcaldesa]so we can’t know for sure why he kidnapped her.”
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