The general secretary of the PSOE of Cartagena, Manuel Torres, has stated that the recent interception at sea of a boat with four engines and the detention of its two skippers by the Civil Guard "has dismantled in a few hours the entire alarmist campaign that Noelia Arroyo and the PP had been building in Cartagena."
In his statement, Torres emphasized that "Arroyo said that the mafias came and went as they pleased, that they acted with impunity and that the Government did nothing. Today there is a four-engine vessel intercepted at sea and its two skippers are detained. The facts have exposed the PP."
The socialist spokesperson criticized the strategy of the Popular Party and pointed out that "while Arroyo and López Miras were holding press conferences, videos, and even a Council of Government to fuel fear, the Civil Guard was working, monitoring our coasts and preparing operations. While Arroyo was putting on a show, the Civil Guard was setting up the operation."
Torres also highlighted that, at the beginning of August, the Civil Guard and National Police carried out a joint operation in which they dismantled one of the largest networks of maritime human trafficking in the Mediterranean, with 78 detainees, 27 sent to provisional prison, and 18 vessels intervened. "That is fighting against the mafias. Detaining them, dismantling their networks, and intervening their means. The rest is noise and propaganda," he indicated.
The socialist leader denied that his party downplays the situation and insisted that "there are mafias that traffic in people and they must be pursued with all the means of the State. And that is exactly what the Security Forces and Corps are doing."
In this line, he condemned the partisan use of the migratory phenomenon by the PP and warned of its consequences: "What we will not accept is that the PP uses every boat to try to convince the people of Cartagena that they live in a city without control and without security. It is false and also seriously harms the image of Cartagena."
Finally, Torres called on the mayor for "less propaganda and more respect for the professionals who are protecting our coasts. If Noelia Arroyo had a minimum of rigor, after what happened today she should recognize that her accusations of impunity and inaction were false. But the problem is that the PP is not interested in reality: it is interested in maintaining fear."