The Municipal Group Vox in the City Council of Cáceres has expressed its satisfaction with the decision of the Junta de Extremadura to initiate the process to declare the Cruz de la Plaza de América as a Good of Cultural Interest (BIC), with the category of Monument. At the same time, the party claims the work that, it assures, it has been developing for years to ensure its conservation and that it continues in the current location.
The municipal spokesperson for Vox, Eduardo Gutiérrez, has explained that "the initiation of the process represents a particularly important advance because it incorporates a means of heritage protection against the decision of the Government of Spain to include the Cruz in the Catalog of Symbols and Elements contrary to Democratic Memory and order its removal."
In this regard, Gutiérrez emphasized that "this does not start today." "We have been defending the Cruz for years and seeking all possible means to prevent its removal. We have done so from institutions, from the administrative route, from the judicial route, and also from political debate," he pointed out, insisting that "Vox has defended the Cruz in the City Council, in the Assembly, in Congress, and also in the courts. A step has been taken in the direction we have been demanding."
The spokesperson recalled that Vox already brought the issue of the Cruz de la Plaza de América to the Congress of Deputies in 2020 through a Non-Legislative Proposal (PNL), in which the party argued that "the monument did not constitute an element of hatred or confrontation, but rather an element to understand the history of Cáceres" and requested that its removal not be promoted.
Subsequently, after the decision of the central Government to incorporate it into the state catalog of Francoist symbols, the Vox Parliamentary Group acted again at the national level by registering new parliamentary initiatives to question this inclusion. Among them, a notable initiative presented in June 2026 calls on the Executive to annul the incorporation of the Cruz to that catalog.
Furthermore, in May of this year, Gutiérrez, along with the spokesperson for Vox in the Assembly of Extremadura, Inés Checa, formalized an appeal against the resolution of the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory. In this appeal, the annulment of the resolution was requested, the removal of the Cross from the state catalog, and the suspension of any action aimed at its dismantling, while defending the heritage protection of the monument and the municipal autonomy of Cáceres.
Judicial appeal and debate in the City Council
"The defense of the Cross subsequently took a new step in the judicial path," Gutiérrez has indicated, recalling that in June Vox presented a contentious-administrative appeal and the National Court admitted the procedure, "the judicial battle against the removal order remains open."
The spokesperson also pointed out that on July 16, Vox once again brought the debate to the City Council of Cáceres through a motion in favor of the Cross continuing in Plaza de América. The proposal was approved with the votes of Vox and the Popular Party.
During the plenary session, PSOE and Unidas por Extremadura demanded that the motion be withdrawn, understanding that it violated the Law of Democratic Memory. In light of the mayor's refusal to comply with that request, both groups left the Plenary and did not participate in the vote.
"We brought a concrete proposal to the Plenary to defend that the Cross remains where it is. PSOE and Unidas decided to leave the session. Vox defended its position and managed to get the motion approved," Gutiérrez has emphasized, who has stressed that "that Plenary made clear the position of each group."
The local leader has highlighted that the party has maintained the same criterion in all institutions: in 2020 in Congress, in 2026 in the Assembly of Extremadura, and in the City Council, in addition to the appeals presented before the courts and the defense in the municipal Plenary. "We have not changed our position depending on the place: we have always defended the same thing, that the Cross is part of Cáceres and must remain where it is," he has stated.
For Gutiérrez, "our group considers that the start of the BIC file now constitutes a decisive step in the protection of the Cross. And its processing to achieve this protection was included in the government agreement reached between PP and Vox in Extremadura," for which he has expressed his satisfaction with the opening of the procedure, which "now corresponds to complete it with all guarantees and ensure that it has the maximum heritage protection."
As he has insisted, "the BIC declaration must serve to definitively protect the Cross and its current location," demanding that "the procedure advance without delays." "There is a reason to celebrate: the way is opened to legally protect the Cross. But there is also a reason to remember who has been working to make this possible. Vox has defended the Cross when others wanted to remove it and will continue to do so until the end," Gutiérrez has concluded.