The general secretary of PSOE-A and candidate for the Presidency of the Junta de Andalucía, María Jesús Montero, explained this Wednesday that at no time did she intend to qualify the death of the two civil guards who died last Friday "in the line of duty" during an operation against drug trafficking on the coasts of Huelva as a "work accident". She insisted that she does not have "any opinion or criterion" nor the necessary "knowledge" to determine if these deaths can be considered a workplace accident.
The also deputy secretary general of the PSOE has made these clarifications in separate interviews on Cadena SER and Radio Nacional de España (RNE), followed by Europa Press, following the controversy generated by her words in the Canal Sur debate last Monday between candidates for the Junta, held in full campaign for the Andalusian elections this Sunday, May 17, where she mentioned the expression "work accident" in relation to said episode.
Montero, who on Tuesday already disseminated a message on his X social media account to specify that the deaths of the Civil Guard agents occurred "in the line of duty", wanted to reiterate this Wednesday his regret for the passing of these "public servants".
He also underlined that he conveyed his "respect to the Civil Guard and to the families" of the two agents, whose funeral in Huelva was held on Saturday and to which he attended. He recalled that the PSOE decided to suspend its campaign agenda that day, considering that "the events were so serious that they required that mourning".
In this context, the socialist candidate has defended that "at no time" did she intend, during the Canal Sur debate, to "qualify" the deaths of the civil guards as a work accident. "I neither wanted to nor have the criteria to qualify anything," she remarked, explaining that her reference to work accidents arose from a previous intervention by the candidate for Por Andalucía, Antonio Maíllo.
"If it has been possible to associate" that reference to work accidents with the deaths of the civil guards, Montero considers that she already left it "totally" clarified on Tuesday, when she reiterated on social networks that, "of course, they were deaths in the line of duty".
The socialist leader, who this Wednesday is holding campaign events in Granada and in the afternoon will participate in a rally with the President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, has commented that she has rewatched the fragment of the debate that originated the controversy because it seemed "strange" to her that she would have wanted to classify what happened as a work accident, insisting that she has "neither opinion nor criteria" to do so.
Regarding whether she believes any government minister should have attended the funeral held in Huelva, the former vice president recalled that, among other authorities, the Secretary of State for Security, Aina Calvo, and the Director General of the Civil Guard, Mercedes González, attended the event. In her opinion, "the Government was present at that event" and the fallen officers were given "the tribute that was appropriate after such a valiant fight that security forces and bodies wage against drug trafficking, which is a scourge that, all together, we must be able to eradicate because it causes much suffering," she concluded.