The adviser for Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Junta de Extremadura, Laureano León, has stressed that the Instituto Extremeño del Mestizaje and the Fundación Extremeña de la Cultura constitute two "well-differentiated and truly very different bodies", arising from "needs that Extremadura had", and that they have "two different statutes, with two different budgets, with differentiated functions and with two different areas of action", he said.
León made these statements this Thursday during a plenary session of the Assembly of Extremadura, in response to a question raised by the Grupo Parlamentario Socialista about "how the creation of the Fundación Instituto Extremeño del Mestizaje affects the Fundación Extremeña de la Cultura".
In explaining his question, Socialist deputy Gonzalo Romero recalled that in 2024 the president of the Junta, María Guardiola, presented the Extremestiza strategy, after which they observed "how the budget of the Fundación Extremeña de la Cultura grew in order to provide coverage for the absurdity", while the launch of the Instituto Extremeño del Mestizaje was being communicated.
Romero has said that since that moment they have "walked down the path of ideological delirium regarding the historical and cultural ties between Extremadura and Ibero-America", which is why he asked the adviser "how the creation of the Instituto Extremeño del Mestizaje will affect the Fundación Extremeña de la Cultura".
In the view of the Socialist parliamentarian, the Extremestiza strategy "only responds to an ideological directive to reframe the historical relationship of our region with Ibero-America", and he added that "to provide shelter for the idea, the Fundación Extremeña de la Cultura has relinquished its powers; however, its budget has doubled, going from one to two million euros".
A sum, which, as he has criticized, is directed "to frivolities such as Nacho Cano’s event in Medellín", and "as a final flourish", Gonzalo Romero continued, the "creation of a new chiringuito" has been promoted that "swells the Administration and increases the number of senior posts" such as the Instituto Extremeño del Mestizaje.
"Where has the deregulation that Vox bragged about gone?", Romero has questioned, censuring that "to cut funding for unions, to dismantle the Extremadura Agency for Cooperation, or to strangle the Youth Council, they justify reasons for the proper use of public money", but "when it comes to setting up storefront operations to fit their needs, then the till has no bottom", he has said.
In this vein, he has argued that the competences assigned to the new Mestizaje Institute "encroach upon those of an institution of recognized standing such as the European Ibero-American Academy of Yuste", and therefore he has demanded that the minister "stop devaluing the reputation of this institution, which has placed Extremadura on the international map".
León claims foreign action "without complexes"
In his reply, the minister for Culture, Tourism and Sports clarified that the creation of the Foundation of the Mestizaje Institute "in no way and under no circumstances affects the Extremadura Culture Foundation, nor its functions, nor its operations, nor its human resources, nor its economic resources, absolutely nothing", he emphasized.
Laureano León has reiterated that these two entities are "well-differentiated bodies and truly very different", and he has specified that "what does unite them" "is the tool to work for the benefit of Extremadura, to improve Extremadura and to take advantage of opportunities", since, as he has reaffirmed, the regional Executive "believes in the possibilities of our land, works for that, and, in addition, it does so without complexes", which justifies the launch of the Mestizaje Institute.
As the minister has detailed, the Mestizaje Institute "will be the protagonist of the foreign action of the Junta de Extremadura", in addition to "an authentic international reference for the culture, knowledge and opportunities for our relationship with the world of Ibero-America".
In short, "it will position Extremadura and will establish bridges with the American continent through cultural diplomacy", he said, before responding to the Socialist deputy that "you have to be very bold to talk about ideological storefront operations, after your colleagues in the Provincial Council of Badajoz created one, which was the Directorate of Performing Arts", which they set up by "plugging in Pedro Sánchez's brother, who didn't even know his office".
For this reason, León has criticized Gonzalo Romero that "you have to be very reckless to talk about a chiringuito after consenting to and tolerating your colleague, Mr. Ábalos, letting your friends’ connections in public companies," and has reproached that, in the case of Extremadura, the socialists "replaced serious institutions with real chiringuitos that led to prison and a conviction," among which he has cited Feval or the Orquesta de Extremadura, he has concluded.