The socialist mayor of Espartinas (Sevilla), Cristina Los Arcos, has decided to join the mobilizations in defense of Ceuta despite the position maintained so far by the Andalusian PSOE. The City Council has called under the slogan “Espartinas with Ceuta” a concentration for next Wednesday, September 2 at 12:00 hours in front of the Town Hall.
According to ABC, Los Arcos thus distances herself from the general line followed by the PSOE in Andalusia and joins the mobilizations promoted by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). The general call is scheduled for that same Wednesday, although at 20:00 hours, while Espartinas has opted to hold it at noon.
A voice with weight within the Sevilla PSOE
The decision is particularly relevant due to Los Arcos' organic position. In addition to being mayor, she is vice president of the Sevilla Provincial Council and one of the leaders with the greatest presence within the provincial socialist structure, according to ABC.
The mobilization contrasts with the position adopted by the Andalusian PSOE, whose general secretary, María Jesús Montero, had decided not to participate in the concentrations in a context marked by differences over the central government's management in the face of the Ceuta crisis.
“Espartinas with Ceuta”
The City Council has released a video on its social networks in which Los Arcos appears alongside Celia Gamir, councilor for Equality, Social Policies, and Human Resources and a native of Ceuta. Both are seen holding a flag of the autonomous city while, in the background, the flag of Spain waves.
It is Gamir who makes the direct call to the neighbors. “We invite you to a concentration on September 2 in support of my land at 12:00 in the morning at the door of the Espartinas Town Hall,” the councilor states in the video released by the City Council.
A call different from that of the rest of the municipalities
The concentration in Espartinas shares the objective of the mobilizations called in defense of Ceuta, but will be held eight hours earlier than the general call, set for 20:00 hours.
The decision makes Los Arcos one of the first Andalusian socialist leaders to publicly distance herself from the position adopted by her party regarding these mobilizations, as highlighted by ABC. The concentration will take place next Wednesday in front of the Espartinas Town Hall and will seek to convey from the Sevillian municipality a message of support to the autonomous city.
The Ceuta crisis continues to open differences within the Government
The mobilization comes, moreover, at a time when the Government itself maintains different versions about what information existed before the massive entry on July 30. The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has publicly defended that the CNI detected prior indications and conveyed information to the competent authorities, while the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, claims that he did not receive any report that would allow anticipating an entry of that magnitude.
The discrepancy has added political pressure to the management of the crisis and has made it difficult for the Executive to close a single narrative about what happened. Robles has defended that the intelligence services did the work that corresponded to them, while the Interior insists that it did not have a specific alert that would allow predicting the episode. This lack of a common version also serves as a backdrop to the gatherings called in different municipalities in support of Ceuta, among them the one now promoted by the socialist mayor of Espartinas.