Les Corts Valencianes have not awarded today, on April 25, the Guillem Agulló Prize that had been awarded in recent years to people or entities that had stood out for their fight for freedoms and against hate crimes. To vindicate his memory, deputies and ombudsmen of the PSPV and Compromís have paid tribute to the young anti-fascist murdered by a group of neo-Nazis in Montanejos in 1993 and have criticized the PP for "submitting" to the interests of Vox, which was the formation that demanded the withdrawal of this award.
Both groups have taken photos of the murdered young man in the patio of the ficus of Les Corts and the two ombudsmen, José Muñoz and Joan Baldoví, have regretted that the award that recognized the figure of a person "who died precisely for freedom" has been eliminated. . Muñoz has criticized that this award "has ceased to exist despite the fact that the 'president' Carlos Mazón, in his own words, said that there was no problem, that if it were not in Les Corts, it would be in other institutions, but surely this prize would continue". "Well, we have already seen what is left in Carlos Mazón's word, nothing," he added.
The Ombudsman has reproached the PP for "once again bowing to the interests of the extreme right." "Every time we see that he is a president leaning more to the right and represents the most radical PP in all of Spain," he added. "We, the socialists and also the Compromís colleagues, today wanted to commemorate not only the figure of Guillem Agulló, but also that ironclad defense against hate crimes and fundamentally in defense of the people and groups that work to ensure democratic quality Valencia gets better every day," he added.
For his part, the Ombudsman of Compromís, Joan Baldoví, has indicated that they wanted to carry out this symbolic act because today the Guillem Agulló Prize should have been awarded "against racism, against hate crimes, in short, against all that tension that is making this society worse.
"We believe that it is a real shame that the Popular Party has bowed to Vox's political agenda, has knelt down and allowed an award that had been given completely normally in these Cortes without any incident to be abandoned," he remarked.
Therefore, they wanted to "vindicate the memory of Guillem Agulló, but also to highlight the shame that the Popular Party increasingly resembles Vox like a drop of water."
For his part, in statements after the Compromís and PSPV event, the PP ombudsman, Miguel Barrachina, pointed out that Agulló was "a victim of a totalitarian ideology" who "deserves to be recognized and honored like the other 23 murdered victims of totalitarianism." by Grapo and by ETA".
Barrachina has pointed out that the Law of Concord that they have presented will mean treating "all victims" as equals and has pointed out that thanks to it, "Guillem Agulló will be able to be deservedly and duly remembered and honored", because this law of concord "not only covers the period of Francoism, but also the murders committed in democracy, such as that of the young Guillem Agulló in the municipality of Montanejos."
José María Llanos, Ombudsman of Vox, has considered that the Guillem Agulló Award, "was a unilateral decision imposed by the president, Enric Morera" and considers that the fact that the idea of awarding this award came from an institutional declaration - -signed unanimously by the chamber in 2016, when Vox was not yet present-- "does not bind."
"In this legislature the formation of Les Corts is made by other parliamentary groups, or there is at least another parliamentary group, and of course it does not bind us. We are against all types of violence for any reason, whether because of ideas or because any other issue, but of course making distinctions does not seem right to us," he added.
For Llanos, "Les Corts Day is the day to give high parliamentary distinction and there is no need to mix it with sectarian awards or tributes, because what the Guillem Agulló award has been until now has been a sectarian award."
