Les Corts Valencianes will not present this year, as they have been doing since 2016, the Guillem Agulló Award. An award that recognized the work of personalities and institutions in their fight against xenophobia, racism and hate crimes and served to pay tribute to the young anti-fascist Guillem Agulló, who was murdered in the town of Montanejos in April 1993. by a group of Nazis.
Among those who received the award in their day are the former Valencia coach Guus Hiddink - who stood up to the loyal ultras of his team who insulted Agulló - or the Prosecutor's Office against crimes of hate and discrimination, for their enormous work in the courts.
PP and Vox have chosen to dispense with this award, alleging that its name was "a unilateral decision" by the previous president of Les Corts, Enric Morera, of Compromís. The truth is that the PP - at that time Vox did not have institutional representation - signed an institutional declaration in memory of the murdered young man from Burjassot in which Les Corts encouraged "the Valencian people to remember the memory of the young Guillem Agulló and all the victims of the hate".
Likewise, the Valencian Parliament committed "to award an award to outstanding people and initiatives in the fight against xenophobia, racism and hate crimes, every April." A statement that, sticking to the literal word, the PP understands that it does not require that the award bear the name, despite the fact that its spokesperson, Miguel Barrachina, has not hesitated to condemn, at a press conference, the murder in Montanejos and to reiterate that his party would sign it again.
However, both PP and Vox, author of the writing that ended up triggering the elimination of the award, argue that the institutional declaration declines, since those who signed it at the time (PP, PSPV, Compromís, Unides Podem and Ciudadanos) are not the same groups that are now in the autonomous Chamber. "An institutional declaration from 8 years ago cannot condition these Cortes," argued the Vox ombudsman, José María Llanos.
The elimination of the award has been denounced by the opposition, which has recalled that these types of awards are now even more important after the attack by a neo-Nazi group in a popular club in Castellón, this past Saturday during the Magadalena festivities.
The Ombudsman of the PSPV, José Muñoz, has linked both issues and has pointed out: "It reminds us of the 80s, when we thought that things were already out of date." For his part, the spokesperson for Compromís, Joan Baldoví, lamented that, " "the PP once again kneels to Vox's demands."
