The death of two Civil Guard agents during the pursuit of a drug-running speedboat in Huelva has led the PP to suspend the campaign events scheduled for this afternoon and tomorrow. The decision was communicated after the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juan Manuel Moreno, canceled his attendance at a Netflix event in Seville for the premiere of the series Berlín, which he was going to attend as a scheduled event within his institutional agenda. The regional government shortly thereafter announced the decision to declare official mourning this Saturday “for the death of two Civil Guards while on duty in the fight against drug trafficking.”
The mayor has lamented the death of the two Civil Guards in the line of duty. “I believe that this afternoon what is appropriate and important is to have a special remembrance for these two people, for their families, and to stop any kind of activity that is obviously not comparable to the loss of these two Civil Guards. We must value the great work of our state security forces, especially in such complicated places as the Strait to guarantee the safety of each one of us.”
Throughout the afternoon, the PSOE also confirmed that it was suspending the event planned with its candidate, María Jesús Montero, and the Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, in Montilla (Córdoba), which at first had been decided to be maintained once their campaign team had consulted with their eight provincial secretaries, who initially decided to continue with the planned agenda. At the doors where the event with Montero and Planas was to be held, two minutes of silence were observed at the request of the socialist mayor of Montilla, Rafael Llamas.
The socialists have also decided to postpone the Saturday event in which the President of the Government and Secretary General of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, was going to speak alongside Montero in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), one of the municipalities most affected by drug trafficking. The event is moved to Sunday. The death on February 9, 2024, in the port of Barbate, also in the province of Cádiz, of two Civil Guards run over by another drug-running speedboat is still fresh in memory.
Since the murder of those two agents in that town in Cádiz, the opposition has increased criticism of the Ministry of the Interior for the lack of resources available to the state security forces. These criticisms have been taken up by the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, on social media: “May our Civil Guards rest in peace, and WE DO NOT REST until justice is done and the criminals are the ones who are afraid.” Shortly after posting this tweet, the far-right party again reminded on its dissemination channels of the rally that its president and candidate, Manuel Gavira, have this afternoon and announced another event of its MEP, Jorge Buxadé, this Sunday in Lebrija.
Por Andalucía and Adelante Andalucía do not plan to alter their campaign agenda either, at least this afternoon, reports Jesús A. Cañas. The formation led by Antonio Maíllo maintains the event scheduled for today in Puerto Real but has suspended events in the province of Huelva. The federal coordinator of IU has lamented the death of the agents in a message shared on his social networks. The Andalusian coalition holds its main campaign event this Friday afternoon in Cádiz.
Read more A civil guard dies as two boats collide while chasing a drug-running speedboat in Huelva
