“The entire country is shocked by situations of this type,” said María Jesús Montero this Monday in the electoral debate held on Canal Sur in reference to the collision of two boats during the persecution of a drug boat in Huelva. Next, the general secretary of the Andalusian socialists pointed out that “workplace accidents have to be a priority”: “There are workers who die for the simple fact of earning a living and, therefore, we all have to ally against this scourge of work accidents,” she added, in an intervention that occurred just after the left-wing candidates had made reference to deaths on the job within the economic bloc of the debate.
Her words have caused police associations and some parties in Congress to criticize the statements of the former first vice president of the Government and ask for an “immediate rectification.” Also the Andalusian PP, in the middle of the electoral campaign, and to mitigate the criticism of Adamuz’s victims for the use that the president of the Board, Juan Manuel Moreno, made of them in that same debate. Montero has published a message on the social network
From the Lower House, different spokespersons for Sumar’s parties have taken a position this morning on Montero’s words. Representative Tesh Sidi, from Más Madrid, has described her statements as “unfortunate comments”: “Working should not cost us our lives,” stated the parliamentarian, who has not closed herself to the debate on whether the work carried out by a “risky profession” should be considered. “The PP opposition asks for many things when it does not govern, but they have been governing several legislatures in this country and they have not been considered that way. We focus on them being able to receive a decent pension,” he said.
The representative of Compromís in the group, Alberto Ibáñez, has been more blunt, considering “it is obvious” that the work of the agents should have that recognition. In her opinion, the event last Friday “is a death in the line of duty and at the same time a work accident. “He died in an accident doing his job,” he stated. Along the same lines, Aina Vidal, from the Comuns, has indicated that “technically” what happened is a “work accident”, but considers that they are “trying to manipulate” Montero’s words because there is no “dispute or mess.” For Vox spokesperson Pepa Millán, the socialist candidate to the Presidency of the Board “mocks” the “murder” of the two civil guards and affirms that the Executive is “in the story and in everything except ensuring the safety of our Civil Guard,” reports Paula Chouza.
The president of the Board has waited for his afternoon meeting in Jaén, in front of 850 people, to reproach his socialist opponent for his lack of “sensitivity” towards the Civil Guard body, informs Eva Saiz. “It is intolerable that a woman who has had the high honor of being vice president of the Government responds to them as she did yesterday saying that death, that murder, because when you are chasing a drug boat, you are chasing bad guys, that can never be compared with a work accident,” said Moreno, who considers that this assimilation “is a lack of dignity for families, which demonstrates her sensitivity to a body that has given so much service to Spain.” In the morning his campaign director, Antonio Repullo, had argued that “describing what happened as a work accident is outside of any morality.” “We don’t know the moral ground of the PSOE, we don’t know how far we are going to go,” he added.
The president of the Community of Madrid, the popular one, indicated in an interview in Cuatro that Montero’s statements “demonstrate what the Government is about, the parallel world in which they live, the respect they have for their officials and how far they are from reality.”
The socialist candidate for the Andalusian elections published a message on “Of course, we are talking about deaths in the line of duty. That is how we feel and that is how those who risk their lives for the safety of everyone should always be recognized,” his publication concluded.
All my respect and affection to the families and colleagues of the two Civil Guard agents who died in Huelva.
Of course, we are talking about deaths in the line of duty. This is how we feel and this is how those who risk their lives for the safety of everyone and… should always be recognized.— María Jesús Montero (@mjmonteroc)
“Absolutely intolerable”
Police associations and unions have been harsher in their positions. In a statement, the Civil Guard Justice Professional Association (Jucil) affirms that it is “absolutely intolerable that the attempt is made to reduce what happened to a mere ‘work accident’, when and while the agents were fulfilling their duty.” And he speaks of a “worrying lack of institutional sensitivity and knowledge of reality” in the statements of María Jesús Montero. “If the criminal investigation confirms the escape maneuvers, we will be facing criminal conduct that created an extreme risk and ended the lives of two agents. We are, at a minimum, facing homicide due to serious recklessness, injuries, attack, crime against public health and criminal organization, without ruling out more serious figures. They have died in the act of duty during an operation against drug trafficking,” explains Jucil in a note.
The Unified Police Union (SUP) and the Unified Police Union (SUP) have spoken along the same lines: “That a patrol boat is destroyed with the result that two civil guards are dead and another seriously injured by the evasive maneuvers of a drug boat is not a common work mishap, it is a direct attack by those who despise the law. Simply calling it an ‘accident’ is ignoring the fact that we risk our lives protecting others from organized crime. Enough of empty words, We demand better means and recognition of the risky profession,” the SUP stated in a publication on the social network
For his part, he stressed that “talking about a ‘work accident’ after the death of civil guards who risked their lives against drug trafficking is an unacceptable lack of tact. They were not statistics. They were colleagues facing increasingly violent mafias with insufficient means.” “They deserve respect, truth and responsibilities,” they have pointed out in a publication in
The Spanish Police Confederation (CEP), a national police union, has described the words of the socialist candidate as “nauseating.” “We are disgusted because when we thought we had seen everything, someone arrives and allows himself the luxury of disrespecting our colleagues in the Civil Guard,” commented a spokesperson for the organization.
