The fires are fueling political anger and reigniting tensions between the government and the People's Party.
The tragedy of the forest fires , which have ravaged thousands of hectares across the country in recent days, erupted yesterday into an intense political struggle that confirms that polarization knows no truces or no-go zones.
The flames have hit hard in Ourense, Tres Cantos and Tarifa, but it was the fire that devastated the Las Médulas area in Castilla y León, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, that has fueled the controversy that has erupted on social media, with Transport Minister Óscar Puente taking center stage both in attacks on the PP and in the response from Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party, who have called for his resignation over his "insensitive" and "dehumanizing" comments.
The origin of the controversy centers on the handling of the regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, during the first days of the Las Médulas fire. After three days of fire and a single social media post about the crisis, Puente lashed out on Monday at the president of Castile and León and his Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, accusing them of "partying" in Cádiz and Gijón, respectively, while the region burned. "Shameless," the Valladolid native called them, questioning their involvement in coordinating the emergency.
Read also Fires besiege Spain: one dead and thousands evacuated The Vanguard
Although Puente eventually deleted the message, the Popular Party didn't miss the opportunity to respond. And, late in the evening, Feijóo raised his voice, writing on his profile that "if a minister in my government were to joke about the suffering of a people besieged by flames, he would be dismissed immediately," he declared, calling on President Pedro Sánchez to dismiss Puente.
Without any intention of rectifying, the Minister of Transport hit back by paraphrasing his adversary and, in the process, introducing into the mix the controversial episode starring the president of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, who was absent without explanation during the most dramatic hours of the Dana that left 219 dead in the Valencian Community at the end of October: "If a regional president from my party were partying while the people were drowning, or while his territory was burning, he would be automatically dismissed," he stated.
Puente criticizes Mañueco for continuing his vacation in Cadiz while the fire was spreading, but then deletes the tweet.The response prompted two responses from the conservative party. They closed ranks around Mañueco, denying any power vacuum during his absence—some PSOE voices also point out that Isabel Díaz Ayuso is equally absent from the management of the Tres Cantos fire, having not cut short her vacation in Miami—and they criticized Puente, whom they consider "unfit" for the position due to the "insensitivity" of his words and a symbol of what they describe as a general lack of sensitivity across the entire executive branch.
"We should all show a little more empathy and respect," summed up Alma Ezcurra, the PP's deputy sectoral secretary, in an appearance in Madrid yesterday. In her opinion, Puente should refrain from "making jokes" and use a respectful tone with the public.
Read also The anger is fueled by the flames: the People's Party demands Puente's dismissal for joking about the fires. Asier Martiarena
A line followed by the parliamentary spokesperson, Ester Muñoz, who asserted that the Valladolid native "should be dismissed today" for being "as frivolous as he is incompetent," and the Undersecretary of Education and Equality, Jaime de los Santos, who pointed out that "he should have been removed from the Council of Ministers a long time ago."
At the same time, the People's Party (PP) filed a series of 14 questions with the PSOE in Congress, asking it to detail "who is controlling the hateful messages being posted by members of the Council of Ministers on social media while Sánchez is on vacation." This offensive seeks not only to corner the Transport Minister but also to open a new front against the government in an area—social media—where Puente is particularly active and controversial.
In parallel, the Government decreed the Pre-emergency Phase 1 of the General State Emergency Plan (PLEGEM). This measure increases political pressure on the regions, but does not entail assuming powers, since the direction and management of emergencies remains with the regional governments.
The PP is rallying around its baron, demanding the minister's resignation for his "insensitivity."While firefighters are trying to extinguish the flames on the ground, the political fire is being fanned by tweets, demonstrating that the political fuse is becoming increasingly short and flammable through social media.
The risk of the PP's territorial hegemonyThe advantage of having a blue regional map has become a double-edged sword for the Popular Party this summer. In a context of constant political bickering, the result of a polarization that extends the confrontation to every area—including emergencies—forest fires have become a new battleground between the central government and the autonomous communities. With eleven regional governments under its control and an absolute majority in the Senate—the chamber of territorial representation—Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party has a privileged platform for opposition. But power, in politics, doesn't always add up; it also exposes. And when emergencies strike, the responsibility for managing them falls on those in charge, as Carlos Mazón should remember after the Valencia disaster. In the midst of a wave of fires, the PP is facing the other side of its territorial hegemony with crisis management, the success or failure of which has significant social and electoral costs. This summer, virtually all of the major fires are affecting territories governed by the PP, with a particular impact on Castile and León, one of the regions that will inaugurate the new electoral cycle, along with Andalusia, where fires are also being reported these days. This is not a coincidence, but the arithmetic consequence of its territorial dominance. Something that does not affect Vox, which, after the 2023 elections, decided to disengage from the regional governments it had won, and which consequently remains outside the direct criticism that the regional governments will receive for their management of this environmental catastrophe. The snapshot is clear: the flames and media pressure are aimed at the regional presidents of the Popular Party, who are being forced by various sectors to explain the lack of resources, the structural deficiencies, and the budgetary decisions that affect their response capacity.
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