RONDA’S MAYOR QUITS PA FOR PSOEBy David Eade
It has been a long time coming but the mayor of Ronda, Antonio Marín, has finally quit the Partido Andalucista and joined PSOE. He and his fellow PA councillors will sit as nonaligned and then be incorporated in to the socialist fold.
The move will not affect the day to day management of Ronda’s affairs. Marín had accepted PSOE as coalition partners after the last local elections. Previously he had suggested he might join the Partido Popular but the centre right party did not seem keen on the idea.
After the 2007 local elections Marín renewed his pact with the PP but then unceremoniously booted them out and installed PSOE instead. It was then he started suggesting that he might join the socialists arguing that their philosophy was close to that of the PA.
Marín was welcomed in to the PSOE family at a ceremony at the socialist Málaga HQ presided over by the party’s provincial secretary Miguel Ángel Heredia. Marín’s eight fellow Partido Andalucista councillors, including his wife, followed his lead leaving the party totally unrepresented at Ronda town hall.
Heredia in his speech of welcome to Marín stated: “PSOE represents the real ‘Andalucismo’: to him – this is the natural place of all that sustains Andalucía and the natural place for Antonio Marín. He added that they both wanted the major projects for Ronda such as the creation of the AVE high speed train link and the motorway to the Costa del Sol which are PSOE programmes.
Marín said he’d become disenchanted with the Partido Andalucista after it lost all its seats in the Andalucía Parliament. Along with Marín and his councillors 70 party activists are also joining PSOE leaving just 50 in the PA ranks.
The break of Marín with the PA has strong reverberations because of the major part the town of the Tajo played in the birth of ‘Andalucismo’. Blas Infante, who was born in Casares, is credited as being the father of Andalucía. In January 1918 he and the fledgling movement met in Ronda to set out its symbols, agree its first programme and to set out on championing the cause of Andalucía as an autonomous part of Spain.Street leaflet campaign
On Monday leaflets started to appear on cars and in letterboxes criticizing the mayor, Antonio Marín, and his PA councillors for quitting the party and switching to PSOE.
Under the title - ¡Traición a Ronda! - the leaflet accuses the mayor and councillors of a marriage of convenience. It shows a montage photo of Marín and the secretary general of PSOE, Francisco Cañestro, as the two partners at the “political marriage of the year”. According to the local police Juan Vega, president of Nuevas Generaciones of the Partido Popular in Ronda was one of those delivery leaflets.
CHURCH WORK
The regional government has allocated 320,000 euros as part of its campaign to alleviate the effects of the financial crisis on restoring Ronda’s Santo Domingo church. It dates from the 16 th century forming part of the ancient convent that is now the town’s conference, concert and exhibition centre. The majority of the work will involve the restoration of the interior of the church.
GIRL ATTACK
A woman of 23-years and two friends have attacked her former boyfriend in the early hours of the morning after he left a bar in Ronda. He reported the assault to the police saying the girls had stolen his wallet, shoes, belt, mobile phone and house keys. Apparently the two were on bad terms after their break-up and the former boyfriend needed medical treatment.
LIGHT WORK
Ronda is to start work on improving the lighting systems in the San Rafael area of the town. The zone is one of the fastest growing and has amongst highest population levels in Ronda. Two hundred new street lighting posts will be installed at a cost of 315,000 euros. The funding will come from the State scheme to stave off the effects of the financial crisis. Lighting is to be improved in La Dehesa and Padre Jesús and the rural zones of Villalones and La Indiana have already benefitted.
