Tensions had been rising since Friday, and it was almost certain that things would not end well on Monday. It was clear that there would be casualties at the point it arrived. It was. After the meetings of the PSPV-PSOE leadership with Francesc Sanguino, the socialist municipal spokesperson at the Alicante City Council, on the one hand, everything accelerated in the afternoon; and, on the other hand, with former senator Ángel Franco and the PSOE general secretary in the state capital Miguel Millana. Eventually, Sanguino resigned as city spokesperson to try to contain the crisis, though he would retain his position as councilor.
It all started last Friday when Francesc Sanguino presented a letter to the City Council demanding the dismissal of three of his four advisers, and specifically Javier Prats (press), Ana Candela (management) and Pedro Ródenas. In parallel, he demanded that Trini Amorós stop acting as deputy spokesperson, in addition to his positions on District 1 municipal boards, Teatro Principal, Aguas de Alicante and the Tourist Board. For practical purposes, a move that is a full-fledged punishment for the Francoist sector and has resulted in calls and counter-calls to try to placate a war that could shake a party’s foundations over the weekend and more. Quite mixed in Alicante and on top of that with derivatives in Valencia. Everything, at that time, had not yet recovered from the controversial decision supporting the start of the processing of the tourist tax in the parliament, with the rejection of the majority of the state of Alicante, including the mayors of the Socialists, PSOE.
Sanguino came in on Saturday morning to make a statement in this context: the liquidation gave a simple and clear response that it was against the Alicante PSOE executive’s refusal against the tourist tax. According to Sanguino, the socialist group in the Valencian Courts, along with the rest of the Botànic political formations, and thus with the approval of Ximo Puig, head of the Generalitat and head of the Community’s socialists.
The situation, rather than calming down, became more complicated on Monday morning. The spokesperson for the municipality counterattacked, and did so in a letter addressed to Ferraz that he would send a copy to the provincial leadership of the PSOE in the province and the provincial leadership of the PSPV-PSOE in Valencia, where he resides. He denounced the existence of a parallel municipal group created and managed by Ángel Franco with the “consultation” of the local secretary general Miguel Millana. Therefore, he tried to involve the federal administrator of the PSOE in the open war in Alicante and asked him to take action on this issue. Yes, he did just before one of Pedro Sánchez’s most trusted people, PSOE deputy general secretary Adriana Lastra, announcing his resignation citing personal reasons, but tensions with number three, Organization secretary, Santos Cerdán, have been in public and notorious for some time. .
The councilors of the Francoist section, who were in alliance with the two mayors regarding the Alexandrians, did not stand still. At noon, they held a meeting in which they unanimously rejected Sanguino’s “unilateral” decision to dismiss the three advisers of Ángel Franco and withdraw Trini Amorós’ powers. In the document, they directly asked him to retract the papers he presented at the Town Hall last Friday and reinstate the three trust positions and Amorós. Coincidentally, they left Sanguino’s loneliness as evidence. The letter was signed by Trini Amorós, Miguel Millana, Raúl Ruiz, Lola Vílchez, Llanos Cano, Manolo Marín and Manuel Martínez, close to Alejandro Soler, together with Vicente Ronda, Minister for Municipal Policy; and Carlos Giménez, Corporate Policy Secretary. Not just Sanguino himself, and Lara López, who was the only one remaining with the city spokesperson lately—and therefore didn’t sign it.
Meanwhile, Ximo Puig, general secretary of the Valencian socialists and head of the Generalitat, asked about the conflict in Alicante during an action in Castellón: “These are tensions to which the local level is submissive. “I don’t have all the information, but in any case, what any political leader should do is always consider the general interest,” he said. “No one is needed,” he added. A message interpreted in some socialist circles as the political phrase of Francesc Sanguino, which Puig himself endorsed and supported as his 2019 mayoral candidate for Alicante, is already a rather complicated position for socialists.
The result of the day became known late Monday night after a marathon afternoon meeting with both sides in Valencia. The official version was that the intention was to seek a common solution that would contain the crises and guarantee the stability of the Socialist, a group of municipalities hit hard by this conflict. An apparent solution, at least for now, involves Sanguino’s resignation as city spokesman, though he will remain as a councilor.