The tension that had been mounting since Friday suggested an impending clash on Monday. It was clear that casualties would mark the moment it arrived. After meetings between the PSPV-PSOE leadership and Francesc Sanguino, the socialist municipal spokesperson at the Alicante City Council, the situation accelerated in the afternoon. At the same time, discussions involved former senator Ángel Franco and Miguel Millana, the PSOE general secretary in the state capital. In the end, Sanguino stepped down as city spokesperson to help calm the crisis, while continuing in his role as a councilor.
The sequence began last Friday when Sanguino delivered a letter to the City Council demanding the dismissal of three of his four advisers: Javier Prats (press), Ana Candela (management), and Pedro Ródenas. Concurrently, he urged Trini Amorós to relinquish her duties as deputy spokesperson and to give up his responsibilities on District 1 municipal boards, Teatro Principal, Aguas de Alicante, and the Tourist Board. Practically, this move hit the Francoist faction hard and sparked a wave of calls and counter-calls aimed at easing a conflict that could challenge a party’s foundations over the weekend and beyond. The situation felt unsettled in Alicante and echoed into Valencia. The controversy also rumbled in the wake of a controversial decision supporting the start of the tourist tax process in the parliament, which had faced broad resistance in Alicante and among several Socialist mayors.
On Saturday morning, Sanguino emerged to address the event in this climate, stating clearly that the liquidation marked a protest against the Alicante PSOE executive’s stance on the tourist tax. He argued that the socialist group in the Valencian Courts, together with other Botànic formations and with the approval of Ximo Puig, the regional head of the Generalitat and the community’s Socialist leader, had taken a position on the matter.
By Monday morning, the situation grew more tangled. The municipal spokesperson responded with a letter to Ferraz, noting that he would share a copy with the provincial PSOE leadership and the PSPV-PSOE leadership in Valencia, where he resides. He accused the creation and management of a parallel municipal group by Ángel Franco, allegedly with the “consultation” of the local secretary general Miguel Millana. He also pressed the federal administrator of the PSOE to intervene. This occurred just before Adriana Lastra, one of Pedro Sánchez’s most trusted aides, announced her resignation, with tensions involving Santos Cerdán, the Organization secretary, long in public view.
The Francoist faction’s councilors, aligned with the two mayors concerning the Alexandrians, did not stand still. At noon they met and unanimously rejected Sanguino’s unilateral move to dismiss Ángel Franco’s three advisers and to strip Trini Amorós of powers. In their statement, they demanded that Sanguino retract the actions filed at the Town Hall the previous Friday and reinstate the three trusted positions along with Amorós. The document underscored Sanguino’s isolation. The signatories included Trini Amorós, Miguel Millana, Raúl Ruiz, Lola Vílchez, Llanos Cano, Manolo Marín, Manuel Martínez—close to Alejandro Soler—and Vicente Ronda, Minister for Municipal Policy; Carlos Giménez, Corporate Policy Secretary. One notable absence was Lara López, who remained the only ally of the city spokesperson and did not sign.
Meanwhile, Ximo Puig, the Valencian Socialist leader and head of the Generalitat, commented on the Alicante dispute while speaking in Castellón. He noted that these tensions were rooted at the local level and advised considering the broader interest, adding that no single person could be considered indispensable. Puig’s stance, seen by some Socialist circles as a political nod to Francesc Sanguino, reflected a delicate balance for the party in the region.
The day closed with a marathon afternoon of negotiations in Valencia, aiming to craft a path out of the crisis and preserve stability for the Socialist groups across multiple municipalities affected by the conflict. The official line suggested a common solution that could stabilize the party in Alicante, with a potential outcome being Sanguino stepping down as city spokesperson while continuing as a councilor.