Coast: "There is no glorification of the dictatorship in the Feixina"

PalmThe first vice-president and government spokesperson, Antoni Costa, reacted this Friday to the Spanish executive's resolution, which has ordered the removal of the Feixina monolith. Contrary to the State's criterion, Costa defended that "there is no glorification of the dictatorship in the Feixina" and advocated for its maintenance, although the final decision lies with the Palma City Council.

In a press conference after the Consell de Govern, Costa recalled that the Superior Court of Justice (TSJIB) already considered it a cataloged element exempt from Francoist symbolism after it was reformed in 2010. The monolith was built in 1947 in memory of the victims of the cruiser Baleares during the Civil War. The dictator Francisco Franco inaugurated it.

Even so, Costa said that today the monument does not have any element that glorifies the Francoist regime. Thus, he referred to the action taken by the former socialist mayor Aina Calvo in 2010, who removed the inscriptions and symbols to adapt it to the Law of Historical Memory.

The order from the Spanish government arrived just before the PP and Vox approved last Thursday the modification of the General Urban Planning Plan (PGOU) to protect the obelisk in the plenary session of the Palma City Council. The entity Memòria de Mallorca, on the other hand, celebrated the State's resolution, which includes the Feixina in the census of Francoist monuments.

Jaime Martínez accuses the Spanish government of malfeasance

The mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez, has accused the Spanish government of a possible administrative prevarication offense with its decision to order the removal of the sa Feixina monolith. "The government and the PSOE have once again come through the back door to play their shell games, but I don't see any way forward for the case. I don't know if we could speak of administrative prevarication when there is a court ruling and a definitive classification," he remarked.

Martínez has insisted on several occasions on the fact that justice has endorsed the protection of the sa Feixina monolith, and that due to these judicial resolutions the general plan was modified to classify it as a heritage asset. "There is a judicial ruling, a classification, and therefore the resolution is appealable and we will appeal it," insisted the mayor of Palma.

In his opinion, decisions like the one this Thursday are nothing more than "a smokescreen" by a Spanish government "that wants to screw over the citizens of Palma instead of trying to improve their lives".