The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, described this Wednesday as "very correct" the speech delivered by King Felipe VI during his visit to Ceuta, and appealed for "partisan loyalty" in the face of "demagoguery" and "populism". In a press conference held in the autonomous city, after chairing a new meeting of the Specialized Situation Committee, the minister defended that the monarch sent a message aimed at "rigorous, truthful, verified and serious" information.
A call for institutional loyalty
Ángel Víctor Torres stressed that in the Head of State's speech there were "many messages", among them, as he explained, a call for institutional loyalty, an idea that, in his opinion, should also extend to parties, because "parties are institutions". In this context, he maintained that this loyalty must be accompanied by a commitment to the right to verified information, which he defined as "a constitutional right".
The King insists that Ceuta is Spain
The minister's words come after Felipe VI appealed for institutional unity to manage the crisis derived from the entry of immigrants into the autonomous city, emphasizing that "Ceuta is Spain" and that those who entered irregularly must return to their places of origin "as soon as possible and through the established legal channels". The monarch reiterated up to three times from the Parador de Ceuta that "Ceuta is Spain", in a visit he made with Queen Letizia almost two and a half months after the avalanche, which he described as a "violation" and which meant "a shock for everyone".
In his speech, Felipe VI also alluded to Melilla and insisted on something he described as "obvious": "They are an inalienable part of the political and national reality that is Spain". In addition, he stated that "sovereignty and territorial integrity are not negotiable, they are indisputable", a line that, according to Ángel Víctor Torres, reinforces the need for rigorous treatment of information in a time of "multi-information".
Criticism of messages about immediate returns
Torres has regretted that "there is no talk of party loyalty when there are parties that say immigrants can be returned overnight," and has assured that this idea is "a lie" in contrast to the King's statements. In his speech, he accused these positions of being "a hoax, a falsehood, that is populism and demagoguery," and added that they generate expectations among those who wish for the situation to normalize as soon as possible. The minister has also maintained that these statements come from representatives of the same party that governs in Ceuta and has questioned the Popular Party for making "an absolutely despicable use of reality."
