Pamplona (EFE).- Recently arrived at the mayor’s office of Pamplona, the regionalist Cristina Ibarrola faces “very excited” the opportunity to experience some Sanfermines like “I would never have imagined”, a festival that this year has the “surprise” of a campaign electoral, although, in his opinion, “nobody is going to be thinking much” about her in the city those days.
This was stated in an interview with EFE, in which he pointed out some issues related to the festivities in the coming years, since the program for the current ones was already closed when he took office, such as the search for consensus among the municipal spokespersons to designate to the person or entity in charge of launching the chupinazo.
“I really like Sanfermines during the day, mainly, but living them as mayoress seems to me an honor hardly comparable to anything you can imagine,” says Ibarrola, who stresses that she is “very excited about living them in a way that I would never have imagined, Just thinking about it makes me smile.”
Since the programming of the festivities that start on July 6 with the launch of the chupinazo is prepared well in advance, when Ibarrola took office on June 17 everything was already closed.
Asked if she would like to introduce any changes for next year, she comments that “surely”, with more peace of mind” “something” will be adapted, without going into indicating what they might be.
On this occasion, his predecessor in office, Enrique Maya, has decided that Osasuna should be in charge of lighting the fuse, a decision that he shares and that, in his opinion, “practically all of Pamplona has welcomed”, since the club Navarro “has given us all moments of pride and illusion and hope”.
For this reason, it seems to him a “great choice”, as, he points out, it seemed to him that of the previous year in which the person in charge was Juan Carlos Unzué. “Perhaps that is a little more for me” he admits, referring to his profession as a doctor and the fight against ALS in athletes. “But that it is Osasuna seems to me very good news,” he asserts.
Municipal consensus to designate the launcher of the chupinazo
The name of the thrower of the chupinazo is a decision of the mayor. Some years, following an unwritten tradition, this launch rotated among the municipal groups, in others, like on this occasion, it is the mayor who decides who launches it and there has also been an election by popular vote.
The new mayor advocates trying to reach a municipal consensus around a relevant person, who is “more or less gratifying or satisfactory”, a formula in which “there should be no winners and losers”.
The citizen participation model, in his opinion, “closes many opportunities for many people who could be good ambassadors and good launchers of the chupinazo. I will try to reach a consensus of the municipal spokespersons ”, she affirms. Regarding the possibility of recovering the Riau-Riau, he comments that he would like to but sees it as “complicated”.
In this regard, he shows his desire that “very important traditions for us” not continue to be lost and in this sense calls on the groups, especially EH Bildu, “people from their bases”, in situations such as those that are being experienced at the end of the San Fermin procession on Calle Curia.
Ibarrola would like this to be “a past” and in that sense he maintains that “Pamplona deserves some Sanfermines, some parties and a procession in coexistence, in freedom and that we do not experience such unfortunate events.”
In this regard, last Thursday, once the security device for the holidays was closed, he announced that in order to “erradicate any violent attitude that disrupts coexistence” the number of cameras carried by the Municipal Police will be increased and the amount of the sanctions of 30,000 euros compared to the current 12,000.
An electoral campaign in full Sanfermines
If all the Sanfermines are special, they will undoubtedly have an element that will differentiate them from all the previous ones and that is that on the big day of the festivities, July 7, the electoral campaign begins.
“This has been a surprise, Pedro Sánchez always has the ability to surprise, right? It has the ability that we are not talking about his bad electoral results in Spain and that we are all talking about a campaign in full swing in the middle of July, when people are on vacation and in this case in Sanfermines”, declares the mayoress in this regard.
In his opinion, during the holidays, from the beginning of the campaign until July 14, it will be “difficult” to carry out a typical campaign in Pamplona. In the case of his party, UPN, “it will be done for the rest of Navarra and we will surely recover it from the 15th. I think that in Pamplona nobody is going to be thinking much about the electoral campaign these days,” he says.
The Consistory has recommended that electoral campaign events not be organized during the Sanfermines or, at least, at certain times and spaces.
Pamplona will not tolerate violence against women
As a result of what happened with the Manada in the Sanfermines of 2016, in Pamplona a special sensitivity towards violence against women has been shown and in this sense the mayoress assures that “the same protocol that was in place until now, logically This type of aggression will not be tolerated and will always be denounced, as it cannot be otherwise”.
With “time” they will continue working and evaluating measures because, in their opinion, it is “very important” to see the impact of the measures that are adopted, “it is not enough to have certain protocols or certain actions”, it is necessary to be “continually thinking about how improve them”.
Ibarrola concludes by inviting them to participate in the Sanfermines, “an international showcase” for the city but not the only one, since Pamplona has “many more treasurers to sell to the rest of the world.” Thus he invites you to “visit the city, to meet the people of Pamplona and a party in which you feel integrated as soon as you arrive and which is a source of pride for all of us who are from here.”