The general secretary of the Socialists of Santander and national deputy, Pedro Casares, made official this Saturday his aspiration to lead the PSOE in Cantabria, in a public event that took place in Santander and in which he presented himself as the voice of the militants and local groups.
In a speech in which he did not refer to his rival at the party’s regional congress in March, the current general secretary, Pablo Zuloaga, Casares has run for the General Secretariat, establishing himself as the spokesperson for the bases; bases that were reflected in the majority of the party that won the primaries to elect delegates to the Federal Congress of Seville against the Zuloaga group, who obtained, however, the support of the party apparatus.
Susana Herrán, mayor of Castro and then head of the ‘casaristas’ delegation for the Sevillian conclave, stated, before 300 militants who came from all over the community, that, if we are to be congratulated that Cantabrian socialists are entering the national apparatus of the PSOE, she is “euphoric, because she has obtained the support of the militancy”, in reference to the paradox of “win-lose”, in the words of the historic Maxi Valle, that is, winning the primaries and losing the fight to enter the federal Executive.
Militancy versus apparatus is how the clash of proposals that Casares and Zuloaga will face with a view to the renewal of the General Secretariat of the Cantabrian PSOE in the coming months is configured. This support at the grassroots defended by Casares and his group was underlined by Julio Pinna, mayor of Ruiloba, who in his speech to the audience thanked the candidate for paying attention to small local groups, in a tacit criticism of the politics of the current regional address. “The small local groups are abandoned. “We small municipalities do not need festivals or pilgrimages, but rather support us in difficult times,” he said. “Pedro has the importance of municipalism engraved in his memory,” the mayor of Castro Urdiales, Susana Herrán, added in her speech, so that there was no doubt.
The mayors of Castro Urdiales and Cartes, Susana Herrán and Agustín Molleda, respectively, were present at the event; the former Government delegate in the community, Ainoa Quiñones; the PSOE spokesperson in Santander, Daniel Fernández; the regional deputy Mario Iglesias, and historical socialists such as Maxi Valle, Lola Gorostiaga, Eva Díaz Tezanos or Ángel Duque. Also attending were the mayor of Ruiloba, Julio Pinna; the general director of Attention to Victims of the Government of Spain, Zoraida Hijosa; the former mayor of Camargo, Esther Bolado; the former Minister of Health, Luisa Real; and numerous members of the socialist Executive of Santander and councilors in the capital.
Forgiveness to Eva Díaz Tezanos
The high point of the meeting was the intervention of Casares himself, who put the former general secretaries of Cantabrian socialism, Lola Gorostiaga and Eva Díaz Tezanos, as two references. He even publicly apologized to Díaz Tezanos for the treatment he received in 2017 when the new Executive led by Zuloaga took the reins of the party from him.
Casares aims to make the PSOE “strong, credible and recognizable again” at the regional level, and has sent a message to the militancy: “Let’s get excited again,” he offered. The candidate has stated that he is running “so that politics can once again unite the socialist family of Cantabria” and “end 30 years of divisions, ruptures and confrontations.” Thus, he has committed to “change, unite and integrate within to win and conquer outside” and for the PSOE to “return” to being a “strong, credible and recognizable” party and “the first political force in the community.”
Furthermore, in his speech he has appealed to the unity of militancy and camaraderie. “Showing affection to the militants is respecting a way of understanding and living politics,” he emphasized. “Now begins a new time, full of hope, enthusiasm, energy, the unstoppable force that comes from knowing that we are doing what needs to be done,” said Casares, who has claimed to be the PSOE that “listens, cares.” , understands and, above all, is committed” with “rigor, common sense, clear priorities and objectives.”
In this regard, he pointed out the need to offer “a present and future project for Cantabria.” A project that must be “shared, regional and provide security,” he said, that “speaks about employment, industry, sustainability, science, our heritage, our people and for the social majority of Cantabria.”
“There are thousands of Cantabrians who are waiting for us. We also have to speak to them these days and tell them loud and clear that the PSOE is going to once again be the common home of all progressives in the region,” stated the current secretary general of the Santander socialists.
Likewise, he has emphasized the defense of public health and requesting doctors in rural clinics and hospitals; to demand better salaries for teachers and to denounce the abandonment of educational centers and that in Cantabria “the PP cuts that we experienced in 2011 are returning.”
To do this, Casares has appealed to the need for a PSOE “with leadership and a political direction committed to all the party groups”, especially the smaller ones, and has shown his desire to build a socialist party that “has everyone and in which everyone counts.”
Finally, he sent the message that, “driven by the strength of the PSOE, that of militancy, with the hope and the desire intact to fulfill a shared dream, let us get excited again” and he ended his speech with “forward.” for Cantabria”, motto of his candidacy.
The process of electing the leader of the PSOE in the region, to which the current general secretary, Pablo Zuloaga, will also run, to whom the act has never been expressly mentioned, will begin with the celebration of the Regional Executive Commission, which is not fixed, and which in turn must convene a Regional Committee to approve the calendar of the Regional Congress.
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