VOX claims the Government sub-delegate «insults» the residents of Manilva after stating that security problems are ‘isolated cases’.
Antonio Marín, spokesman for the VOX Municipal Group in Manilva, has accused the Ministry of the Interior of downplaying crime that is increasingly organised.
Last Monday, the Government sub-delegate in Málaga, Francisco Javier Salas Ruiz, visited the Guardia Civil Barracks in Manilva. During his visit he made a number of statements to which the VOX spokesman in the municipality, Antonio Marín, has today wished to respond.
Antonio Marín began by recalling that the Guardia Civil Barracks in Manilva was declared a Main Post (Puesto Principal) in September 2023. However, this designation has in practice been «a simple cosmetic exercise», since «today the barracks does not meet the conditions necessary to operate as such, owing to serious shortcomings in basic infrastructure and facilities. This situation prevents genuine reinforcement in both personnel and equipment».
On the other hand, the figure given by the sub-delegate of a supposed 64% increase in staffing over the last two years «is a clear example of statistical manipulation», since, as Marín explains, «that percentage is applied to a workforce that had previously been reduced to a minimum, which does not represent a real improvement». «What matters is not the percentage but the total number of officers currently available, which remains well below what Manilva needs and what would correspond to a genuine Main Post», he stated.
But according to the VOX councillor in Manilva, «the most worrying thing» was his description of the security problems affecting our province as «isolated cases». «This statement is an insult to the residents of Manilva and to the reality we live with every day. In our municipality, the handling and distribution of drugs, vehicle fires, clashes between clans, shop robberies and the illegal occupation of homes are not one-off incidents: they are part of the daily routine our residents have to endure», he said.
«To this are added extremely serious incidents such as the recent running over of two Guardia Civil officers during an anti-drug-trafficking checkpoint —one of whom remains in hospital— or the fatal stabbing of a homeless man who tried to defend himself during a robbery», Marín added.
According to the VOX spokesman in Manilva, as long as the Ministry of the Interior continues to downplay increasingly organised crime, «residents will remain unprotected».
