In the heart of O Grove, the Habanero café is the kingdom of underserved. Shortly after lunch, several groups of men, many retired, are spread around the indoor tables in lively discussions about this card game, which is very popular here, while televisions repeat images and analysis of the complicated political movements in an attempt to create a new Government.
The Spanish political uncertainty on TV hardly seems to disturb the attention of these men, who do not look away from the cards (there are also those who prefer dominoes). And the relative indifference with which they view the matter only changes when a card is put on the table that turns out to be ‘uncomfortable’: the possibility of a socialist government held ‘hostage’ by the Catalan independence activists.
This is one of the most “left” municipalities, thus against the grain, in a Galicia that is not only historically PP territory, but also the birthplace of the popular leader Feijóo. The current mayor of O Grove, the socialist José Antonio Cacabellos, is in his fourth term in office, third in a row, yet the possibility of Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE forming a government in Madrid does not seem to excite anyone within Habanero. This scenario, such as a possible amnesty for Carles Puidgemont and the other independence politicians who carried out the 2017 referendum, and the prospect of a new self-determination referendum in Catalonia, are ‘red lines’ that even motivate a pause in the movement.
“I am concerned that four independent individuals have the power to influence Spain’s future decisions,” surmises Xosé, a “popular singer”, as he himself admits, who usually performs “at various parties in the north of Portugal”.
Next door, at the table, Raimundo, a former woodcutter who also has “many clients in Portugal”, confirms the rejection of the scenario that is now emerging in the management of Spanish politics: “I do not agree with amnesty or any other form of amnesty. referendum [na Catalunha]. No government can be formed that will yield to these impositions.”
Although a strong sense of autonomy is also part of the Galician DNA, there are no “relevant independence movements” here, guarantees distances. “. “We are more patriotic. A good example of patriotic autonomy,” Raimundo emphasizes.
Although the latest electoral moves have turned O Grove into a leftist stronghold, the Habanero ‘electorate’ seems to be especially popular. And with sympathy for the man from the neighboring province of Ourense, Feijóo, who, they claim, ‘has done a good job in the Xunta [da Galiza]“He is a statesman,” says Xosé. “Worse than the others in this mess that Spanish politics has become,” Raimundo adds.
However, the outcome of the popular leader’s investiture attempt “doesn’t surprise anyone,” they admit. “I hope that the king will call new elections. That would be the best choice,” concludes Xosé, focusing back on the matter at hand underserved.
If this is the outcome and Felipe VI announces a new election law, Manuel Vasquez guarantees that “for the first time in his life” he will consider “voting for the PP”. The owner of the Zona Zero café, on Castelao Street – known locally as Calle 14, in honor of the region’s emigrants who disembarked on New York’s 14th Street in the early decades of the 20th century – calls himself a “leftist as long as as I can remember” and “voter by conviction for the Galician Nationalist Bloc”.
“First I am Galician, then Spanish, then European,” he explains. And he is also clearly against a scenario in which “a progressive government is held hostage by Catalan independence blackmail during the legislature”.
“The socialists surrender to the interests of these people. And what worries me is not the pardon for Puidgemont and the others, nor the self-determination of Catalonia, even though I do not agree with that. What really worries me is that we can allow a government to be held hostage by this blackmail for four years, needing their votes to approve budgets and everything else,” Manuel explains. That’s why he admits he voted for the PP, “to see how bored I am with the socialists.”
For the owner of Zona Zero – “it is number 14, on Calle 14, the central point of the city”, justifies the name given to the café -, the strong Galician nationalist feeling “cannot be confused with Catalan separatism “. Even within the Galician nationalists, “the independence current is a minority, worth only about 3 to 5%,” he says, justifying this with the fact that Galicia “has always had a greater dependence on Madrid than what happened with Catalonia happens”. “The Catalans have almost total autonomy,” he adds, careful not to understand the independence arguments. “If you don’t feel Catalan with all the autonomy you have, you are stupid. I feel very Galician, I don’t need another identity card.”
Manuel, despite never voting for Feijóo, is also said to see the current popular leader as “a good head of government”, who has “done a meritorious job in Galicia, by cleaning up the accounts”. But it is mainly ‘the idea of an opportunistic concession’ that bothers him.
As with the underservedAt the Habanero tables, the game of Spanish politics continues lively, waiting for the next moves.
Source: DN
