Kichi's fraud changes the Carranza for the Nuevo Mirandilla
It's a bad idea to mix football and politics. UEFA has prevented Germany from criticising Hungary for its anti-LGBT law by lighting up its stadiums with the rainbow flag. But the association itself has put those colours on its social media shield. This is a showboating move to save the criticism of the different groups.
June 2021 will be remembered as the month in which the mayor of Cádiz José María González Santos 'Kichi' removed the name Ramón de Carranza from the city's football stadium. The stadium was completed in 1955 and cost the city council 11 million pesetas. It was inaugurated on 3 September of that year with a match between Cádiz and Barcelona, which the visitors won 4-0 with goals from Kubala, Luis Suárez and two from Villaverde. In August, the Francoist flag was raised and the bishop of Cádiz, Tomás Gutiérrez Díez, proceeded to bless it. It was the usual and normal thing to do in those days.
Almost a year ago, Cadiz City Council, with Kichi at the helm, decided to apply the Law of Historical Memory and the Law of Democratic Memory of Andalusia to the city so that no trace of the past would remain in the 'tacita de plata'. Pemán has been banished from its streets for being a writer close to Miguel Primo de Rivera during Spain's dictatorship from 1923 to 1930. The writer even participated in a draft Constitution that never saw the light of day. All of this added to a Law for the Defence of the Republic that is very reminiscent of the laws that Kichi and the Spanish left are now championing, meant that Pemán has been singled out to this day.
You have to be careful with Ramón de Carranza. Ramón de Carranza y Gómez-Pablos, Marquis of Soto Hermoso was a businessman from Cádiz and president of Sevilla between 1957 and 1961. He replaced Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in the position. His father, the Ferrol-born Ramón de Carranza y Fernández Reguera, was a military man and mayor of Cádiz between 1927 and 1931. This scapegoat has suffered the persecution of Kichi and his government. He supported the 1936 uprising and sided with Franco's army. History tells the rest and Cadiz dedicated an avenue to him in the 1980s which was also purged by the extreme left in 2017. Carranza was a military man. He defended a trench and took part in a bloody war between brothers that should never have happened. But he died in 1937 at the age of 74. A year after the outbreak of the Civil War, and the left claims that "he was closely linked to Franco's dictatorship and actively contributed to the purge policy carried out by the regime in Cadiz".
The present should not judge the past. It must understand it, analyse it and draw conclusions. What happened 80 years ago happened in a specific social context and should be understood as such. But Kichi came to Cádiz to oust the popular Teófila Martínez with false promises that he has not been able to keep. The vote to change the name of the Estadio Municipal Ramón Carranza has also been manipulated by politicians. The first was annulled because various forums decided to alter the decision in order to mock the proposal. Francisco Franco or Santiago Abascal were the hackers' preferences. On the second occasion, the City Council gave 1,068 votes out of 1,270 as valid. 25.8% chose the name Nuevo Mirandilla in reference to Cádiz's first team back in the 1930s. The second option was 'Tacita de Plata' with 17%; and 'Ciudad de Cádiz' had 15%.
Cádiz has 1,250,000 inhabitants according to the 2019 census. The councillor for Democratic Memory of Cádiz, Martín Vila, has approved a process in which 1% of the people of Cádiz have participated. The rush to take a photo of themselves removing the letters of the old stadium to call it Nuevo Mirandilla is a rush for a political class that is shipwrecked. The football team has not made a statement. The stadium is owned by the municipality and the club does not want to get involved in political issues. It is experiencing a period of sporting and economic stability in the First Division after years of hardship in Segunda B.
Cadiz will continue to call the stadium Estadio Carranza. The streets and the people say so. That team is one of the city's greatest prides along with the 1812 Constitution, La Pepa. Fed up with politicians from the left and the right who have only known how to make the streets shine while they have left them stranded with the highest unemployment rate in Spain. There will always be a goal in the Carranza.
