ACN
The Secretary of Self-Government of the Canarian Coalition (CC), Fernando Ríos, regrets that the PP insists "on making demagoguery" with the flag of the seven green stars, and would like it to accept the flag with the same normality as the Canarian society has done.
Ríos considers that the PP uses a strategy that it uses "to camouflage the collapse" of a party in which voices multiply, both from affiliates and prominent leaders, "who are clamoring for a change of course", reports the nationalist formation.
According to Ríos, CC adopted this flag in the course of its III national congress with the most absolute normality. "The PP uses this issue as a casus belli. Instead of trying to overcome its departure from the government and channel a responsible opposition, it rushes to string together inflammatory arguments," he argues.
Ríos believes that the populars are within their right to make the assessments they deem appropriate, but points out that they are not going to delegitimize the adoption of an agreement of the plenary of the CC Congress. "The flag is not an imposition, but the assumption of a sign of identity," he added.
"The same normality with which the Canarians have assumed this flag over the years is what protects the Canarian Coalition to make this decision. It is up to the populars to explain the added value they give it. It is evident that Canarians are concerned about other things, but it is they - the PP - who are determined to bring this issue to the forefront," he said.
Regarding the argument used by the Secretary of Organization and Communication of the Canarian populars, Larry Álvarez, who links this nationalist demand with an alleged loss of support, Ríos believes that "the successive defeats of the Popular Party on all fronts do not place him in the best position to make these value judgments."
"I believe that the purpose of amendment that conservative voters demand has not yet taken hold in their leaders, since, even, when some of them have tried to turn, they have been laminated. I do not think anyone dares to insinuate that the popular voting expectations are currently on the rise," he adds.
The nationalist leader observes "with sadness" how Álvarez, contrary to what the vast majority of Canarians do, "continues to use the litigious path" to cover up the collapse suffered by his organization, which does not hesitate to radicalize in Gran Canaria without caring in the least about the situation of helplessness in which it leaves the rest of the islands."
On the other hand, Ríos recalls that it is enough to go back in time to realize that in the early days of the autonomous process, in 1979, when the flag of the seven green stars had not yet caught on enough in the Canarian citizenship, "the PSOE agreed to introduce in the draft Statute the tricolor flag with seven stars as the official flag of the Canary Islands. Almost a quarter of a century later, when this flag is popularly assumed with naturalness, it is when they oppose its consideration as an authentic symbol of identity of the Canary Islands."
