With nearly three months to go before local elections on May 28, the fine line that separates a high office’s institutional work from its electoral career is becoming increasingly blurred. This is the case of the president of the Port Authority of Huelva and PP candidate for mayor of Huelva, Pilar Miranda, who has advocated sponsorship agreements with carnival associations, Brotherhoods of the Holy Week” in their acts of fasting“, Bullfighting festivals with brotherhoods of El Rocíoby family lawyers, charitable organizations and cultural associations unrelated to the organization he heads.
The Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Planning, headed by Raquel Sánchez, has not gone unnoticed in Miranda’s agenda, which the Andalusian government is responsible for appointing, although general ports are under the umbrella of the central government. In a letter dated January 23, Secretary of State for Transport Isabel Pardo de Vera urged Miranda to stop such a busy schedule. “Taking into account (…) the legislative period planned for this current year, we are forced to ask you to reduce the actions and events to the necessary minimum, according to the general principles that regulate public administration, and that this is the case duly coordinated, in Firstly before the State Ports and the Ministry of Transport, to which the Port Authority that you direct is affiliated, “says the letter to which EL PAÍS had access.
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The Secretary of State, who resigned on the 20th due to the scandals surrounding the Asturias and Cantabria trains, expresses her “deep concern at the excessive abundance of actions and events promoted by the President of the Port of Huelga”, “their current intensity and resource use is anomalous in the port system of general interest”. Pardo de Vera also accuses him of selective use of public offices. “In this case, it is a fine line between a logical and rational visibility of the progress of a port of general interest, from the perspective of its improvement in the transport, logistics and commercial markets, and the instrumentalization of an institution such as the Port Authority of Huelva, in service a personal political career, the latter of which is absolutely to be rejected”. He also invites them to an upcoming meeting to “coordinate” their work with Puertos del Estado and the Ministry.
The President of the Port Authority of Huelva provides information your Twitter account (Your profile name is @PresiAPHuelva) the hustle and bustle in which he takes part. “I accompanied the Hdad. of emigrants from Ntra. Sra. del Rocío de #Huelva, an organization with which we work closely in our commitment to traditions, at the inauguration of their new Board of Directors in the chapel of their Hdad home. in Huelva”, reported on 7.1. On the same day, the PP candidate also endorses a penitential fraternity that helps disadvantaged families in a neighborhood, justifying it “as a port with a heart.”
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Miranda didn’t pay much heed to the Department of Transportation’s request. Two days after receiving the threatening letter, the candidate for mayor of Huelva signs it a cooperation sponsorship with the comparsa Las Antoñitas to record an album by the group La Vieja Verde, as she reports. “It is a pride to help this group that makes culture with capital letters through the carnival, as they embody the values that this institution promotes: commitment, struggle, equality, environment,” says the President of the Port Authority. according to the newspaper Tinto Noticias.
After the Carnival, the President of Puerto Huelva focuses on celebrating Holy Week. On February 19, Miranda reports on another collaboration with the Brotherhood of Holy Communion of Huelva and attend an “exciting proclamation“. On the 20th he goes to a “solemn foot kiss”; the 25 signature another agreement with the Huelva Federation of Peñas and Carnival Associations. The same day also reported the collaboration of the Port of Huelva with a documentary for the cause of the canonization of Manuel Siurot, “Teacher of Poor Children”, in an act presided over by the archbishop, in which the high office is dressed all in black and wears a string of pearls. and the past February 28 visit the bullfighting festival Charity organized by the Almonte Confraternity and sponsored with public funds from the Port of Huelva.
The port’s president also competed with the city council in the Christmas lights. A week after the city’s streets were lit up, he organized “a Christmas illumination of the port of Huelva” after a performance by a Rociero choir. Last December, the candidate for mayor launched an “Informativo Puerto de Huelva” that is broadcast on YouTube and in which she is almost the absolute protagonist. Only one edition of the informative was issued. The Port President created another Twitter account (@PilarMirandaPl1) in January 2021, where she replicates the same messages as her official account.
Miranda will leave his institutional position to run for mayor of Huelva once candidatures are registered. Nominated as a candidate last December – “She is Huelva” is her campaign slogan – she has the difficult mission of winning over socialist Gabriel Cruz, who has held the mayor’s office since 2015. Cruz managed to end 20-year mandate of the popular Pedro Rodríguez, winning by an absolute majority in 2019. The mayoralty of Huelva is one of the targets that the PP caresses for next May 28th. It is one of the four Andalusian capitals where it does not govern and where its expectations are higher according to the polls they have conducted. A recent poll by the Center for Andalusian Studies gives Miranda’s candidacy 42.5% of the vote, compared to 31.5% for the PSOE. The number of four councilors that the PP now adds in Huelva would rise to 13 or 14, while the PSOE would remain between 10 and 11.
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