Aznar tries to 'farm' aura in Ceuta
BarcelonaThe humanitarian crisis in Ceuta has become entrenched a month after the massive arrival of immigrants. Thousands of people continue to live in precarious conditions on the streets, and tension is growing as the days go by. Neither a way out for the immigrants – either to Spain or back to Morocco – has been guaranteed, nor has the situation been normalized as the residents demand. This is despite the fact that the Spanish Prime Minister and many of his ministers have visited Ceuta, and it has also become a place of pilgrimage for the opposition. The right and far-right, in fact, have settled there, clinging to Ceuta as the possible trigger that could bring down Pedro Sánchez definitively. The competition among their totems, who vie to be recognized as the moral compasses of the right, increasingly resembles the ridiculous aura battles that are going viral on social media.
José María Aznar went to the autonomous city this Thursday precisely to "farm aura", as adolescents say now. Upon arrival, he got out of the car with his wife, Ana Botella, took some selfies with supporters – while hearing a neighbor shouting "assassin" at him, reminding him of the Iraq war – and met with the Ceuta leader, the omnipresent Juan Jesús Vivas. Aznar called for "restoring national sovereignty" in Ceuta, which he believes has been lost, and prescribed a change of government in Spain as the way to prevent it from happening again.
Who exactly does Aznar represent? The PP is interested in Alberto Núñez Feijóo reaping political benefit from the crisis, even though in this matter of "farming aura", the current popular president does not seem to be the best-prepared candidate. Can the Aznar effect serve to plug leaks to Vox? Santiago Abascal also went to Ceuta to demand the expulsion of all immigrants, including minors, a stance that the PP later copied. Alvise Pérez and other ultra-agitators have been working intensely for weeks on the narrative of invasion to foster an unbreathable atmosphere. However, the real reason for Aznar's visit is probably not to help Feijóo or to plug the far-right: Aznar has long ago proclaimed himself the moral reference for the entire right.