The official car of the president of the Diputación and the PP of Ourense, José Manuel Baltar Blanco, son and heir of the charges of Baron José Luis Baltar Pumar, was detected by a radar in his province during the same trip he made on Sunday, April 23 and for which he was fined and then charged in Zamora, when a second radar was fired as the car passed at 215 kilometers per hour. As revealed by Radio Ourense-Cadena Ser, the first photo of the same vehicle for speeding was taken in the Ourense municipality of Allariz only 54 minutes before, when it rolled at 173 kilometers per hour on the A-52, limited to 120. Baltar is awaiting trial, postponed by the judge after the election date on Sunday 28, because at 18:38 p.m. on April 23, also on the A-52, but at the height of the Zamoran town of Asturianos, he was hunted by a velolaser radar exceeding the speed limit by 95 kilometers per hour. Consulted by this newspaper the Civil Guard of Ourense about the first photograph at 173 per hour, until now unknown, an official spokeswoman has confirmed that, indeed, "that same vehicle had been detected by a velolaser" in Allariz "direction Madrid". He also explained that this type of radars "send information directly to the center of León" and that "that is why in Ourense there was no knowledge" until today.
The Ser of Ourense has had access to a second fine, actually first in time, but so far unknown, for speeding the leader of the provincial PP. Baltar's car was detected at 17:44 p.m. on the A-52, at kilometer point 210, as it passed through the term of Allariz. The vehicle was traveling at 173 kilometers per hour, according to the test taken by the velolaser, although on this first occasion the Civil Guard of Ourense did not intervene to stop it, as did the one in Zamora. On the route of the highway that crosses the province, there are several tunnels with a permanent speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour and two areas of works limited to 60.
For the first fine of the trip, the driver of that vehicle, if identified, would pay 400 euros and lose four points of the license. The second fine of that day will sit on May 31 to Baltar in the dock, in Puebla de Sanabria, to answer for an alleged crime against road safety. After knowing the fine for his driving in Asturianos, Baltar justified his speeding as an "oversight".
"It will be paid by the driver"
In a brief note on Monday at noon, the Diputación de Ourense denies having received any other notification of administrative infringement on speeding that may affect the institution or its president in relation to the same day it was intercepted by the Civil Guard of Zamora at 215 kilometers per hour. "In case of receiving this notification, and once the appropriate data has been verified, it will be processed through the proper channels and will be paid by the driver of the vehicle," the statement concludes.
After knowing this new episode of the official car, the opposition has again demanded "the immediate resignation" of Baltar. The first to react has been the BNG, whose spokesman in the Diputación, Bernardo Varela, stressed that the president "lied shamelessly on April 28", when he was asked in plenary about the situation regarding the fines "for the reckless driving" of a public vehicle and reduced it to an "isolated" fact. "It cannot be that in front of everyone, to the face, he told us that it was a mistake to circulate at 215 kilometers per hour when he already knew that he had circulated at 173 that same day at the height of Allariz," said Varela. The situation, in his opinion, is "embarrassing" and can only be resolved with "resignation". In case this does not occur, he has also urged voters to "throw this gentleman out" of the provincial institution in the elections this Sunday.
"One more stripe to the tiger"
According to Varela, he has had no "response" to the amount of fines that have been paid for "the cause of Mr. Baltar and his cronies." "The resignation," he insisted, "is the only solution to end the scandals," because for the nationalist spokesman, the way of leading the provincial president "is the same as he has" to lead the Provincial Council, "as if it were his private farmhouse." And the Socialist Party has expressed itself along the same lines. The general secretary of the municipal group of the PSdeG-PSOE in Ourense, Natalia González Benéitez, has pointed out that "it is one more stripe to the tiger" and has described as "regrettable" that the Galician city "has maximum representatives at the local and provincial level that do these things".
"It is a shame and irreversible damage to the image of this city, institutions and politics," he said, then resorting to the same simile as the Bloc and criticizing the use of institutions "as private farmhouses," places "where to benefit and use public and private resources." Therefore, the socialist has appealed to "democratic justice" in the next elections: "The only effective method when someone exercises a position in this way is that the citizens, who are the ones who have power through their votes at the polls, remove it. "
The provincial secretary of the PSOE, Rafael Rodríguez Villarino, has indicated that with this second fine "it is demonstrated" that Baltar "lies compulsively" and that, in addition, "he is a danger at the wheel", reasons why he believes that "there is no justification" for him to be president of the provincial Popular Party or the Diputación de Ourense. "He must resign immediately," said Rodríguez Villarino. If not, he has advanced that his party will urge the president of the Xunta and the Galician PP, Alfonso Rueda, as well as the state leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, "to proceed to his immediate cessation of functions" because, "if not, the lack of honorability of Baltar will also dye the acronym of the Popular Party. "