José Navarro, councilor of the Popular Party of Elche, now in the municipal government as responsible for the Sports, Human Resources and Security area, asked for forgiveness this Wednesday from his family, his brotherhood, his fellow corporation members and all those who They are known for their “out of place behavior” during the Friday of Sorrows last Holy Week for going “under the influence of alcohol” inside the church of El Salvador in the Alicante city. The mayor, 41, acknowledges in a statement that he went to the temple that houses the throne of the Santísimo Cristo de La Columna with a group of friends from a celebratory dinner and that he was under the influence of alcohol, but insists that “In no case” did he commit the acts “of a sexual nature” that are attributed to him.
The councilor visited the church drunk that day and had sexual relations with a woman under the throne during the preparation work for the popular step, as published this Wednesday by
El Plural.
Navarro has “flatly denied the information that appeared about me in some media and social networks” and insists that he has not “committed any act of a sexual nature inside the church.” “In addition, I have filed a complaint in Court against those who have spread this malicious rumor, which I deny and about which there is no evidence, nor any complaint,” he indicates in the letter.
The councilor clarifies that he has expressed his regret to those responsible for the church and the brotherhood from which he has withdrawn "so as not to tarnish his name." “I want to completely disassociate myself from the mayor of Elche and the municipal government team, to whom I sincerely apologize. The mayor has disapproved and censured my behavior and asked me to apologize to the parish priest and the brotherhood,” the note of contrition concludes. The mayor of Elche is Pablo Ruz, from the PP, who governs in coalition with Vox. With 230,000 inhabitants, Elche was one of the first Spanish cities in which the right and the extreme right reached a government pact after the last municipal elections, although the PSPV-PSOE was the party with the most votes. The pact between the PP and Vox was signed under the cross of the Ermita de Santa Ana in the Elche district of Valverde.
The president of Santísimo Cristo de La Columna, Pepe Pérez, who was a PSOE councilor in the 2015-2019 term, has clarified to EL PAÍS that in no case will this matter be discussed in the Board of Directors of the brotherhood that is going to be celebrate tomorrow, given that the mayor already claimed his leave last week. The president has indicated that this meeting is held regularly at the end of Holy Week to assess how it has developed. He has assured that he spoke with the councilor and he denied the rumors that have circulated in the town.
The Municipal Socialist Group of Elche has demanded that the mayor of Sports and Security, José Navarro, leave his position as councilor of the city council or that the mayor, Pablo Ruz (PP), dismiss him or withdraw his powers after Navarro took office, who had a “out of place attitude inside the church under the influence of alcohol.” The socialists have described the events as “very serious” with “behavior that is absolutely inappropriate, intolerable and shameful” on the part of the PP and VOX government councilor and inappropriate on the part of a public servant and spokesperson for the Popular Municipal Group.
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Furthermore, the PSOE assures that the councilor does not have the mayor's trust by stating in the statement that he "has failed and censored" his attitude. Likewise, socialists have regretted that these events have unleashed an avalanche of comments both on social networks and on different information channels. The socialists affirm that this situation gives a bad image to the city council and to a councilor who currently holds positions of public responsibility, as well as to the city and the Holy Week in Elche.