Alhaurín el Grande’s carnival celebrations were marked by an incident in the early hours of Saturday morning between the director of a “murga” choir and the local mayor, Juan Martín Serón. It appears that the mayor, who faces charges in the planning corruption case ‘Troya’, was offended by the words of the group’s satirical song that won first prize in the carnival competition. At the end of the performance, Martín Serón went on to the stage and reproached the director of the group, José Manuel Rengel, for his verses about the municipal television channel.
According to Rengel, who has directed the group for the last 19 years, the mayor insulted him repeatedly, calling him a “son of a bitch” and a “degenerate”, and he grabbed him by the collar on several occasions, scratching on his chest and tearing his shirt. The director admitted that he was surprised by the attitude of the mayor, who threatened him and added: “If you had the problems I have at home you wouldn’t make jokes about politics”.
Rengel explained that the words that seem to have annoyed the mayor were in a verse about the local television channel, “criticising it for giving the mayor a hard time; ironic because in two years nothing at all has been said about the Troya case”, he explained. The song went on to use a play-on-words as the ‘comisión’ it claimed the Town Hall had every week could refer to money changing hands under the table or the local government meetings.
After the incident Rengel obtained a doctor’s certificate and reported the mayor to the Guardia Civil. On Sunday, however, he withdrew the report after a meeting with Martín Serón at which they both apologised.
Juan Martín Serón expressed his satisfaction that the accusations had been withdrawn and explained to SUR: “I heard the song and I thought it was funny and I didn’t think any more about the reference to ‘Troya’. Later I went backstage to speak to the group and all I said was that I hoped his family never had to go through what my family is going through”.
“We exchanged words, but we have since talked about it and he has withdrawn the accusations”, concluded Martín Serón who described the whole affair as an “incident of little importance”.
The carnival singer and the mayor are hardly unknown to one another. José Manuel Rengel has worked at Alhaurín Town Hall for the last 17 years and is responsible for the Municipal Consumer Information Office.
