On January 25, 2023, a Moroccan named Yasin Kanza attacked the church of La Palme, in Algeciras, Spain, killing Diego Valencia, the sacristan who was trying to make him listen to reason. We then learned shortly after that the murderer had already been expelled from Gibraltar in 2019. The attack has stirred up public opinion, especially since the inaction of the authorities has come to light.
The Observatory for Freedom of Religion and Conscience (OLRC) – an entity created in 2011 on the initiative of the then Minister of Justice – has just publicly criticized the government of Pedro Sanchez for its “silence and inaction” in the face of the terrorist attack perpetrated almost a month and a half ago.
OLRC President Maria Garcia sent a letter to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska blaming him for an astonishing lack of responsiveness to the direct attack on Catholics.
She denounces the “inexplicable” nature of this “silence and inaction,” while the jihadist had repeatedly attacked various Catholic churches in Algeciras, in the diocese of Cadiz and Ceuta.
In her public letter of protest, Maria Garcia recalls that the “terrorist nature of the attack is beyond doubt, and that its objective was directly directed against the Catholic faithful, in particular, the priests.”
Also, the ORLC is surprised that the government “did not convene the Monitoring Commission for the Action Plan against Hate Crimes,” empowered to report on the attack and that “preventive measures have not been not been taken.”
Maria Garcia also criticizes the Ministry of the Interior for the “variable geometry” criteria for judgment and action: “It is surprising that the government of which you are a part treats potential cases of hate crimes in such a disparate way,” explains the President of the OLRC.
For example, in September 2021, the Supervisory Commission was urgently convened “due to an alleged homophobic attack” that occurred in Madrid. This case turned out to be a fake. A few hours later, the alleged victim admitted having lied.
In comparison, the OLRC recalls that the attacks against Christians perpetrated in Algeciras “merited little more than a hasty visit from you.”
Chance? Before being appointed Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska was a judge on the National Court. His time in politics was marked by a very important activism in favor of the LGBT agenda. Thus, in 2006, he became the first senior magistrate to reveal his homosexuality in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Of course, we need be careful not to make a connection in the context of the treatment – objectively lamentable – of a legal case, but can we at least ask ourselves if the life of a humble Spanish Catholic is worth less than that of a militant LGBT activist?
