The Barranco del Lobo disaster began when a Spanish army colonel, in the midst of a conflict with the Rifians, began a night march with his troops who, after a mistake, ended up in a ravine. It was terrible when they realized that the heights were full of rifenos who were shooting at them comfortably. This mistake chained a series of errors that led to the tragic week in Barcelona. They say that in politics, more than great victories, your success is determined by don’t get involved in no ravine of the wolf. But it is always striking to see how politicians with proven abilities and skills find themselves, like this colonel, in ravines that only exhaust them.
The Popular Party has been exploited by its management of the title of Degree of Medicine which began to be taught last year at the University of Alicante (UA). In his previous administration, Minister Rovira had skillfully avoided the mines that his predecessors had left him in the ministry during the first school year, and had succeeded both in his law on educational freedom and in free schools from zero to three years. But, perhaps because he did not devote enough time to it or because he was poorly advised, he decided to withdraw from the appeal that the Miguel Hernández University (UMH) had filed against the implementation of the medical degree at the UA.
The Alicante medical degree was not without controversy, since at the time it was taught at the UA, but due to a fight that was more political than academic, it gave rise to the creation, several decades ago, of the UMH of Elche, which took over the title.
Both universities, located in the province of Alicante, offered dual degrees without much conflict, until the arrival of medicine. Perhaps this is because the medical lobbies have always been in against of the increase of places for the training of new doctors.
But given the imminent retirement of many professionals, the arrival of the pandemic and the collapse of the health system due to the lack of doctors, it was very difficult to maintain this blockade. Once the UA submitted its application and it was approved by the state accreditation body, all that was missing was the authorization of the Valencian government. But it was the only degree requested by a Valencian public university that remained in a drawer for several years, forgotten by the previous left-wing tripartite government. This decision was incomprehensible, since, due to the lack of doctors, none of the Valencian public universities had decided to increase their offer of places. This rejection of an option that could have been the most efficient in terms of resource management, finally led the tripartite government to authorize the start of the degree at the UA. The UMH, like a dog in the manger, decided to appeal the decision of the Valencian government, on the grounds that the socialist ministry had mismanaged the entire process. The Superior Court of Justice of Valencia overturned the preventive suspension requested by the UMH and the medical degree began at the UA with successful enrollment last year.
As the court’s final decision approached, the Minister Rovira opted for withdraw of a resourcewhich had been done precisely against a decision of his Ministry, even though he was not the one who had directed it. And there began the march towards the ravine with a disastrous communication policy. The mayor defended his position by relying on a supposed neutrality, which was quickly associated with support for the UMH’s request to close the medical degree at the UA.
And at that moment, the socialists woke up on the heights of the ravine with Minister Rovira and President Mazón within gunshot range. Thus, what results from a mistake by a socialist government is used by the socialists to criticize the popular government of Carlos Mazón. Mazón went from supporting the UA medical degree in the plenary session of the Alicante City Council, when he was a city councilor, to withdrawing the call that demanded its closure. Once he realized that he was on the precipice, he went from proposing an interuniversity health campus to the final declaration that if they overturned the UA degree, he would ask for it again.
It is very likely that this will not end in a tragic week, but these events must make President Mazón understand that, even if the opposition is asleep at the top of a ravine, if you enter from the lower part, you will find yourself very easy for them. And also that sometimes a red is better than a thousand reds and that not all technical decisions have a political justification.
