A heated parliamentary clash in the Corts Valencianes has left the Mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, facing intense scrutiny over both his literary credentials and his claims regarding regional school funding.
During an exchange in the regional parliament of the Valencian Community, Mr Dolón, a Partido Popular deputy, attempted to dismiss political criticism by invoking a famous Spanish adage, stating: “As Don Quixote said to Sancho Panza: ‘They bark, therefore we ride on, Councillor.'”
The literary flourish immediately backfired. Gerard Fullana, a deputy for Compromís, swiftly intervened to correct the mayor, who started his political career as the Councillor for Culture in Torrevieja, pointing out that Miguel de Cervantes never penned those words. The famous phrase is an apocryphal myth grafted onto Don Quixote in the popular imagination over generations, with its earliest known literary roots tracing back to the 1808 satirical poem Kläffer by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, before being popularised in Spanish by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío.
Moving past the literary misattribution, Mr Fullana turned to the substantive debate on educational infrastructure, accusing Mr Dolón of rewriting the history of school investments in Torrevieja to suit his party political narrative. While the mayor now claims that the previous Botànic regional government did not build schools or invest in his municipality, parliamentary records tell a markedly different story.
During the tenure of the previous regional administration, 22.1 million euro was allocated directly to educational infrastructure in Torrevieja. Back in 2021, Mr Dolón himself openly praised this support, publicly highlighting the substantial investments taking place across the municipality and thanking the then Director-General of Educational Infrastructure, Víctor García, for his excellent cooperation and responsiveness to local priorities.
Specific projects directly contradict the claim that the previous government ignored Torrevieja. The Botànic administration budgeted, approved, awarded the contract for, and constructed the CEIP Amanecer school. Furthermore, the regional government intervened at CEIP Inmaculada Concepción, an educational centre that had languished in temporary prefabricated classrooms for 17 academic years within the municipality, by approving the scheme, funding it, and beginning construction works.
The exchange also tackled assertions regarding climate control in classrooms. The only educational facilities in Torrevieja equipped with full climate control, including heating, air conditioning, and photovoltaic solar panels, remain the two centres delivered under the Botànic administration.
Mr Fullana firmly rejected accusations that the former regional government only favoured municipalities run by PSPV-PSOE and Compromís, pointing to the 22.1 million euro invested in PP-governed Torrevieja as clear proof to the contrary. Warning of the current political trajectory, the Compromís deputy asserted that under the present Partido Popular administration, Torrevieja will not see a single new school opened, concluding that the current regional government is actively falling short on delivering new educational facilities for the town.
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