Just 24 hours after the inauguration of the Mediterranean Games held in Tarragona, one cannot help but wonder how it is possible that they have been organized so badly. Parts of the grandstands in the stadium barely half full on the opening day, a poor opening ceremony and the different sub-host venues of the games practically empty in the first days, shows that the Mediterranean Games are starting to become a liability, if things are not rectified.
All this is happening without anyone offering any explanations for how this fiasco has come about, and how it is that interest in the games has not been roused among the inhabitants in the region of Tarragona. Is it true that the organizers told institutions and entities in the region that the tickets were sold out? This is very serious, and can only be explained by an excess of zeal in protecting the inauguration to ensure that there was no real representation of the pluralism of the country.
The fact that the Catalan Generalitat Government has reported that there was prior selection of those attending for ideological reasons, and that the Catalan federations were allegedly also denied tickets by the organizers are two further examples, more than enough to open an investigation. Amongst other things, because the President of the Generalitat was subject to considerable jeering during the opening ceremony. That is absolutely normal and any politician has to be ready to take it from people who want to express themselves; however, it would be really grave if it were instigated and not spontaneous.
And that is without going into the absence of the castellers human towers on the opening day, a universal symbol of the Tarragona region. Perhaps it has something to do with the participation of several teams of castellers a week ago when they raised castells human towers before the prisons of Soto del Real, Alcalá Meco and Estremera, where the nine Catalan political prisoners are imprisoned, and in the home towns of the Catalan political prisoners and exiles.
All that in order to offer a ceremony with the appearance of normalcy in a country that is experiencing an exceptional situation. A great performance with too many lies right at peak fake news. What’s up, Mayor Ballesteros?