Montero's 'it's crap' remark on Ceuta ignites Spanish politics

Irene Montero's 'it's crap' remark on Ceuta sets Spanish politics alight

Irene Montero is back in the eye of the storm. Her words about the harassment women face in Ceuta – celebrated by some, reviled by others – have shattered what was never really a political truce. Spain's former Equality Minister spoke with evident pain about a reality she did not hesitate to call "crap", an expression that has triggered visceral reactions in an already deeply polarised country.

The political backlash

On the critical side, accusations of playing the victim and of shifting the focus away from the aggressors' nationality have taken over the debate. She is criticised for offering a narrative without data, and some quarters accuse her of manipulating statistics to fit her story. Although these views are not held by most of society, they have found a huge megaphone on social media and have turned her complaint into yet another front in the culture war.

Personal attacks and harassment

What has escalated the conflict is the attack on her personal life. Irene Montero's relationship with Pablo Iglesias, and above all the spreading of her children's ultrasound images, have been used as weapons. For many analysts, this is not political criticism but outright harassment, a new twist on the public doxxing tactics so many condemned in other contexts. The contradiction is obvious: the very people who then called for an end to such harassment now practise it, even if only from behind a keyboard.

The result is a toxic climate in which the real harassment of women in Ceuta is buried under partisan squabbling. The controversy is likely to continue, but what should really be discussed – the actual problem of male violence against women in the autonomous city – risks being pushed into the background. Or perhaps all this noise will bury it for good.