The municipal corporation of La Línea de la Concepción commemorated the 156th anniversary of the city's founding last Sunday, July 20. The extraordinary session, presided over by mayor Juan Franco, featured local journalist Rubén García Perea as the speaker for the institutional address. Following the plenary, the traditional flag-raising ceremony took place at the Carlos III roundabout.
García Perea, content director for Grupo Área Comunicación and Cadena COPE in Campo de Gibraltar, adopted a demanding and realistic tone, focusing on the municipality's present and future and highlighting the spirit of overcoming adversity among its citizens.
The speech addressed the recent fall of the border gate and the negotiation of the international Treaty. García Perea explicitly called for this event to translate into real “shared prosperity,” with tangible investments in employment, housing, infrastructure, and security. He praised the local social fabric as the true engine of resistance and stated: “A treaty begins when it is signed. Prosperity begins when it is felt. And the success of the work will depend on how it is represented and whether those who have been on the stage for decades can finally live from it with dignity.”
Emotionally, he recalled the youth emigration of his generation, who sought opportunities in other cities. “We learned to explain La Línea even before explaining who we were, and we got used to answering questions, dismantling jokes, and defending in five-minute conversations a city that others had been judging from afar for years,” he recounted.
Finally, he made a call for social justice and pride of belonging, urging administrations to provide development tools. “La Línea does not ask for charity, it asks for equality; it does not ask for compassion, it asks for investment; it does not ask for privileges, it asks for justice,” he concluded.
After the speech, described as “brilliant” by the mayor, the session concluded with the flag-raising ceremony at the Carlos III roundabout. Attendees included the municipal corporation, guests, youth queen Paula Sánchez Martínez and her court of honor, accompanied by the Municipal Music Band. The flag-raising involved institutional representatives such as Esperanza Pérez (AGE), Javier Ros (Junta de Andalucía), Susana González (PP), Manuel Abellán (La Línea 100x100), and Bilial Berouain (PSOE).
