The incident occurred as Moreno was leaving the Cabra Town Hall, accompanied by mayor Fernando Priego, to attend Holy Week processions. Ávila Valverde, known in the municipality for his past as a socialist councillor between 2003 and 2007, and for his strong animosity towards Popular Party leaders, shouted «scoundrel» at him.
Sources close to the institutional delegation indicated that Ávila Valverde's behavior was intended to provoke. Earlier, the former councillor had confronted Jesús Aguirre, president of the Andalusian Parliament, in a bar near the Town Hall, calling him a «murderer» and blaming him for failures in breast cancer screenings. Aguirre, who previously served as Health Minister, remained composed despite the provocations.
“"Some people have worked and taken competitive exams before becoming politicians, and the opposite is Juanma Moreno, who has not worked at all outside of politics."
A week before his arrest, Ávila Valverde had criticized Juanma Moreno on his Facebook profile, comparing him to the general secretary of the PSOE-A, María Jesús Montero, and questioning his professional career outside of politics. On the same social network, on November 5, he had previously reproached Moreno for prioritizing bullfighting and folklore over public services, calling it a «step back to Francoism» and mentioning the lack of attention to breast cancer screenings.
Former local PSOE leaders in Cabra have suggested that the underlying reason for Ávila Valverde's outburst might be a personal wound related to public healthcare, as a direct family member has suffered from breast cancer. Before this incident, Manuel Ávila was involved in the restoration of sacred art, working at the workshop school of the Merced church in Córdoba and participating in the reconstruction of an altarpiece destroyed by fire in 1978. He also created the crown of thorns for Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno de Nueva Carteya.
