One, two… and up to 150 murals dress the buildings of Franzara, a small town in the province of Castellón. But one of those drawings has caused a new case of cultural censorship.

It is the work of Elías Taño. This Canarian artist participated in last year’s edition of the “Unfinished Museum of Urban Art (MIAU)” festival held in Fanzara. His contribution, a mural that refers to the Civil War: “The object of discord is a phrase that I put on that mural. The phrase is a verse from a song by Los Chikos del Maíz y La Raíz,” explains Elías.

The controversy phrase says so: “The only worthy homeland of this country is still in the gutter”. Some words that, according to the City Council, made some neighbors uncomfortable. María Dolores, lives in this town of less than 300 inhabitants, and is against putting limits on art and artists: “Did they ask Picasso for prior control?” asks Dolores. For her, art is free and has to be what painters want to do.

Along the same lines, Elías defends his work because, he says, he understands that many times art has to be uncomfortable, not just be something pretty and decorative.

Following his drawing, the City Council, governed by the Popular Party, has issued an ordinance requiring all sketches to be seen before artists can begin painting. Something that had never been done before. Year after year, national and international artists gather in the streets of this town to give free rein to their imagination. For a few weeks they even live with neighbors who welcome them into their homes.

For the organization this ordinance makes no sense. Javier López, from The MIAU association assures that the work they are complaining about is constitutional: “We cannot censor the artists, it goes against the project,” explains Javier.

Furthermore, they fear that if this censorship occurs, some artists will refuse to participate in the festival. According to Javier, last year they received messages from 607 interested artists. And they assure, from the association, that if this ordinance goes ahead they will present allegations against this regulation which, they say, goes against the Spanish Constitution.

For now, the association has decided to stop this year’s edition and in three days they will meet with the neighbors to explain the reasons for the decision.

*CORRECTION: By mistake, in a first version of the video of this information it was said that the Fanzara city council is governed by a PP-VOX coalition. The municipal government corresponds exclusively to the Popular Party.