BarcelonaOsor and Susqueda are two adjacent municipalities in the Selva region that barely have more than 500 inhabitants together. Located in Les Guilleries, both have stories that make them unique. Prehistoric remains have been found in Osor which indicate that there was already a settlement before 650 BC. Susqueda, with 97 inhabitants, is characterized by being a municipality without a village, after it was buried under the water of the swamp. Now, however, the municipalities are facing each other in a dispute over a few border meters. More specifically, for one of the emblems of the area: the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Coll.
The origin of the conflict detonated in 2015, when the Directorate General of Local Administration (DGAL) set the territorial limits between the two towns. In the few square kilometers under discussion (which is not even a hectare), there are four points of interest: the shrine, a guesthouse, a restaurant and a cemetery. The restructuring of the border divided the neighborhood: the hostel, for Susqueda; the sanctuary, by Osor. The cemetery and the restaurant were cut in half: one side belonged to one and the other to the other. Before that, the boundaries between the two towns were not clear. According to Osor, they were the same ones fixed by the DGAL, while for Susqueda all the points were his except the sanctuary, which belonged to Osor.
From then on, negotiations began between the parties involved. In May 2018, however, they broke up. According to the current mayoress of Susqueda, Eva Viñolas, three representatives of the town went to Osor to present their latest offer: “You keep the sanctuary, in exchange for Susqueda keeping the rest”. There, as the mayor explains, they met no of eleven representatives of Osor. “We only defended the terms established by the DGAL”, replies the mayor of Osor, Joan Pla.
With the refusal under their arms, Susqueda’s representatives returned to their municipality with the idea of starting a new procedure through administrative litigation. This did not work out for them, as the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) ended up ruling in favor of Osor in 2020. This forced Susqueda to take another path: submit a report to the Territorial Delimitation Commission of Catalonia in which they wanted to be convinced of a new limitation between the territories.
“Now they want it all”
This last report, however, was different from the previous proposals: now they were also asking for the land of the sanctuary, although until that moment there had been no doubt that it was part of Osor. This 2024, the seventeen members of the commission unanimously gave the right to Susqueda and are now waiting for an advisory judicial commission to also give the go-ahead. This has caused the residents of Osor to bounce. “Historically, there is no doubt about it: the sanctuary has always been ours”, says a representative of the Platform Save the Virgin of the Coll d’Osor. From the neighborhood organization, in addition, they assure that this is well known on the part of Susqueda and even accuse the mayoress of the neighboring municipality of knowing it perfectly: “She herself recognizes it”. According to the mayor of Osor, there is still time to present allegations and they believe that, for now, Susqueda has made a unilateral modification of terms.
In fact, Viñolas admits that the move is coming because, “tired” of having asked for a part on multiple occasions, “now they want it all”. The mayor also explains that before the Generalitat commission they proved that the neighborhood is part of Susqueda based on the water, electricity and road bills, which have always been paid by their town council. Joan Pla, however, assures that Osor has offered “on multiple occasions to pay the bills in half”. From the platform that wants to fight to preserve the Osoren sanctuary, they do not hesitate to assure that Mayor Viñolas has “personal interests” in the area.
Be that as it may, there is still an unknown: whose is the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Coll?
2024-03-29 11:00:57
#sanctuary #Virgin #Coll
