Everyone knows politics is a dangerous game to play. However, not many would consider being mayor in a village of 37 residents could be downright deadly. Yet, the mayor of a little town in Spain has found that to be the case.
Mayor Murdered, Entire Village Suspected
Miguel Grima was the former mayor of Fago, a small village of 37 permanent residents in northern Spain. His last act of office was to be shot in the head and chest at point-blank range. He was found in a ditch the day after a late night council meeting in a nearby town. His wife had contacted the police when he failed to come home.
Obviously, this was no accident. The problem with this case will not be finding suspects; it will be eliminating them. The entire village population is considered to be suspects.
Mayor Grima had raised the ire of nearly every resident during is 12 years in office. He ran Fago as if he literally owned it all. People even felt Grima considered his own kingdom.
He put a stop the century-old custom of farmers running their livestock through town. He prevented home improvement projects. He shut down the bed and breakfast that was the only competition to his own guest house business. He even upset the only two children of the village by banning basketballs and hoops in the the central plaza, the only flat area in town.
According to one villager, there was hardly anyone who despised the mayor. Grima himself had shared accounts of numerous threatening letters and told friends he was afraid for his life. Another resident would only share a thinly veiled comment.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold. I’m not saying anything more than that.”
Learn to Lead. It Could Save A Life… Yours!
Certainly, any murder, planned or not, is an extremely tragic event. Even the above list of grievances many times over should never equal a human life. At the same time, it’s hard not to feel Mayor Grima had it coming to him. A person who so strongly turns people against himself is going to have it catch up to him one day.
This reminds of another blog post I recently read on leadership. The title and first point was referred to as the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule of leadership. The author stated 1/3 of the people you lead will always try to support you, 1/3 will remain neutral and 1/3 will be against you regardless. Obviously, these proportions did not hold for Miguel Grima. It does seem that even a great leader would have a difficult time getting a better ratio than 1/3 always on their side. The trick is to keep the neutral third appeased enough to shut-out the protests of the anti-yous.
Even if Fago, Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees had Internet access, I don’t think the leadership post would have done have helped Mayor Grima. It came out a week after he was murdered.
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