Andalusia’s Juanma Moreno to Play Baltasar in Seville Parade, Reviving Blackface Debate

The Ateneo de Sevilla has named Juanma Moreno, president of the Junta de Andalucía, to portray King Baltasar in the city’s 2026 Three Kings Day parade, scheduled for 5 January. Moreno said the appointment allows him to “fulfil a dream.” He will ride alongside Iván Bohórquez Domecq, vice-president of renewable-energy firm Smartener, as King Melchor, and Juan Ignacio Zafra, CaixaBank’s regional director for Andalusia, as King Gaspar. The choice has reopened debate about the parade’s longstanding practice of having white participants darken their skin to represent Baltasar, a custom critics label blackface. Sevilla is among the few large Spanish cities that still use the practice; some local politicians and advocacy groups argue the tradition should be revised to avoid racial caricatures. The controversy follows earlier criticism after a local businessman portrayed Baltasar in 2024, and comes less than a year before regional elections expected in spring 2026.