The Contentious-Administrative Court number 5 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has fully dismissed the injury appeal filed by the Haría City Council, under the mayoralty of the PMH and CC, against the Lanzarote Cabildo before the extrajudicial agreement on La Cueva de los Verdes reached in 2016. This agreement was signed during the mayoralty of Marci Acuña (Canarian Coalition), with the then island president nationalist Pedro San Ginés.
The City Council argued that this agreement harmed its interests, pointing out aspects such as the lack of monetary update and the interests in the stipulated payment schedule, which, according to them, implied an economic loss and damage to their rights.
The court analyzes the procedure for declaring injury and concludes that the City Council had not complied with the essential legal requirements, specifically the right of the Cabildo to be heard. "The contentious-administrative appeal promoted by the Haría City Council cannot prosper," the judicial ruling accessed by La Voz states, which also resolves that it is not appropriate to annul the agreements due to "the defenselessness suffered" by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, which was not notified of the procedure and "could hardly formulate allegations or provide evidence when it was completely unaware of the basis of the planned declaration."
For this reason, the Court has dismissed the appeal and has ordered the consistory to pay the court costs, which may not exceed 1,500 euros.
Reaction of the Cabildo
"This ruling, against which no appeal is possible, confirms the validity of the administrative acts adopted by the Island Corporation, thus safeguarding the ownership and correct use of the emblematic space of the Cueva de Los Verdes, one of the most valuable heritage and tourist enclaves on the island," the Cabildo states in a press release.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, stated in a press release that "the Cabildo has always complied with the commitments acquired with the Haría City Council, both with the initial agreement, approved by the City Council itself, and with the subsequent addendum referring to the economic income of the first Corporation to the coffers of the consistory."
Betancort hopes that with this latest judicial resolution "the well-known conflict of the Cueva de Los Verdes will finally end, which has been in the courts for more than a decade." Finally, the president also highlighted that "this lawsuit has been defended by the Corporation's own legal advice without the need to go to external firms."
