Two of the councilors who were in the opposition in Yaiza in 2004 testified last Thursday in court and confirmed that the agreement that allowed the construction of Kikoland on public land was approved without any kind of report, despite the fact that it involved the free transfer of more than 30,000 square meters that should have been used for green areas.
"As stated in the minutes of that Plenary Session, I warned that there were no reports and asked that this item be removed from the agenda and that the vote not be carried out," the former PSOE spokesperson in the municipality, Marcial Valiente, told La Voz. In addition, although he did not want to go into details about his statement "out of respect for the judicial investigation," the councilor referred to what is stated in the minutes of that Plenary Session, in which he also warned that public land of the City Council was being ceded without even establishing the payment of a fee.
"It didn't seem acceptable to us, especially given the state of the City Council at that time. Although there was a lot of construction going on, the City Council was bankrupt", he recalls. Now, more than 16 years later, he celebrates that the Justice system is investigating these events, following the complaint filed three years ago by the then councilors of Podemos in the Cabildo, Carlos Meca, Griselda Martínez and Pablo Ramírez.
Initially, the judge had charged the former mayor, José Francisco Reyes, and the businessmen Juan Francisco Rosa and Juan Luis Lorenzo in this procedure, but now he has agreed to also summon all the CC councilors who voted in favor of that agreement in the Plenary Session as defendants, as requested by the Prosecutor's Office.
"I am always happy that all cases are investigated. Then we will see, but what I would like is for everything to be clarified," says Marcial Valiente. Regarding whether they did not consider going to the Courts to denounce this agreement at the time, he says that at that time they had "too many open fronts", in the midst of the boom in the granting of illegal licenses by Reyes in Playa Blanca.
"The truth is that it was a tremendous time. They were very hard years", recalls the councilor, who explains that at that time his party "tried to stop the Papagayo Arena hotel"; and the Cabildo had to go to the Courts so that the City Council would notify it of the licenses it granted. And the former mayor not only did not request the mandatory compatibility report with the PIOT, but also hid the permits he granted from the Island Corporation.
Regarding the parties that were in the opposition in the municipality, Marcial Valiente recalls that the mayor "tripped up" their work. "We had to copy the procedures by hand. They wouldn't let us photocopy them," recalls Valiente, who at that time was the only PSOE councilor in the municipality.
In addition, he explains that they were given access to the documentation that was going to go to the Plenary Session only one or two days before, without giving them time to analyze it. "To study it before the Plenary Session we had to be machines", he laments. "The truth is that yes, they were very difficult years," insists the former councilor, who at that time had just entered politics and retired as soon as that term ended, 13 years ago.
"Then things started to change. Reyes only lasted two more years and everything started to change a little," he adds, referring to the motion of censure that removed José Francisco Reyes from the Mayor's Office in 2008. Later, the following year he was arrested in the Yate case, for which he is currently serving a prison sentence, after confessing that he granted dozens of licenses knowing they were illegal and in exchange for bribes from different businessmen.
"I can't be happy that someone goes to prison, but I am happy that our grain of sand has served to put a little order in that City Council," adds Marcial Valiente.
"At that time we were not fully aware", he explains when asked if they suspected the level of corruption that existed in that City Council, where in addition to Reyes, several technicians have already been convicted along with him in different judicial cases. "At least I didn't think it was of such magnitude", he points out.
The former PP councilor also confirmed the objections he raised to the agreement
Regarding the Plenary Session in which the agreement to cede public land for free - occupying a space that should have been used for green areas with facilities such as Kikoland - was voted on, he insists that he asked that the vote not be carried out. "But they dragged with their majority," he says in reference to all the CC councilors, who will now have to testify as defendants in this case along with Reyes himself.
At that time, Coalición Canaria governed with an absolute majority with seven councilors, while the opposition was made up of the PIL (with four councilors) and the PSOE and the PP, with one each. And the three opposition parties voted against that agreement that has been investigated in this criminal case for three years, and those who were spokespersons for those parties have been summoned to testify as witnesses.
In the case of the former PP councilor, José Carlos Rojas, he also appeared last Thursday, and confirmed that he opposed the approval of the agreement because he did not think it was "beneficial" for the municipality, since it did not involve any type of payment for the occupation of that land. In addition, although like Marcial Valiente he pointed out that there were details that he did not remember due to the time that had passed, he ratified the content of the minutes of that Plenary Session, in which he also raised numerous objections.
Regarding the PIL, the spokesperson then was Gladys Acuña, who is also pending to testify as a witness in this case. Acuña led the opposition to Reyes for years and also voted against this agreement, although years after becoming Mayor she ended up being convicted in the Stratvs case, for having incurred in crimes of malfeasance for the benefit of the same businessman, Juan Francisco Rosa.
Along with her, other councilors were also convicted, some new and others from the time of José Francisco Reyes. One of them, José Antonio Rodríguez - who governed for years with Reyes and then joined the new party founded by Gladys Acuña - will now also be summoned as a defendant in this case, since in 2004 he was part of the CC group and voted in favor of that agreement.
