Ecologistas en Acción has denounced in a press release this Tuesday the decision of the Cabildo de Lanzarote to initiate the procedure to grant the provisional tourist license to the illegal Sandos Papagayo hotel, formerly Papagayo Arena. The environmental defense group points out that this hotel "is one of the greatest symbols of corruption in Lanzarote, which sentenced politicians and businessmen to prison and imputed more than 200 involved after the Yate Case".
The controversial Papagayo Arena is one of the 22 hotels that had their licenses declared null in Lanzarote and one of the three that have not yet been able to legalize their situation. Ecologistas en Acción has recalled that the illegal Sandos Papagayo hotel "lacks a tourist license and violates the Island Plan of Lanzarote and the Partial Plan, occupying more than 200,000 square meters of public land, violating the maximum height allowed, the floors built, the number of accommodation places and invading, in addition, the public road accessing the beach of Las Coloradas, which can only be reached from inside the hotel".
Specifically, its license was declared null by the Justice in 2007 by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands for committing serious urban planning infractions. Then, in 2016 it was declared criminal by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas, which sentenced the then mayor of Yaiza José Francisco Reyes to six years in prison and disqualification and decreed the embargo of all his assets.
Despite all these breaches, the establishment "remains open and operates normally," emphasizes the Ecologist group. Thus, it adds that the licenses for this hotel were granted irregularly by the former mayor José Francisco Reyes, "protagonist of one of the largest corruption schemes in Lanzarote, who authorized thousands of tourist beds and ended up in prison after the sentence of the Yate Case".
Reyes acknowledged in the Provincial Court the “commission of the crimes against land management that were imputed to him” and having been “fully aware, when issuing the urban planning licenses for the twenty illegal hotels, the Marina Rubicón port and the partial plan of Playa Blanca, of their non-conformity with the urban planning that was applicable to him, as well as the lack of legal and technical reports that would cover such an arbitrary municipal decision”, admitting, in addition, the collection of bribes to process the licenses.
Public land occupied by the hotel
The General Directorate of Coasts and the Sea published on July 8 the definitive demarcation of Coasts in Playa Blanca. This document determined that the Protection zone for the partial plan of Las Coloradas must occupy a width of 100 meters, so most of the hotel establishment is within the new easement.
"The strip that must be freed for public passage and where the construction of houses and hotels is prohibited includes the stretch of coast where the illegal Papagayo Arena hotel is located", highlights Ecologistas. Meanwhile, "the hotel developer recently requested the annulment of the new demarcation, which directly affects the tourist complex, arguing that there is no nothing to protect” in that coastal area, as La Voz already reported.
The environmental group states that despite the "more than proven" illegality of the hotel establishment, the Cabildo de Lanzarote, presided over by Oswaldo Betancort (Coalición Canaria), included in the Government Council of last Monday, August 19, the proposal for approval of the concession to the entity Papagayo Arena SL of the authorization of the project and provisional classification in the modality of hotel accommodation establishment in the typology of five-star hotel.
"The Papagayo Arena hotel is one of the greatest symbols of corruption in Lanzarote, which sentenced politicians and businessmen to prison and imputed more than 200 involved after the Yate Case", while stating that "the intention of Coalición Canaria to legalize the situation of a hotel that violates all possible regulations is one more example of the speculative policy and against the general interest that characterizes them, using public institutions for the defense of private interests and against legality or any regulation or protection of the territory that is put before them".
The environmental group relates this case to the position that Coalición Canaria maintains "against the demolition order of the Oliva Beach hotel in Fuerteventura, which despite the irregularities and the expiration of the concession, defend the continuity of the hotel complex and its private interests against everything".
To conclude, Ecologistas en Acción has demanded Oswaldo Betancort and the Yaiza City Council, the last institution responsible for the regularization of the illegal hotel, "the paralysis of any procedure that implies the legalization of this symbol of corruption, that they comply with the law, listen to the citizens and lead Papagayo Arena to its fairest end: demolition".