“I think from the beginning they didn't want to give the permit, but they weren't serious about saying it couldn't be done”

A week after the official announcement of the suspension of the Rally Isla de Los Volcanes, reactions continue to occur. In this case, the president of the Canary Islands Automobile Federation has defended the organizer, assuring that he “did what he had to do” in the delivery of the permits, and it was the Cabildo “who did not meet the deadlines”.

“I think from the beginning they didn't want to give the permit, but they weren't serious about saying it couldn't be done”, Domínguez said on Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero, where he even recounted the methods in which he claims that the Cabildo's Environment Department contacted the organizer. “Ten days before the Rally they send a WhatsApp message to a friend of the organizer, telling him to see if they could tell him to go to the Cabildo to talk about the Rally”, he explains.

“The problem arises because the Environment Department fails to communicate with the organizer”, says the president, who adds that if a month before the Corporation had told the organizer that it was impossible to hold the rally on that date, “it would have been postponed”. “If they say so when we present the document there would not have been any problem, because the organizer doesn't mind doing it on one date or another”, he points out.

This communication, which he recalls took place ten days before the Rally was held, led to a meeting in which he says the Minister of the Environment, the Island Director, technicians and a lawyer were present. “The Minister at no time said that the rally could not be held. She said to make the modifications and that they would study them. At that moment, we read between the lines and think that they are going to look for a solution”, asserts the president, who adds that they continued forward because “they had the words of the councilors that they were going to be aware of the reports”.

“If they categorically say no, then we would have called the drivers and told them not to board, and we would not have made the presentation. Therefore, the expenses would not be so high”, adds the president, who reiterates that they were confident that there would be “a solution”.

“The Cabildo said that a solution had to be found and the route modified. They were told yes, and the route was modified and presented on the same day. Those reports had to go to the Government of the Canary Islands, they hurried and answered on the Monday before the Rally, and on Tuesday the Cabildo tells us yes, that only a report from technicians was missing and that there was no problem”, the president relates.

“That's why it went ahead, not because it was the organizer's stubbornness or a power struggle”, the president concludes, who also justifies the decision that CD Evesport has taken to suspend all its activity in Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, thus affecting all the rallies that were scheduled on the Island.

“He is very reluctant. I hope it serves as a before and after so that the administrations do not delay in the delivery of permits”, concludes the president of the FALP, who recognizes that this situation does not only occur in Lanzarote, but that in other islands they grant the permits “up to two days before”, when all the logistics are already set up.