Pedro Sánchez arrives in Lanzarote to spend a few days of rest in La Mareta

The acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, arrived this Monday on the island of Lanzarote, where he will spend several days of rest with his family at the La Mareta residence, in the municipality of Teguise, as EFE has been able to witness.

Sánchez arrived on the island before seven local time (8:00 p.m. on the mainland) and it is currently unknown how many days he will remain in Lanzarote and if he will develop any public agenda even if it is a private trip.

Since he was invested as President of the Government for the first time, Sánchez has repeatedly chosen the La Mareta residence, in the Lanzarote town of Costa Teguise, to spend his vacations; the last time, last April, during Easter Week.

The building where he is staying is a complex built in its day for King Hussein of Jordan, who gave it to King Juan Carlos I in the late eighties.

Some time ago, the Royal House made this residence available to the National Heritage, where heads of State or Government such as the German Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder, the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev, the Czech President Václav Havel or the Spanish Presidents José María Aznar and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, as well as Sánchez himself, have stayed.

Before Lanzarote, Sánchez spent a few days on vacation in Marrakech.

The staff of the president's usual summer residence were expecting his arrival last Tuesday when, surprisingly, he was seen with his wife, Begoña Gómez, walking like any other tourist through the Jemaa el Fna square.

Sánchez, who traveled on a commercial airline to the Marrakech airport, landed in that Moroccan city to rest with his family before starting the new political year.

After a few days of rest in the Moroccan city, Sánchez and his family returned this Monday to Madrid on a commercial flight "entirely paid for", like the outward journey, by the president himself, according to sources from the Executive.

It was a "strictly private" trip, according to those government sources, and no institutional meeting was planned.

According to Moroccan media, the president and his family planned to spend a few days in Marrakech, after which they would visit Chefchaouen, considered the gateway to the Rif Mountains, and Tetouan, the former capital of the Spanish protectorate (1912-1956).

The fact that Sánchez chose Morocco has been interpreted as a "proof of normalization of relations" by the PSOE, while for the PP it has been a "provocation", which has also been criticized by the Polisario Front.

The getaway to Morocco was leaked to the press when it was published by Moroccan media, whose information was collected and confirmed by the Spanish media.