-How do you approach your return to politics?
-Well, I think with a lot of encouragement. Now that one has taken such an important and responsible step, well, the truth is, yes, with a lot of encouragement.
-What prompted this step to the CCN, your friendship with Ignacio González?
-No, I think I was driven to take this step by two very important factors. One is the situation of Lanzarote, in which Lanzarote was and still is. I think that people who feel Lanzarote and who see what is happening, who have seen the evolution of the Island in recent years, the shame that exists in the Cabildo with so many presidents in such a short time, I think that those of us who have been in politics cannot be immune to what is happening. That, on the one hand, and on the other hand, I also received a call from Ignacio González telling me how long I was going to continue like this. And I replied, well, look, I think it's time, given what's happening in Lanzarote, to take a step and get involved. At least this is what I want to contribute from my watchtower to this island so that these things that are happening don't happen because it's a shame.
-Obviously it is clear that what is happening on the Island is crazy. However, a citizen has contacted us by e-mail stating that you were meeting last weekend in a hotel in Costa Teguise with María Dolores Luzardo.
-(Laughs). I think that lady is mistaken. It's not that I deny it, it's that I wasn't in any hotel on Friday. I was precisely with other people and then... But look, in the morning I was at my job and in the afternoon, from four in the afternoon until seven, I was painting an old door that I have in my house. So, if it was at that time, that good lady certainly hasn't seen me, because I was at my job and at my house with the door open.
-You haven't met with María Dolores Luzardo?
-No, no, I haven't spoken to Loly for a long time. The last time I did was when she was in a public office. She was and still is in a public office. And it was for a very specific issue, for something from the administration, but nothing more. But of course, I get along well with Loly until now, I get along well with everyone. I don't have any problem with anyone.
-So nothing at all?
-No, no, no. If it were true, I would tell you yes, but I haven't met with that lady.
-But with the people of the PNC, yes.
-I haven't met with them either. The only person I have met with, but it was to go out to dinner with a group of friends, was with the president of the PIL, Don Antonio, this weekend. We went to eat at a restaurant, but seven or eight friends and we talked about trivial things and not about politics. But I insist, it was a recreational outing, so to speak, with a group of people where we both coincided. But nothing more. As for the rest of the people, the truth is that I haven't met with anyone.
-It is expected that the CCN in Lanzarote will hold a series of important meetings in the coming days.
-This Wednesday we have a National Board in Tenerife and on the 23rd we have a CCN convention in Lanzarote, possibly in San Bartolomé, in the Güime area, where we will hold a convention with all the colleagues, affiliates and supporters of the CCN so that they are with us on the 23rd.
-You get along very well with Cándido Armas, for example.
-I get along well with Cándido Armas, well, yes. I think that in Lanzarote there is no one who has been a politician with whom I get along badly. It's very rare, you understand. If anything, someone from my party will get along badly with me. It's curious this. From my old party, but I think that of the people who have been and who have had government tasks, I don't think I get along badly with anyone. And with Don Cándido, I get along well, of course.
-Would you like him to be with you in the CCN?
-I think that in Lanzarote there are many valid people who are calm in their homes, doing their jobs, a little passing but angry about what is happening in Lanzarote.
-What is happening in Lanzarote?
-Nothing is happening, right?, (Laughs).
-Are you aware of what is happening in the south?
-Yes, and then I was saying that there are many valid people who are a little angry about not doing something to improve what is happening. I think that Don Cándido 'Chacón', as he is known, is one of them and yes, of course, I would like him and another group of people to be with us.
-I know that you have invited many people to join the CCN.
-I can tell you that I have not spoken with many people, but those I have spoken with will be part of this party in the short term if the committee and the people of the party so decide. But yes, yes. I have not spoken with many people but those I have spoken with, I know that they will be there in a short time.
-We know some of those people we have spoken with.
-You know many things. In what you were saying about the south, I think that what is happening in that area of the Island is a little alarming, a little serious. It is very serious because
there are two things, either one part is right or the other part is right. Either the City Council is right or the Cabildo is right.
-It gives the impression that the City Council had something to hide when it did not provide the files requested by the Cabildo.
-I am very concerned about this issue because this type of action first puts a very important group of workers from those hotels in suspense. So I think that a thousand family homes could be at stake, not to mention more, that are in the air thinking about whether they close it, don't close it, go to unemployment or not, in an economic situation that is also not very buoyant. Second, important investments have been made that are authorized because they have been made now. With this type of action, whether one is right or the other is right, and I reserve my particular opinion, but I do believe that what it does is scare away investment. That is, without going into whether the one who gave the license was to blame or the one who thinks it is wrong, but it scares away investments. I think that a person who wants to spend 30 million euros (5,000 million pesetas) on the island to build a large hotel will think four or five times before doing this. Obviously there are those responsible and those responsibilities must be purged with whoever it corresponds to. I have been doing calculations lately and there is an important thing. That is, Lanzarote until a year ago, a year and a half or two years ago, was the third island of the Canary Islands and I think that now we are the fourth or fifth. We have lost an impressive weight in the economy of the Canary Islands. I can assure you that Fuerteventura at this time, which was far behind us, now surpasses us. That is, the level that exists in Fuerteventura, the per capita income, the investments, the level of services, the vision of the future that that island has, I think that it has already surpassed us by far. And look, La Palma, which was also behind us, because the product that gave it strength was tobacco, we surpassed it with tourism, I think that it also surpasses us. I don't have updated data but it surpasses us. And what is that, that is the fault of the bad management, of the political irresponsibility that has existed in recent years. I think it is time for us to stand up and plan for the future. It is disgusting when you talk in a meeting and you find out about a number of things, about unjustified assets, about donations of things in different parts of the island of madness. I think that the people here on the Island think that being in politics is having an impressive fortune in a short time as they say some people have. I think that we have to put an end to this now and think about Lanzarote. If you are a politician, you owe a duty, an obligation, a salary because you are going to be there all the time and think about Lanzarote, but we are falling very far behind with the internal wars that people have here and with the thinking of the politicians who are governing, of the majority of them, in themselves nothing more and I think that is bad for Lanzarote and that is what is happening.
