"I am affected because it is a family that I have known all my life, and with the concern of knowing that one is no longer safe even in their own home." This is how the mayor of Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, has spoken after the brutal assault suffered last Wednesday by a couple in their home in Playa Blanca. The couple, who were transferred by helicopter to the Doctor Negrín Hospital in Gran Canaria, remain in the ICU, he in serious condition and she in critical condition. And although they remain "stable", they have not yet been able to operate due to the severity of the injuries.
"We are very helpless, we cannot continue like this," says the mayor, who questions the shortage of Civil Guard officers in the municipality. "That night we had a couple of the Local Police and one of the Civil Guard. That's very little," she admits.
Regarding the police force that depends on her, Acuña maintains that the City Council "complies with the ratios" of the number of officers per inhabitant, although she acknowledges that "perhaps" they will have to "study and take a look at the organization" and the shifts, "to see how we can improve."
"They do what they can, but there are very few"
However, with regard to the Civil Guard, she considers that the situation is "catastrophic." "And not only with the Civil Guard barracks in Yaiza, but also with the Seprona," Acuña points out. "We cannot continue like this. The personnel there do what they can, but they cannot do more because there are very few," she emphasizes.
In this regard, she explains that last week she had scheduled a meeting with the Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Enrique Hernández Bento, but it did not take place because he was removed from his position. "Now we will have to wait for the new delegate to take office," Acuña points out. When that meeting with Mercedes Roldós arrives, the mayor anticipates that this will be "one of the priorities" that she will convey to her, "because we cannot continue like this."
"If you can no longer be calm in your house, if you enter your house and find someone waiting for you to brutally beat you," the mayor states, who considers it urgent that the "staffs be completed" to guarantee security in the municipality.
