Acuña, on the workers of the La Santa shelter under investigation: "They have been removed from the center"

The Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote stresses that "the investigation is ongoing" and that "measures will be taken" depending on what "the judicial bodies determine"

April 18 2024 (12:07 WEST)
Updated in April 18 2024 (16:50 WEST)
Fire at the La Santa Juvenile Center
Fire at the La Santa Juvenile Center

The five workers being investigated by the Civil Guard for allegedly threatening and coercing minors at the La Santa shelter have been removed from their jobs at the center. This was confirmed this Thursday by the Minister of Social Welfare of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marci Acuña, in statements to La Voz.

"From minute one, the decision of the Entity that manages the center has been to remove these people from their daily work as a precautionary measure," he specified.

The Cabildo has stated that this measure "seemed appropriate and correct to us."

At the same time, the Minister wanted to remind that the investigation "is ongoing" and it will be based on "the conclusions" and according to what "the judicial bodies determine", so they will be "acting and taking the relevant measures."

In addition, he added that the workers have the "presumption of innocence".

Details of the event

These statements arise from the information published by the Civil Guard of San Bartolomé, who reported on Thursday morning that they are investigating five people for coercing and threatening at least five minors to commit different criminal acts in order to destabilize the daily organization of the center.

The Civil Guard became aware of the events following a complaint filed at the Main Post of San Bartolomé in which a minor user of the unaccompanied minors center of La Santa claimed to be being coerced by four educational assistants of the same to commit vandalism and disobey the internal regulations.

The investigated threatened the minors if they did not carry out the criminal acts with the arbitrary application of measures such as limiting outings, leisure activities and collecting weekly pay, in addition to making the minors believe that they could delay the processing of their legal residence documentation in Spain if they did not comply with their demands.

One of the rooms of the La Santa hostel after a fire
Five workers investigated for threatening and coercing minors from the La Santa shelter
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