PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
The Party of Independents of Lanzarote and United for Yaiza presented this Friday their government pact for the southern municipality to the media. As La Voz de Lanzarote had already reported, the PIL has decided to support the former leader of the party in Yaiza, Gladys Acuña, who just five months ago left the PIL to form UPY with 9 other councilors from the government group. In this sense, the current acting mayor of the municipality has recognized that the change in the presidency of the island party has been "decisive" for the agreement.
Under this pact, the elected councilor of the PIL, Daniel Medina, will be in charge of the second Deputy Mayor's Office of the Town Hall and the areas of Youth, Sports and Culture. In this regard, Acuña has repeatedly reiterated that it is "an agreement of wills and not a distribution of power or armchairs." In that press conference, both formations have also shown themselves to be "open" to incorporating a third force into their alliance. "If another force wants to join and there is understanding, chapeau," Bermúdez said in this regard, while Acuña stressed that they want a "participatory government." The acting mayor added on this issue that they are holding "conversations" with the Socialist Party and San Borondón.
However, beyond the nature of the agreement, what has dominated a good part of the statements and also the questions from the press has been the fact that the PIL decides to support those who abandoned their party while holding the government of the municipality (together with councilors from NC and PP). "For me, this pact is a double satisfaction, because no one can deny that the PIL is a party that I had to leave with great regret", Gladys Acuña pointed out. "Gladys had to leave, but that is already in the past," said the acting president of the island party, Ramón Bermúdez.
Fabián Martín's departure, "decisive"
Asked about how Fabián Martín's resignation from the presidency of the PIL has influenced the sealing of this alliance, the acting mayor of Yaiza has acknowledged that this fact "has been decisive" in reaching an agreement. She has thus openly admitted that, although she left "without saying anything and without a bad word", her differences were specifically with the now former president of the formation.
"I am not talking to unknown people. It was very difficult for me to take the step I took, I perfectly understand Ramón's reproaches (when he left the party to form UPY) and perhaps I should have explained to my colleagues why I was leaving", she added. "They deserve all my respect; although I have left, they have all my affection and I believe that I have theirs", she added later about those who were her party colleagues. "I hope it is the first stone of a great future project with the PIL", she added.
For his part, the president of the islanders has stressed that Acuña's departure is "past" and has stressed that "we are in a time when dialogue will have to be constant." "When there are no majorities, you have to agree. You have to look forward and build together", he added. Asked if citizens will understand that his party reaches an agreement with its 'defectors', Bermúdez began by saying that he does not know if they will understand it. "But it does seem that the citizens have understood it: Gladys was the most voted, the people spoke on May 24", he concluded later.
