"At FCM, we advocate for demolishing anything that doesn't fit within the legal framework." This is how forceful the spokesperson for the César Manrique Foundation, Alfredo Díaz, was on the radio program "Buenos días, Lanzarote" on Radio Lanzarote. Díaz was referring both to the situation of illegal hotels and to the workshop of the Casa las Cúpulas, since "the Foundation will not force any situation to legalize it." "And whoever has the responsibility, should assume it," he added.
A responsibility that the Foundation attributes to the Teguise City Council. "It must be remembered that in the case of the Workshop of the Casa de las Cúpulas, not the house as a whole, that illegality is based on the lack of a legal report that the City Council should have attached," said Alfredo Díaz. He also pointed out that the legal services of the César Manrique Foundation are now studying the actions that can be carried out so that the City Council corrects the circumstances that, at the time, led the courts to declare the license illegal, "due to the lack of a legal report that the Council did not present in the application."
-Given the urban situation of the island and the position that the César Manrique Foundation has adopted, is the situation in which the Casa de las Cúpulas finds itself uncomfortable for you?
-Of course it is uncomfortable, especially when, unfortunately, there are attempts to distort the fact. So that everyone understands us: The problem of the illegality of the hotels has to do with the control of tourist growth and this is something totally different from what is being raised with the Workshop of the Casa de las Cúpulas, which in any case will have to do with strictly urban legality. Putting all this in the same bag leads to total confusion among the population. What we do want to make very clear is that we are in favor of demolishing anything that does not fit within the legal framework. Everything that the Law says should be thrown away, should be thrown away, that's how clear and forceful.
-Are you saying that if the courts stipulate that this recognized building must be demolished, the Foundation will accept it without further ado?
-Obviously, because it is not a responsibility of the César Manrique Foundation. I reiterate that everything that does not enter the legal system, to the ground, and whoever has to assume the responsibility should assume it.
-Considering the investment made by the FCM in this building, would you ask the City Council for responsibilities?
-When the Foundation undertakes the works in the Workshop of the Casa de las Cúpulas, it does so within the framework of the Law. It would not occur to anyone that we were going to get into a situation of illegality. When the license is granted to us from the Government of the Canary Islands and from the City Council, it is in response to criteria of exceptionality because they are works of general interest and public utility. In other words, at no time does the Foundation skip the law.
-Is there really a possibility of giving a letter of legality to this construction?
-Faced with this new situation that is now opening up, what we have done is put the matter in the hands of our legal team and from there, we will make the corresponding decisions. In any case, what we can assure is that the FCM will not force any situation to legalize the workshop of the Casa de las Cúpulas.
-Is there no response from the Foundation so that the City Council somehow continues to manage what could be a legalization, now that there is a period of 3 months?
-I reiterate that the FCM is not going to force any legalization situation. At the time, in its time and form, we requested the license and it was granted to us. So we understand that this license has already been requested. Now it is up to the City Council, which is the one that will have to present, if applicable, that legal report that is necessary for legalization.
-What did the City Council ask the Foundation for in the statement it sent a few days ago?
-In it, we are informed that there are three months to try to attach documentation and, obviously, here we are already entering very precise and concrete legal issues and you will allow me not to assess it. It will be the legal department that determines in which direction we move forward.
-At the time, the FCM made a proposal to the Cabildo de Lanzarote to precisely transfer this facility, have you had a response from the first Institution of the Island?
-So far there has been neither a negative nor a positive response in this regard. What would be pertinent to highlight is that, in any moderately civilized place, when a cultural institution intends to make that cultural space bigger, we should congratulate ourselves on the fact that initiatives of this caliber arise. However, here everything seems to be the opposite and attempts are made to put everyone in the same bag.
-Some businessmen affected by the situation of illegal hotels compare that situation with this building, and assure that if the Casa de las Cúpulas is legalized, the same should be done with the hotels?
-This is a situation that is very good for that of "making a profit from troubled waters" and anyone with half a brain knows that this is the case. It would be good to go to concrete examples to understand what happens. In the case of hotels, for example, we choose one at random such as the Hotel Princesa Yaiza. This hotel requests a license to build four floors, suddenly the urban legality report carried out by the Cabildo discovers that what had been requested for four becomes six, and also, there are many jurists who are not sure that it is built only on land classified as tourist, but that it is built in part on land of a public nature, because at the time it should have been ceded to the City Council. We are not talking about the same things. What interests some is to talk and put everything in the same bag. It is a strategy like any other but in this case, this strategy is dismantled with ease and clarity.
