"This can't be allowed anymore." This is how Myriam Barros has expressed herself, denying that she has usurped the presidency of Las Kellys and announcing legal action against Eulalia Corralero. "I have been harassed and undermined by this woman for three years, from the moment I was appointed president," said Barros, who stated that she did not even participate "in the assembly" in which it was decided to expel Corralero from Las Kellys in 2016, who created the first Facebook page using this name, which later led to the birth of this association. The Podemos councilor in the Cabildo has also defended herself against the statements in which Eulalia Corralero accused her of having used the presidency of Las Kellys to enter politics.
- Eulalia Corralero accuses you of having usurped the presidency and even assures that it still appears in the National Registry of Associations of the Ministry of the Interior. What do you have to say to these accusations?
- Of course, when the association was registered in Madrid, the first time it was registered, it was her, me, there was a person from Cádiz, one from Barcelona and another from Madrid. The association was registered and she was the president, so far. Then later, in June, she was expelled, and in November another assembly was held where I was appointed president. And in the registry that was first made of the statutes to initially register the association, of course she appears, because she was the president at that time, but subsequently things have been happening. A new presidency was appointed, we have been functioning and you have all seen the trajectory we have had. And what has happened? That I recently made some statements that have stung a lot with this issue of the chambermaid who was attacked in Playa Blanca. I gave the name of the hotel and the union that was there and obviously I have many enemies, because I speak very clearly, and I am not surprised that this woman has received pressure to make these statements now because, if not, I cannot explain it. What I can offer is all the documentation, and I invite this woman that if she believes that I have usurped something, to go to the Courts and denounce it, because it would not be the first complaint that her association has for these things, and not on my part precisely.
- You have shown the minutes of the assembly in which you were appointed president, but what Eulalia Corralero says is that she was expelled illegally?
Well, let her prove that we have done it illegally. I was on vacation at that time, I know that an assembly was held where it was decided to expel her, an assembly in which I did not participate, and then a burofax was sent to her communicating the decision of the assembly. If that is not a legal way to do it, let her explain to me what it is. She says it's illegal. Of course I have no knowledge of any lawsuit or anything at all, nothing has reached me.
- But she maintains that she did not report it because she could not afford a lawyer and because she did not want to get into controversies, maintaining that she preferred to create another association under the name of Las Kellys Unión Confederadas?
- If something like that happened to me, I wouldn't think twice or wait three years, or wait for the association to achieve all the achievements it has achieved. My work for the chambermaids speaks for me. Everything that the association, not me, because behind me there are many women, but everything that Laskellys.org has done, speaks for us. We have presented proposals in Congress to modify the Workers' Statute, we have gone to the EU to comply with the regulations on safety and health, we have presented many projects, we have had 100,000 meetings, it is known by everyone that we have more than 200 complaints in our power, that we hold rallies, that we denounce every case of irregularity, I don't know what else is expected of us. We are working on a project with the University of Las Palmas, we apply for subsidies... And if someone thinks that subsidies are given to an association that is illegal, well my goodness... So, what I think is that when someone makes statements like these, they have to have documentation to argue. I have been harassed and undermined by this woman for three years, from the moment I was appointed president.
Obviously, this is what she doesn't say. That there has been a subsequent assembly, that other positions have been appointed, another board of directors... this she doesn't say. So, of course, when I make accusations of this caliber, what I at least think is to have, not to go to the Courts, to have documentation to prove it. And that the person I am accusing is not going to take out documentation that leaves me in evidence as is what is happening.
This has already gone too far. I have been suffering this for three years keeping my mouth shut, my colleagues and I. On many occasions I have asked her to stop, because I have to remember that Las Kellys is a registered trademark in my name and that of the colleague from Madrid, who is the current vice president. So, this woman, Eulalia Corralero, called us one day in Tenerife to ask us to give her the brand, because she had to expel some colleagues from Ibiza, Mallorca or I don't know where, and that she couldn't do it because she didn't own the brand. So I refused and told her no, because the brand was registered precisely for that, so that all women could use the brand, even you. Because if I wanted to, you couldn't use the Kellys brand either, because I paid for it, I paid for it for 10 years. It is a registered trademark in my name and that of the colleague from Madrid and if you want I will pass you the documentation too. Therefore, I am being so good that I let her use the brand for three years and I keep my mouth shut. And this woman allows herself the luxury of coming to divide a group that is already quite fragmented and punished. I think it's a shame, sincerely.
- And then why does Eulalia Corralero still appear as president of Las Kellys in the National Registry of Associations?
- We have made a written request for the change of fiscal address and president and that change has not yet been processed, but well...
- And when did you submit that written request?
- Well, I can't tell you the exact date, because I don't take care of those issues, but the colleague who is in Madrid does, because since the association was registered there, all the documentation is done from there.
- But was that change request recent?
Not recent, I don't remember the dates well, but if I remember correctly it was when she was expelled, shortly after. The minutes I have are from November, so it would be at the end of November or the beginning of December 2016. In any case, I was this morning at the Registry Office and what they told me is that those are annexes. When you present an association, you present some statutes and a founding act and that is the one that is registered. Then annexes are presented when there is a change, as I am telling you the change of fiscal address, board of directors, and all these things
- So, if that request was registered after Corralero's expulsion, which took place in 2016, what do you think is the reason why she still appears as president of Las Kellys in the National Registry of Associations? Why hasn't the Ministry processed the change?
Or it has managed it. The registry that appears is the first one that was presented, I understand that it will be for that reason, I don't know. At the moment we are finding out, because all this has caught me by surprise. I don't know, sincerely, but I can assure you that all those documents are presented. What's more, we receive subsidies and subsidies are not given to associations that are not legally registered.
- Despite all this confrontation, you went together to La Moncloa last year to meet with the then President of the Government, Mariano Rajoy. Why?
Exactly, because I called her, and I have witnesses that this was the case. Who got the meeting for us to go to Moncloa was the senator María José López. And when María José came to talk to me, she said 'Myriam you have to go to La Moncloa, you decide who goes, you meet and decide who goes'. And we, within the association of Las Kellys, Las Verdes, were going to go one from each territory, and I was the one who said I thought this was something very big, not that it was going to weaken us or that we were in a weak moment, on the contrary, going to La Moncloa was when we felt strongest. And I said to María José, what do you think if I invite Eulalia, because there we have to be represented all Las Kellys and this is not about colors, but about chambermaids and fixing our problems. And I myself picked up the phone and said Eulalia, we have been invited to La Moncloa and I want you to come. And she started well, you have kicked me out. And I said, look, it's not the moment, if there is something that has bothered you, I apologize on behalf of the association but I think it's time to bury everything and go together. And that's why she came to La Moncloa and was the only one from Las Kellys Unión. If you look at the photo, there is a woman with a white shirt, and she was the only one because we invited her and we did it even knowing that the maids of her association wanted to put on a show in La Moncloa, because she doesn't tell that either.
- What show were they planning to put on in Moncloa?
-They wanted to go and rebuke the president the day we were going there, because we were going and they weren't, because they wanted to go one from Tenerife, one from Gran Canaria, and we told them no, that that meeting had been achieved through María José López, and that we had already had the courtesy to invite their president, and they didn't like it either. And María José had to talk to them, calm them down so that they wouldn't put on a show there, and in the end Eulalia came, but because I called her.
- Eulalia Corralero says that after that meeting in Moncloa the relationship went wrong again and now she is calling for unity. How can you unite after all this?
It's not after this, as I tell you I've been living this for three years. This is the way she has to unite. If you notice, I can make a chronology, every time Las Kellys Las Verdes achieve something or go to some important place or something, they jump with comments on Facebook. This has been like this for three years, what's more, every time we have done something with a university professor or we have gone to a talk or something, they have contacted the organizers of the event behind the scenes telling all this that you have told and nobody has believed them, because I have always had all the documentation and I have presented it.
- So, it's a war that comes from a long time ago?
- Obviously, and this already... one is tired as I say... and yesterday I said look, I'm not going to enter, because I'm not going to give this woman prominence, but seeing later that it had jumped to the media, obviously, I say well yes, here I have to speak, I have to tell and I have to take legal action because this can't be allowed anymore, but not for me, but for all the women who are behind breaking their horns, making rallies, denouncing, taking time from their families to accompany women to the Court, to psychologists, that is, we are not going to allow it anymore.
- Apart from accusing you of usurping the presidency, Eulalia Corralero also accused you of having used it to enter politics?
- In this sense, and it is known by all, that it has been Podemos who has called me, I have never called Podemos. And if they have called me I think they would see something in me. People who fight, people who fight in the street, people who have been breaking their faces for others for years, what usually happens is that political parties, when there are elections, call them to see if they want to enter their lists. Now, if you have not done anything during these three years, obviously they do not call you from anything.
- But before going on the lists of Podemos to the Cabildo in the last elections, you had been in Somos Lanzarote. You were on their lists to the City Council of Yaiza in the 2015 elections and you even announced your intention to run again with them in the last elections to the Cabildo...
- I am not going to hide that I have always liked politics, that I have been a member of Podemos since it was created. You all also know that I was offered to run on the lists of Somos when Borja Rubio tried to break everything that is Somos to run in the elections with Nueva Canarias. And yes, I was in the elections of Yaiza too, but because I have always been involved in social movements. That then I have been in Las Kellys and I have been offered to enter politics? I have to say that the first time I was offered to run on the lists I said no, and it was the Kellys of Lanzarote themselves who encouraged me to say yes. Therefore, I have always had the support of the women who work side by side with me and I still have it.
- What first time are you referring to? When was it on the lists of Somos in Yaiza?
No, look, I was in those of Yaiza in the previous elections, when Las Kellys did not exist. Then I moved away from politics, I started with Las Kellys, and then it was when Borja Rubio called me to offer me to enter the new project with Nueva Canarias. I told Borja that I was going to think about it and then Noemí Santana called me and offered me to enter the lists of Podemos and I said no. But then, in a meeting that was held in the Sociedad Democracia, where Victoria Rosell and Meri Pita came, and María del Río was there, María del Río spoke to me again. We had invited a group of Kellys to that meeting to talk about the problems of Las Kellys and in that meeting I was proposed to enter the lists and I said no again and my colleagues were with me and they were the ones who told me 'Myriam, say yes, because there we have the possibility to do more things'. And it is being demonstrated, because in the last plenary session a motion was approved for the Cabildo to take a position on cases of sexual assault in private companies. Therefore, I am always going to do everything in my power to improve the conditions of the chambermaids. It is what I have done from the beginning and what I am going to continue doing, whether you like it or not. That's what there is.
