The councilor and regional deputy of the Party of Independents of Lanzarote (PIL), Juan Antonio Betancor Brito, denounced yesterday, in his intervention in the Buenos Días program of Radio Lanzarote, that this series of robberies have arisen as a consequence of the elimination of the old Civil Guard post in the municipality of Haría.
"In Haría, certain robberies are taking place these days in houses and restaurants that are ending the image of a municipality that has always been characterized by its tranquility," he explained.
Regarding the possible citizen insecurity that tourists arriving in the northern municipality may notice, Betancor assured that there have already been several robberies in Punta Mujeres, in Arrieta and even in Haría.
Those charged with these robberies "take advantage of specific moments when they know there is no one in certain homes, as has happened in several houses in Punta Mujeres and in a restaurant in Arrieta.
After entering the homes - in which apparently there have been cases in which the residents of the home were inside - they appropriate cash if there is any, computer equipment and other valuables".
There is one thing clear for the councilor and parliamentarian of the PIL, and that is that the presence of the State Security Forces intimidates criminals. In this sense, Juan Antonio Betancor acknowledged that, although the population of the municipality is not high compared to the density of the rest of the towns on the Island, its wide extension has caused the Local Police officers to be "insufficient to control the entire area of Haría".
Therefore, the insular representative advocated for the need to demand the return of the main post of the armed institute in said enclave, since "tourist locations such as Arrieta or Órzola register a significant amount of movement of people per day, even doubling their usual population during vacations".
According to Betancor Brito, there are a total of eight Local Police officers in Haría, but this number of officials "cannot even complete the 24 hours with their shifts. There are police on the street until ten at night, then there are one or two people on duty, but who in no case go out on the street to patrol".
In addition to denouncing the loss of the Civil Guard services in Haría, the PIL representative revealed that, "although now the City Council intends to enable six new Local Police positions, the staff has not been expanded since then either", with which "Haría is still below the number of agents needed to cover the security of the municipality". As a clear example of this deficit of human resources, Juan Antonio Betancor criticized that every time a traffic accident occurs in the municipality, the Local Police has to go, "leaving the rest of the territory unprotected".
Former PIL colleagues
In another order of things, the regional parliamentarian was questioned about the birth of the new party Assembly for Lanzarote (APL), where former PIL members such as Celso Betancor or María Isabel Déniz appear.
"The staging of this new group of friends has not left us passive at any time," he said. "They have been preparing the matter for some time but it seems that it is not working out," he added. We are already quite consolidated and we have a large number of voters and members of the local committees that support us," he argued, announcing a total renovation of said PIL committees after the summer.
"What is clear is that throughout its 15 or 20 years of history, the Party of Independents of Lanzarote has had plenty of time to organize and to know very well the problems of the Lanzarote society, so we will work based on those principles". Betancor recalled that the PIL still has representation in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, the Island Council and the city councils of Arrecife, Teguise, Haría and Yaiza, with local committees in Tías and San Bartolomé.
General Plan of Haría
Regarding the response of the mayor of Haría, José Torres Stinga about the coalition of parties that have opposed the approval of the General Plan of Ordination of the municipality, the councilor also in the northern town considered that the words of the mayor obey to an "absence of arguments" against the criticisms made by this new platform.
"He compares us with El Lute and calls us speculators but we have not yet participated in the General Plan of Haría. Converting a rustic land without value into urban land to favor the construction of hotels that go against what is foreseen in the Island Plan, leaving the rest of the neighbors at a disadvantage, is speculating", he remarked. "The mayor of Haría will have a lot to explain and we will continue working," he concluded.
On the other hand, it should be remembered that the PIL has always been one of the most discordant parties with the treatment of Iberia to the Island, so Betancor questioned that "the airport of Lanzarote is the most suitable to claim the always fair labor rights". In this sense, the regional deputy attached to the Mixed Parliamentary Group presented, before starting his vacations, a battery of questions with a total of 12 questions that affect Lanzarote and that will receive an answer at the end of September, with the return of parliamentary activity.
