"I like that people from Lanzarote play in UD Lanzarote; and I like that in UD Las Palmas, if possible, preferably Canarians play; and I like that in the Spanish national team, preferably nationals and not assimilated people play." With this "football simile", the PIL councilor Manuel Cabrera has reaffirmed the comment that sparked the controversy this Tuesday in the Cabildo Plenary. Cabrera stated that, "as a Lanzarote native", he was "not very happy that a Valladolid native represents Lanzarote in the Senate".
The spokespersons for Podemos and Somos Lanzarote asked him to withdraw those words and reproached his comment. The PP spokesperson, a PSOE councilor, the representative of Ciudadanos joined the criticism, and this Wednesday, they have also been reproved from Nueva Canarias. Cabrera, however, refused to retract during the Plenary and this Wednesday he has insisted that he "would like the political representation of Lanzarote in the Senate, which is a chamber of territorial representation, to be one hundred percent from the Canary Islands and if possible from Lanzarote". "I'm very clear about it, and I don't know where the racism, xenophobia or anything is", he insisted, assuring that he "doesn't understand" what the criticisms are due to.
During the Plenary, the Podemos spokesperson recalled that José Ramón Galindo has resided in Lanzarote since he was 8 years old, for almost three decades. Asked about this, Cabrera told La Voz this Wednesday that he "had understood that he lived 8 years in Lanzarote", while acknowledging that he "does not know at all" the elected senator. He then added that, having been on the island for 28 years, "he already has a trajectory in our land and therefore can be one more of this boat, great". "Now what I'm starting to doubt is that he meets the conditions that should be required of someone to participate in politics", he added later.
"I doubt he is a worthy representative"
In this way, Cabrera introduced the controversy that has been generated by Galindo's alleged involvement in a drug trafficking case in 2008. That case against the elected senator was dismissed and filed by the judge "in accordance" with the Prosecutor's Office that same year and did not go to trial. Cabrera has also admitted that he "did not know" about Galindo's arrest when he questioned his origin in the Plenary and subsequently refused to withdraw that comment.
The island councilor has also alluded to his own origin, after the communication secretary of NC recalled this Wednesday on Radio Lanzarote that the PIL councilor was born in Gran Canaria. "I was not born in Lanzarote, but I have a trajectory, my blood is from Lanzarote, my family is from Lanzarote... if a party has decided to present me, then I have some circumstances and I am judged for that and I am presented for that", he considers. "It is clear that it is not essential to be born in one place or another, but it is true that there are a series of characteristics and circumstances and an establishment in a place that makes you participate in political life, that is what I want to say", he said.
"Today a comparison was made, for example, with María José Docal, who was president of the Cabildo and member of the PIL, and who is a person born outside the Canary Islands", he continued, in allusion to this fact recalled by Carlos Meca. "For me, María José Docal is one more Canarian, for her trajectory, for her vital circumstances, for the many years established on the island, she is a person that I consider as one more Canarian", he pointed out.
When questioned about whether this would not also apply to Galindo, having been established on the island for 28 years, Manuel Cabrera reiterated: "I don't know, because the little I'm getting to know is starting to make me doubt that he is the ideal person to be the representative of Lanzarote in the Senate". "What would have been said if I run for the Senate and it turns out that I am suspected of being able to traffic with something or whatever? And even more so being from the PIL. Turn off the light then".
For the PIL councilor, the new senator has been "supported by the citizens blindly" who, "in a protest vote to the political parties for corruption and many things that are understandable, has voted blindly for Podemos in the hope that this will go better". "I don't know if Mr. Galindo is the worthy representative of Podemos and Lanzarote in the Senate", he added.
In this way, Cabrera has assured that he "does not know to what extent Podemos assessed whether Mr. Galindo is the appropriate person", "regardless of his place of birth", although he has also insisted on this last point again. "In any case, I still think that those who represent us in the Senate should preferably be from the land , but for the same reason that I like those who play in UD Las Palmas to be Canarians".
