The Nationalist Group (CC-PNC) in the Cabildo of Lanzarote has accused the president of the Cabildo, Mlaría Dolores Corujo, of "lying again by assuring, through an official press release, that the rule prevents agricultural markets." "There is no rule that prevents the operation of this activity," says CC spokesman Pedro San Ginés, who states that "the evident proof of this new lie by the socialist leader is that agricultural markets operate in the rest of the islands, even in Gran Canaria, with a similar or greater outbreak of Covid than in Lanzarote."
The closure of food markets was agreed again in Lanzarote after the Canary Islands Government tightened restrictions on these two islands at the end of August, but CC now assures - following the protest started by a farmer at the doors of the Cabildo - that these restrictions did not prevent their opening.
Coinciding with the debate sparked by that protest by Manuel Peláez, CC has announced that it will present an urgent motion in the Plenary session that the Cabildo is holding this Friday, so that the so-called Island Coordination Table - which includes all the town councils, including those governed by Coalición Canaria - "promotes, drives, coordinates and supports the reopening of local agricultural markets, complying, of course, with the security measures established to prevent the possibility of contagion by Covid-19."
The request comes two days before the restrictions imposed on Lanzarote are lifted, which end on the 26th, as the incidence of Covid cases on the island has been significantly reduced.
"Agricultural markets for the sale of local products are an essential activity, not only because they are products necessary for the consumption and supply of the population (as is the case with large stores) but also because of what it means as an opportunity for survival for the already battered and very small local business agricultural fabric," CC argues in a statement.
In addition, Councilor Domingo Cejas believes that "it also makes no sense for the president to have communicated to the town councils the impossibility of opening agricultural markets without authorization from the Government Delegation." "Another lie. Neither the government decrees prohibit their opening, as both the president and her Minister of Agriculture have said, nor is authorization from the Government Delegation necessary, although it is true that they must meet a series of requirements and obtain authorization from the Health Department," he added.
"Neither the decree of June 19, which regulates this type of activity, nor the latest of September 11, prevents the opening of agricultural markets, as the secretary of the institution has corroborated to the CC-PNC spokesperson in a verbal consultation," the party maintains.
"Given the absence of any agreement from the island coordination table, the Tinajo Town Council, for example, plans to open its agricultural market, once it obtains authorization from the Health Department for the activity project adapted to the requirements of the latest decree, as a public use infrastructure," CC advances, after the agricultural market has remained closed, and just when the restrictions are about to be lifted.
"What is clear is that with adequate security measures, that is, the use of gel, distancing, masks, etc., there is much less risk of contact in an agricultural market than in a large store, to the extent that, to give just two examples, a market is outdoors and the consumer cannot touch the product until it is purchased, so, in our opinion, an abusive comparative grievance is being committed precisely with one of the sectors that we should protect the most," insists San Ginés.
