The new agreement to end the lawsuit of the Cueva de Los Verdes was finally approved this Saturday by the Plenary of Haría, in a close vote marked by division within the ranks of Coalición Canaria. Of the five nationalist councilors, one voted in favor, another against and three abstained. For its part, the Municipal Platform of Haría of José Torres Stinga voted against and the PSOE voted in favor.
The confusion caused by the unexpected vote of the CC councilors has even led to repeat the vote again, to clarify and confirm what the result had been. And again, it has left four votes in favor, four against and three abstentions, and the tie has been resolved with the quality vote of the mayor, the socialist Alfredo Villalba. Afterwards, already at the exit of the session, even tears have been seen in one of the councilors of Coalición Canaria, and several have recognized the "pressures" they have suffered in recent days from their own party. And it is that the Permanent of CC approved last Monday to reject this new agreement, pointing out that it supposes a "disloyalty" to the agreement signed in its day by San Ginés and by the then mayor, Marci Acuña. Since then and until late this Friday, other internal meetings took place that have finally ended with each councilor voting freely.
Thus, the only councilor who has strictly followed the line marked by the island leadership and has voted against has been Víctor Robayna, who has not even intervened in the Plenary to explain his vote. Three others have chosen to abstain and the one who has ended up tipping the balance has been Armando Bonilla, who has waited until the end of the Plenary to announce the meaning of his vote and also to justify it. In his speech, Bonilla has lashed out at all parties, including his own at the island level, and has referred expressly to his colleague Pedro San Ginés, who was the one who signed the previous agreement as president of the Cabildo. "Some say it was done to save the ego, I don't know. Maybe it's true", he pointed out, referring to the fact that this agreement did not include the terms "compensation" or "damages", which is what was established in the judgment that the Corporation presided over by San Ginés lost against the City Council of Haría.
Precisely that is what is now included in this new agreement, which will be incorporated as an addendum to the previous agreement, committing the Cabildo to deliver 12.9 million euros to the City Council with a payment plan of fifteen years. “We cannot put personal egos or power struggles before the benefit of the people. We cannot have that hatred and that lack of respect that is seen,” Bonilla warned. “Despite the bad arts of all the parties, my vote is positive because I think it is the best economically and the most immediate way to get the money, and in these times, with the Covid crisis, we will need it,” he concluded.
Before, in an extensive intervention in which he has reviewed what has happened in recent years, he has also had criticisms for the PSOE and for the Municipal Platform of Haría of José Torres Stinga. Regarding his government partner, he has reproached him for not giving them the draft of the new agreement with more time and that he had been "worried about making an addendum in which it is written that there are winners and losers". In addition, he has also criticized the attitude of the PSOE in the Cabildo, since in the past legislature he governed with San Ginés when this agreement was approved. "If they signed the first agreement, they are just as guilty as Coalición Canaria", he questioned, including his own party in the criticism.
Regarding Pepe Torres, he recalled that he was the one who initiated this lawsuit when he was mayor of the municipality and has accused him of "not trying to reach an agreement from the beginning" and of now being "trying to confuse the people", by voting against this addendum to the agreement, which does include compensation to the municipality. "And very bad CC insular. And I say it like this because that's how I felt it", added the councilor, who has stressed all the meetings he has had to hold this week -with his party and in turn with lawyers and technicians- "to be able to make the right decision in this agreement", which he has described as "the most important issue that has been taken to this Plenary in many years".
In addition, he has announced that he puts his act at the disposal of the party, “so that it is clear that this is not a favor to the PSOE nor is there any consideration”. Thus, he has left the decision of his future in the hands of CC, pointing out that if he considers that for this vote he must leave the City Council, he will do so. “And I will give way to my partner, who I am sure will do it perfectly”, he added, referring to the next on the list who could enter the City Council.
However, in the absence of the steps that the party can now take, the first thing that Armando Bonilla has received has been the support of another of his colleagues in the City Council, Chaxiraxi Niz, who became the head of the list of CC after the resignation of Marci Acuña and is currently the deputy mayor. "I am very proud of how you have acted. You have defended your values. Regardless of whether I agree or not with your decision, you have been a sincere guy. And that costs a lot", he began by saying.
Niz has also had reproaches to the PSOE for the "treatment" that he considers that they have given them with this issue. "It is not normal that our government partner has put us in the media in the way that he has put us with the previous agreement", he pointed out. In this regard, it should be remembered that the mayor has not made statements in recent days, although he did send a statement when convening this Plenary, attaching the legal reports that supported this agreement. In addition, he also sent another opinion from the Secretary and Intervention that warned that if the addendum was not approved, the procedure should be initiated to annul the previous agreement, since it was "harmful" to the City Council, as the compensation established by the judgment had not been included. Based on that second report, a second Plenary had been convened in case the vote was negative, to then declare the "harmfulness" of the agreement signed by San Ginés. However, it has finally not been necessary to celebrate it and the councilors of CC have avoided facing that second session, from which it was speculated that they could be absent.
"I support my partner, who has had a value that no one has had", the CC councilor has come to affirm, who in her case has opted for abstention. In addition, she has launched a veiled message to her party, pointing out that Bonilla "is a fundamental person in this group". "If we don't take care of ourselves at home, we can do little on the street", she added after alluding to her profession as a nurse, pointing out that this work has in common with politics that its objective must be "to take care". "We are in an absurd and stupid war and forgetting who we are", she lamented.
After the interventions of the two CC councilors, the mayor has taken the floor again to thank them for the meaning of their vote and especially the "courage" of Armando Bonilla. In addition, in response to Chaxiraxi Niz, he has apologized and has pointed out that he assumes "all the errors" that his formation may have committed. "No political party has won here. No councilor has won here. The only ones who have won are the residents of this municipality", Villalba sentenced, thus celebrating the approval of an agreement that will allow the City Council to receive almost 13 million euros and end a lawsuit that had lasted a decade.
Now, the agreement must also be approved by the Plenary of the Cabildo to proceed later to its signature. The next step will be to present it to the Court that issued the judgment, to proceed to its homologation as execution of the ruling, which is what was never done with the agreement signed in 2016.
