The mayor of San Bartolomé and general secretary of the Lanzarote PSOE, Dolores Corujo, traveled this Monday morning to the Las Cuevas de San Bartolomé area, where three homes built in the area protected by the Special Plan of La Geria have been demolished. Corujo, who has explained how this situation has been reached, has stated that she considers it "inconceivable" that the law is applied "to some and not to others, depending on the resources they have".
The houses, whose construction began in 2002, belong to three brothers from the area who "own the land and are also farmers in the area", according to the first mayor of San Bartolomé. A final and unappealable judgment through criminal proceedings has determined that the buildings must be demolished and condemns the owners to pay the costs of said demolitions. "They were asking for two and a half years in prison and that could be resolved with a negotiation," explains the mayor. After that negotiation and subsequent agreement, the court finally determined that it was up to "the owners" to bear the costs of "the execution."
This Monday the demolition has finally taken place, in which two Civil Guard cars have been present, with 7 or 8 officers, members of the court and almost a dozen operators who were in charge of the excavators as well as collecting the copper used for the electrical installations of the houses. Also the owners, who have preferred not to address the press, have been present in the process, observing the shovels begin the demolition.
"What this ruling does is grant a warrant to the Urban Environment Protection Agency (Apmun) to execute the demolition and restore the environment and the state prior to construction," Corujo explained. The mayor of San Bartolomé has said that the process began, as always in these cases, through administrative litigation. "In the administrative litigation they did not have legal services to advise them adequately and, by not appealing, the path continues through criminal proceedings until you find yourself in this situation." Corujo believes that "with the approval of the Geria Plan", if the owners had appealed the first administrative resolution, "there may have been some possibility" of keeping the homes standing, "given that the construction is prior to the approval of the plan", she has specified.
"Inconceivable situation"
For the mayor of San Bartolomé, it is "inconceivable" that the demolition has taken place because, she assures, "it seems that the law is for some and not for others." "If the law is applied and all the irregularities that exist on the island are demolished, we would be understanding the situation," Corujo asserted. The mayor has criticized that, in parallel with cases like this, there are "situations, known to all, in which the buildings are maintained, respected and ways of solution and legalization are sought." "If the law is for everyone, let's tear everything down," she concluded.
The councilor of San Bartolomé has assured that all the houses in the area are in the same situation. "They are out of order and within a protection zone. They all have open files and, as they have gone through the contentious route, the two procedures go together," she explained. This causes the process to be delayed.
The owners of the three houses, visibly saddened during the demolition, "are going to live in another family home" and "have not even wanted to take their personal belongings from the homes", Corujo explained.
