“I think it has been in bad faith, and I do not share those statements by Esther Gómez”. This is how Equo councilor Leandro Delgado referred to the press conference offered this Wednesday by his party, in which he announced that he has ordered his two councilors to leave the Lanzarote en Pie - Sí Podemos group and move to the mixed group.
Delgado has not clarified whether he will comply with that mandate, alleging that he must "reflect", but he has made it clear that he does not share the reasons given by his organization, one of them related to the group's accounts. In that appearance, the other Equo councilor, Esther Gómez, who is the regional co-spokesperson for the party, appeared with the other co-spokesperson, Paco Vaquero, and both assured that they do not have access to those accounts, despite having repeatedly requested them.
Leandro Delgado justifies that the municipal group does not give the account information to Verdes Equo and hides behind the fact that “it cannot be given to third parties”. In addition, he defends that the accounts of the municipal groups, as is the case of Lanzarote en Pie Sí Podemos, “are independent of political parties”.
He also denies that the other councilor of the group, Leticia Padilla, and he have not responded to the requirements. "Yes, there has been a response," he assured, stating that he even invited his party "to a space for dialogue and clarification of any doubts."
In addition, he maintains that the councilors do have access, and therefore Esther Gómez also. “I repeat, Esther Gómez and Leandro Delgado have access to that account. I think that communication has been in bad faith, and that information is not true, since I am also a councilor,” he says.
However, his partner says the opposite. "I don't know why Esther Gómez doesn't have access", "she will have to resolve it at the bank", he responded, inviting the councilor to "stop by the office whenever she wants" to see the expenses. “There is a filing cabinet there with the invoices, she can see them perfectly.”
In addition, he assured that the accounts “are clear” and that when they finish the mandate “all the expenses that have been incurred will be presented, and what has not been used will be returned to the municipal coffers”.
"These decisions cannot be made impulsively"
Regarding whether he will comply with his party's mandate and leave the Lanzarote en Pie - Sí Podemos group, Leandro Delgado has not given an answer: “These decisions cannot be made impulsively, they must be meditated and reflected upon”.
“The first thing I am going to do when I return from my vacation will be to go to the secretariat and ask how the procedure is”, points out the councilor, who currently shares the release that corresponds to the group with Leticia Padilla. “All this takes me by surprise, I don't know what the reasons are for this request, I also don't know if I can request the move to the mixed group per se, or if on the contrary that cannot be done directly and to non-attached. That has to be asked,” he adds.
“I was informed via email that I had to move to the mixed group on Tuesday, and on Wednesday there was a press conference that I didn't know was going to take place”, he pointed out. However, after the email he acknowledged that there was also a call from Paco Vaquero to explain the situation, although he did not inform him that they were going to convene a press conference the next day.
“I find it curious that, having spoken to him the night before, I was not informed that a press conference was going to take place, and that disconcerts one”, the councilor points out.
"He doubts" that this situation benefits Equo
In addition to questioning that they are hiding the accounts, Verdes Equo justified its decision on what happened in the group, in which Podemos is no longer represented. It was with that formation that they sealed the electoral alliance - which was given the name Lanzarote en Pie sí Podemos - but the representative of the purple formation was Leticia Padilla, who a year and a half ago left Podemos.
“Before making decisions of this magnitude, what is needed is to open spaces for dialogue, open communication tables where all parties try to smooth out any rough edges that may exist. That is also politics, since it is based on dialogue, on the search for resolving solutions and conflicts through dialogue,” defends Leandro Delgado for his part.
In addition, the councilor points out that in previous Equo meetings he had expressed the need to “improve communication”, and has assured that in the last three years it has been “very poor”.
“It must be remembered that there is a group of people who have trusted what they were told in 2019 and who continue to work, who make contributions. The motions that we present in plenary sessions are not only the result of the councilor's work, but also of the working group, of conversations with neighbors, a set of proposals that I defend in plenary sessions,” says Delgado.
“It doesn't benefit anyone at all, I even doubt that it is benefiting Equo, because at this point a space that has already been won, a space for work, social and political, is going to be lost. It is not easy to bring together work spaces, and now to destroy it ten months before the elections,” he concludes.
