“I criticize those who don't help, and if the one who doesn't help is from the Canarian Coalition, then I criticize them, that's clear”. The mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, has spoken with this forcefulness after learning that the Arrecife City Council has asked Health to remove the autocovid from the Fairgrounds in order to celebrate the Carnivals.
Machín has been “amazed” by this decision, making it clear that he “doesn't care” that his party is part of the government group, where he also manages the Festivals area. However, he has pointed to the PP mayoress as a possible responsible party. “I don't think my CC colleagues support removing that from there. I don't think they don't have enough capacity to understand that there is nothing more important in life than people's health”, he added, sending a message to the nationalist councilors.
“Look, I have a special appreciation for Ástrid Pérez, but I don't share that. In each municipality, everyone does what they want, but as a colleague and with experience, I don't think they are in favor of removing the autocovid from there”, he insisted in reference to his colleagues.
“We are not ready for carnivals right now. We are talking about people and giving solutions to problems”, highlighted Jesús Machín, who believes that political acronyms must be put aside in the management of this crisis. He even stressed that the mayor of Tías, the socialist José Juan Cruz, called him to see how they were facing the Carnivals. “We help each other as colleagues, and I criticize those who don't help”, he added.
"If we have to go without Carnivals this year, nothing happens"
In fact, given the current health situation on the island, the mayor of Tinajo has announced that he is going to call the president of the Cabildo to ask her to reconvene the island table, to decide what to do with those festivals.
“We all have to sit down and work in the same line. And if we have to go without Carnivals this year, nothing happens. That the murgas are not rehearsing, that the groups are not preparing the floats”, he stressed.
“In Lanzarote we have been an example”, he defended, referring to the functioning of that table that was set up between the Cabildo and the seven town councils from the beginning of the pandemic, when coordinated decisions were adopted.
Afterwards, the Island Corporation ended the work of that table, when town councils governed by CC began to question the decisions that were approved and act freely. “It is normal for there to be some discrepancy”, pointed out Jesús Machín, who believes that it is time to resume that table. “Or is it that now that we don't govern with the same party we are against it?”, he asked, questioning especially the Arrecife City Council, also for the celebration of the past Three Kings parade.
“The other day Echedey (Eugenio) said it perfectly, that he did not agree, but the mayoress had the parade scheduled”, Machín pointed out, who defends the prudence opted for by the rest of the municipalities. “I don't think the residents of Arrecife were happier with the parade than with what we or other municipalities did, going street to street, from 9 in the morning to 9 at night”, he stated.
In addition, he recalled the criticisms that he had to face, in particular from the Arrecife City Council, when he opened the Mancha Blanca agricultural market. “They almost hanged me. They almost kicked me off the island table, and that was a market that had exhaustive control, which I opened with all the permits and all the law. Are they now going to tell me that they are going to remove the place where the covid test is done for the carnivals?”, he denounces.
For this reason, he insists on the need to “sit down and agree that the carnivals instead of being held in March should be held in April, or not hold them this year to be safe”.
In the case of Tinajo, he pointed out that “it would be irresponsible” right now to say that he is going to have Carnivals. “Let's all agree. Do Carnivals contribute anything to human health? I don't think they contribute anything. Is leisure necessary for people? Yes, but you have to be at the exact moment at the precise moment”, he concluded.
