The candidate of Yaiza Siempre (YAS) for mayor, Jonatan Lemes, presented his candidacy last Thursday night in Playa Blanca. During the event, he asked the former mayor Gladys Acuña, who remains disqualified for a crime against land planning and another of prevarication by omission for her involvement in the Stratvs case, to accompany him on stage. "Gladys, I know you're going to kill me, but I have to ask you as a great favor and as a great pleasure, come up here and greet our people," Jonatan Lemes began.
"We are delighted that she is behind, that she is in front, but above all, that she is by our side and on our side, in Yaiza Siempre, always fighting for Yaiza," Jonatan Lemes emphasized. In addition to the disqualification ratified by the Supreme Court, Gladys Acuña faced a sanction of 10,800 euros for having granted the activity license to the Stratvs winery "knowing its illegality" and not having adopted measures to close the facilities, which had nothing to do with what had been authorized.
"All this is the result of the legacy that you left us as a politician, as mayor, as a woman and as a neighbor of this municipality that you love so much and for which you have done so much," said the candidate of Yaiza Siempre. "Our only interest is to work alongside our people to build a better municipality, where we all live better and where our children and grandchildren live better in the future.
"It is what we have always wanted, it is what our mentor, Gladys Acuña, taught us when she convinced us 12 years ago to dedicate ourselves to public life and create a party to achieve those objectives," Lemes said during his speech.
After that, he gave the floor to Gladys Acuña, who was "visibly moved", according to the statement issued by the political formation. Gladys Acuña expressed her total support for Jonatan Lemes, "to what YAS represents and to the entire candidacy because they are the best people to govern Yaiza, to work for the people and with the people in marking a future that puts the neighbors ahead of personal ambitions and positions."
Lemes thanked her for her words, apologizing for getting emotional: "There is much to do, a lot. It is about being all together, about fighting for Yaiza as we have always done. We are all necessary, we all have to be heard, we all need each other, and together we are going to make possible the change we need."
"No one is left out here. We count on each and every one of the residents of this municipality. With everyone. We need the hands and support of all, but we also want to defend the life project of each and every one of them. Residents of Playa Blanca, Las Breñas, La Hoya, El Golfo, Femés, La Degollada, Yaiza, Uga, Playa Quemada, La Geria and Puerto Calero, each and every one of our towns, each and every one of their neighbors, adults, young people and children."
"Yaiza Siempre belongs to everyone, it is the party we need to be heard, to fight for our things, to get, once and for all, to be listened to and to have the infrastructures and services we need to be all happy. That is what we want, happy people in this municipality. Others prefer to amass power, being councilors, being advisors, squandering public money and boasting about it. We flee from those things, from those ways, like the plague. To be here, with our people, with our origins, making our neighbors happy, who are the ones who make us happy," Jonatan concluded.
A new general plan, among the proposals of Yaiza Siempre
"The municipality of Yaiza cannot afford to lose another day without marking a future, without re-laying the foundations to give our people what they need and deserve. Yaiza needs to have legal certainty so that our people can live peacefully, can develop and can be happy. For that it is essential to approve a new general plan immediately, which avoids us returning to the mistakes of the past, which safeguards our economic sector that feeds us and allows our neighbors in general to be able to live here, with urban land to be able to build their house, so that the necessary infrastructures can be built and to be able to locate each thing in its place. Our commitment is firm, we will start working from day one so that Yaiza has that general plan as soon as possible. And it will have it with us in the government," Jonatan Lemes promised.
"We live in a municipality that does not stop growing, where more and more neighbors live, where more and more people come to work and where thousands of tourists move every day. And that needs an order and a control that is not there now. We need more security forces, we need to have a Civil Guard barracks in Playa Blanca, well equipped, as the other tourist areas already have, such as Puerto del Carmen and Costa Teguise. And we must also expand our local police force. We can do it and we have to do it. And we will do it," said the candidate of YAS.
More buses
"You cannot be happy in a place where you do not feel safe, where you do not have legal and citizen security. That is true, but you are not happy either in a place where you do not have the possibility of moving around the territory freely and cheaply," he added.
"It is embarrassing to say it, but in the 21st century, there are towns in this municipality through which a bus does not pass, where people are slaves to the car, where the one who has a car is responsible for the mobility of the whole family. That has to end, come what may. The bus is a basic, essential service, necessary for our young people and seniors to be able to move around."
"It is essential to bet on a sustainable island and an opportunity to save without having to give up moving around our municipality and throughout the island of Lanzarote. That is another of our priorities. Public transport, buses for everyone. As is also that Playa Blanca has a secondary education institute, because it is embarrassing that (in Tías and Puerto del Carmen they have two in less than four kilometers away, while our young people have to travel twenty kilometers to go and another twenty to return to go to class. Intolerable," he denounced.
List of candidates for the City Council by Yaiza Siempre (YAS)
Jonatan Lemes De Ganzo
Adolfo Del Toro Bolaños
Dalila Rodríguez Acuña
Cristina Martínez Canda
Laura Concepción Martín González
Miguel Angel Fernández Barrio
Colin Raymond Roach Casares
Isaías Ruiz Barrios
Milagros Rial Fernández
Llara Montequin Buznego
Luis María Ureta Urresti
Alessandra Dalmasso
Guanarame Caraballo Guerra
Cristina Ramos Gómez
Josefa Burgo Latas
José Fernández González
María Geanina Manole Tomeci
Alternates
Zulema Jario Rodríguez
Lázaro Michel Luis Carmona
María Concepción Díez Paniagua
Orlando Cepero Caraballoso