The Lanzarote Island Council plenary session has approved this Friday, at the proposal of the Popular Group, a motion to demand that the Government of Spain immediately contract an external and independent audit on the failures detected in the COMETA system, a tool used for the telematic control of restraining orders in cases of gender violence and sexual violence.
The spokesperson for the People's Party in the Corporation, Ángel Vázquez, defended the initiative, stressing that "the recent failures of the COMETA system have seriously endangered the safety of thousands of women throughout the country, including the Canary Islands." Vázquez pointed out that, after the change of contractor in 2023, "there have been serious deficiencies in data migration, coverage failures, and loss of location of aggressors, with cases even being recorded in which the bracelets could be removed without activating the corresponding alerts."
"We are talking about a system that saves lives, and that cannot afford to make mistakes. The Government has acted with unacceptable irresponsibility by not adequately supervising the change of provider. You cannot fail in something so sensitive," said the popular spokesperson.
The motion approved in the Plenary Session, with the votes against from the PSOE, also urges the central government to publish detailed data on the failures recorded in the province of Las Palmas, specifying the number of victims affected, the judicial procedures altered, and the measures adopted to solve the problem.
Vázquez recalled that prosecutors, specialized judges, and police unions “have been warning for months about the risks derived from the system's deficiencies.” “These are not isolated incidents, as the Ministry of Equality would have us believe; it is a structural failure that has left thousands of women without the necessary protection,” she stated.
Likewise, the Popular Party councilor reproached the attitude of Pedro Sánchez's Government, "which boasts of feminism while its management abandons the victims." In Vázquez's words, "ideology does not protect lives; real measures, effective management, and political commitment to the safety of women do."
