About fifty Civil Guard agents have been deployed to Lanzarote to guarantee the protection of the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, as reported by La Voz. However, the agents have encountered problems affording a place to sleep, amid the rise in rental prices and hotel rates on the island, and with allowances that made it impossible to pay for a stay in Lanzarote.
The allowances received by Civil Guard agents who must travel and serve within the national territory have been at the center of controversy in recent years, and unions have requested their update. A royal decree from 2002 determines that basic-level agents receive just over 77 euros (49 for accommodation and 29 for maintenance) to cover their stay, while it rises to 103 euros for those in group B and up to 155.9 for those in group A.
Along with this, the accommodation reality in Lanzarote is becoming increasingly expensive. For example, Lanzarote's hotel rates grew the most in March of this year and have continued to rise in the following months, according to information published by Ekonomus, the Economy section of this media. On average, a night in a hotel costs 117.2 euros per person on the island.
Initially, with the 49 euros of the accommodation allowance that most of the agents deployed for the president's security would receive, there was no place to stay on the island in the middle of August. To be able to find accommodation, the agents deployed on the island managed to reach an agreement with a hotelier in Costa Teguise. Finally, this hotel in the tourist town of Teguise granted the agents the possibility of lowering the average rate per night from 90 to 75 euros per night. After this, the General Directorate of the Civil Guard agreed to this increase.
According to what this media has learned, the agents deployed in this operation have received an advance of 75% of the accommodation allowance, which was deposited to the agents between July 31 and August 1. According to the same sources consulted, for the moment the agents have not had to pay money out of their own pocket, but will pay when they leave the hotel, presumably on August 23.
AUGC Response
The spokesperson for the Unified Association of the Civil Guard (AUGC), Juan Couce, has been totally against the criticisms that have appeared in national media and that have been issued from other groups of the Benemérita and has thanked the hotelier, whose identity has not transpired for security reasons, "for everything he is doing for the agents deployed to protect the presidents." In addition, he has assured that "the accommodation has opened the breakfast and lunch hours half an hour earlier so that they can go to provide service."
"For once that the Civil Guard pays the allowances, increases the amount of the allowance, pays it in a timely manner so that they can make the payment. This gentleman loses money housing the guards in the complex, does not charge them until the commission is over and extends the hours, they take this out," he continued in statements to this media.
Meanwhile, with respect to the images of cockroaches and a gecko published by national media, Couce has indicated that the complex "has all the hygienic-sanitary measures in order" and that it complies with the regulations of "disinfection and pest control.". So, he attributes the appearance of these insects to a fumigation process in the complex itself. At the same time, he has recalled that the gecko is an autochthonous and protected animal in the archipelago.
In this sense, the AUGC spokesperson has criticized that the Presidency of the Government of Spain has not planned in advance the search for a space for the agents to sleep. At the same time, he has recalled that the Government of the Canary Islands updated in 2023 the allowance received by its autonomous police, placing it at 145.95 for public officials and 219.59 for senior officials, while the Civil Guard receives half.
"From AUGC we have criticized when the working conditions of the agents who were in charge of the security of Zapatero and Pedro Sánchez were not ideal, we have publicly denounced it," Couce pointed out. "But in this case we cannot complain about the actions of the Civil Guard or this businessman who is losing money by housing the guards," he concluded.
