Writing
-How are those relations with China?
-Well, doing things, trying to make the Canary Islands have a prominence that is very important for these islands, that the islands become more and more known in that immense territory, immense in its surface and immense in its population because it has no less than 1.3 billion inhabitants and that the Canary Islands ports are adding new agreements every day to those we have already achieved so that here in the Canary Islands and in a very special way the ports of Las Palmas, are recipients and distributors of the millions of containers that will come through these latitudes.
In short, working for the land, there are many places where you can work and all the work we do is little.
-Are the authorities taking this initiative of yours seriously?
-So so.
-Why?
-I remember that a year and a bit ago I spoke about the need to look out into the outside world and look towards China, that the Asian giant had an impressive projection outwards and that they were also going to change the Constitution recognizing private property, which gave tremendous business prospects between merchants and industrialists from one side and the other, and of course from the Canary Islands, and that in terms of tourism, within 14 years, there will be 120 million tourists who annually in that year will already be sending to the world.
We have to prepare ourselves, we have to make a different tourist offer than the current one. They are not interested in sun and beach, so we have to offer them other things.
We have to offer the beauty of a territory, what is in a territory, how well a territory is cared for... Lanzarote is an example, that is why whenever an important mission comes from there, even if it has to go first for any reason to Tenerife or Gran Canaria, I always take them to Lanzarote so that this island is the last memory they have of the Canary Islands. Because they leave amazed.
And, well, the whole of Lanzarote is an amazement and every day I see it more interesting, more cared for, more beautiful and more attractive from a tourist perspective. But the authorities do not react much and on this occasion the forum was held in Lanzarote by a miracle.
-Really?
-Yes, because on the previous occasion the president of the ‘popular' Cabildo passed. Some very important representatives came from there and it turns out that the Cabildo refused to even pay for a dinner that was given to them at the hotel and in view of this, I went to the Government of the Canary Islands, Mr. Adán Martín said that he would assume it, that he could not allow that and then Bienvenido, the strong man of the hotel "Princesa Yaiza" said that he was the one who would not allow it and he had the gallantry to be the hotel itself who on the last day of the Chinese stay, assumed the costs.
He refused to pay for a dinner of 14, 15 people. I remember that it cost me real work to get him to receive me to talk about the forum recently held there, the Minister of Tourism, Luis Arráez. He got a quarter of an hour, he received me.
I arrived from Gran Canaria to talk to him about this issue because it had been achieved that the forum was held in Lanzarote thanks to María José Docal who had asked me to do so. I went to China, to the most important tourist island organization in the world and there I managed that together with Hawaii, the Canary Islands entered the organization.
And also, not only did I get that, but the following forum was held on the island of Lanzarote, which means that Lanzarote is being given a worldwide projection.
Well, Arráez did not understand it, he received me, I was there in his office waiting for him for a while and when he received me the first thing he told me is that he was in a hurry and that he had to leave.
In addition, he told me that he had no budget for this issue. And I told him but I have not talked about budget nor is it my thing, I will put you in contact with the organizing company and I only come to tell you that Mrs. María José Docal, and you have to know that because she was a councilor when she was president, and I know that she knew it.
In short, he had me there thrown in a bad way and then he left and I returned to Gran Canaria. Do you think that is the way to receive anyone, who comes from another island precisely to offer Lanzarote what was offered.
Look, these things give me real sorrow because I think that what you have to do is teach a little political urbanity and it gives me real sorrow that in our land our people can be received like this. And that in the end the years have served this gentleman to treat me with a little courtesy.
I say it like this, I feel it like this and it is also the first time I say it because it comes from my soul to say it, it gives me tremendous sorrow because I have never been so mistreated in Lanzarote as I was by Mr. Arráez.
-On the other hand, all the rumors point to you leading the CC list to the Cabildo of Gran Canaria.
-No, no, in no way. Let that be clear, six years ago CC did not allow me to go on the CC lists, which is the only thing I wanted.
My time in the Government had already passed, I had proposed Román Rodríguez for the Presidency, to avoid that after six years of a Tenerife president, another four years would come, and I, in order not to cause that trauma in Gran Canaria to benefit CC, did not fight for the Presidency, I took a step back and proposed Román, who was not from my party, a young man who has worked well and with that the alternation was fulfilled.
So what I intended was humbly to go second on the list below Román as unequivocal proof that despite the fact that I had previously been the candidate that CC had informally established, I was sincere when I had proposed Román with all humility. But they did not allow it, they said that I was already old and therefore I was left out of the lists.
It was Paula Monzón in my place. If now they want me to return to the elections, I say no, let them leave me alone. CC is my prodigal daughter, yes, and the father even has affection for the daughter but from that to go to live in the daughter's house, in no way.
-It is that I was told that it was likely that José Manuel García Ramos already had a closed deal with CC and that you were the CC candidate for the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and for the Government Manuel Lobo, the rector of the ULPGC.
-Lobo apparently is the candidate for the Presidency of the Government proposed by Mauricio, because in the Government the saber-rattling has already begun.
The other day Mauricio opened Pandora's box and already said that here the alternation had to be fulfilled. This is said by a Minister of Finance of the Government within the same Government where Mr. Adán Martín is, who according to what they said also had aspirations to continue.
It is clear that political seismic movements do not only occur in Lanzarote. In Lanzarote the most resounding, most spectacular political earthquakes occur, but there are some in other geographical latitudes of the Canary Archipelago.
