The mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, has acknowledged this Monday the "failure" of the delay in the Los Dolores pilgrimage, after the offering to the Virgin began this Saturday an hour later than planned. "It is true that the failure of the delay is not good and many people don't like it, we have to recognize it," the mayor responded to the criticisms. Machín has defended that "changing the schedule is the solution", emphasizing that "in Lanzarote we have the mentality or the culture that we want to do the pilgrimage in the afternoon-night" and we must "respect the people". Therefore, he has stated that there must be "agreement between the Church and the town councils" to adapt the schedule.
"I make a positive and very good assessment, with one clarification: the delay," Machín said on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero. Thus, although he has admitted that "failure", the mayor of Tinajo believes that "the participation" (which he has defined as "massive" from 9:00 p.m.), "the behavior and the organization" were "very good". Machín attributes this delay to the fact that the pilgrims "with the heat" do not want to go out and emphasizes that "nobody, neither politicians nor anyone" arrived "on time" to Los Dolores. Thus, the mayor advocates "respecting the people" and defends that "the Church and public institutions" should "agree" for the next editions. "I have been insisting on it and I think that is what we have to talk about and, in fact, I have also told the president of the Cabildo, we have to hold a meeting."
Machín has also been somewhat critical about the institutional role in the pilgrimage. Emphasizing that "the town councils themselves do not participate" and that it is the residents who "freely attend", the mayor has stated that on the last day of the Tinajo Island Security Board they still did not have "the plan of each town council". He also considers that being an "island festival, the town councils and the Cabildo should each have their own float."
Canary Islands Television "knew it perfectly"
One of the main criticisms of this year's pilgrimage has been that the delay in the arrival of the pilgrims meant that Canary Islands Television broadcast barely half an hour of the pilgrimage. During the rest of the broadcast, a practically empty Plaza de Los Dolores could be seen, which has garnered reproaches for the "bad image" that is given of the island.
In this regard, Machín has pointed out that the channel knew "perfectly" that the offering would begin late. According to what he has explained, he himself informed the reporter of the public television that the pilgrims would arrive approximately 45 minutes late. In addition, the mayor has lashed out at the channel for the coverage it makes of the pilgrimage.
"What embarrasses me is how they show us compared to others, that's point number one. That they broadcast other pilgrimages in full and this one for an hour and a half seems so regrettable and painful to me that it even embarrasses me", he has stated, alluding to pilgrimages such as the one in Pino in Gran Canaria.
Fuerteventura folk group in the romero dance
Another of the criticisms that Jesús Machín expressed referred to the folk groups that were to perform in the traditional romero dance, after the offering. "Do you believe that for the romero dance we have to bring a group from Fuerteventura because the ones here did not want to participate with the price they were paid?", the mayor has rhetorically asked.
Machín has assured that several folk groups on the island assured him that "for 400 euros" they would not perform and that if they did, they wanted to be "the first" to "enjoy the romero dance". "I spoke with many. The romero dance is something that the Cabildo hires but the technician told us, 'try it yourselves because we can't get it'", he explained.
