The president of the Canarian Coalition and mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, has assured that both he and the first mayor of Haría, José Torres Stinga, "have the obligation, the right, and the duty to defend the interests of the residents". In this way, he has demanded that the Cabildo seek formulas to try to pay both town councils the debt owed to them as a fee from the Tourist Centers.
Machín has assured that the residents deserve that "this responsibility is taken, because that's what they pay us for". Thus, despite understanding the difficult situation of the Cabildo and the "chaotic" situation of the Tourist Centers, the mayor of Tinajo has assured that he will fight so that "the most appropriate formulas are sought so that this is resolved as soon as possible".
For this reason, he has already raised these concerns with the CACT councilor, Astrid Pérez, and the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, with whom he will try to meet after Easter week. Likewise, he has assured that the island Executive of the Canarian Coalition will be convened and will analyze this matter "as we study anything else".
Possible solutions
For Machín, a possible solution would be to carry out "a long-term financial operation". "The situation of the CACT is chaotic. Right now there is even doubt about the salary of the workers and that would be very bad. A long-term operation would be a solution", defended the mayor of Tinajo.
Despite this, Machín has assured that the Cabildo has not contemplated the debt in its budgets since, as he stated on Radio Lanzarote, "that's what the EPEL is for". However, he has referred to the item of 600,000 euros from the island accounts to alleviate this situation and has stated that "it is not enough". "We know that Haría is having a bad time, and so is Tinajo", he has acknowledged.
"We have to look for formulas, such as a guarantee so that the town councils can face the payments we have to make, because we also have acquired commitments and, for example, Tinajo has not been paid for the CACT fee since December 2008", he indicated.
On the other hand, he has respected the decision of the mayor of Haría to place a large yellow ribbon on the facade of the Town Hall as a form of protest, although he has assured that he "does not share" this action. "These are decisions of each one. What we have to do is dialogue more and look for solutions", he stressed.
