Páez will denounce Wenceslao Olivero for suggesting that he could have taken commissions from the Avilés shipyards

Summer begins with a mess in sight between the fishermen of La Santa and the Minister of Fisheries of the Island Council. After the serious accusations made last Friday on Radio Lanzarote against the head of the Fisheries Area of ​​...

August 2 2005 (01:11 WEST)

Summer begins with a mess in sight between the fishermen of La Santa and the Minister of Fisheries of the Island Council. After the serious accusations made last Friday on Radio Lanzarote against the head of the Fisheries Area of ​​the First Institution, Marcos Páez was quick to respond and yesterday he went to court to file a complaint against Wenceslao Olivero, the person in charge of transmitting the feelings of some fishermen from Tinajo regarding the circumstances of the councilor's trip, accompanied by some shipowners, to the Avilés shipyards, in Asturias. Last Friday, Olivero suggested, among other accusations, the possibility that Páez charged a commission from the shipyards for having taken the fishermen, although that was not the main reason for the sailors' anger, who complained more than anything else that they were not notified in time to send their representatives to the trip to the peninsula.

In any case, the councilor of the Cabildo was quick to assess the seriousness of the accusations, which suggest a clear case of corruption, and yesterday he filed a complaint in court against the person responsible for the statements, Wenceslao Olivero. Páez's anger could be described as monumental, in such a way that he even refused to refute Olivero's arguments, saying that "when a person goes to the media and lies blatantly, the lie falls under its own weight." "I will not waste a second of time to answer these characters," the councilor sentenced, although he finally gave a series of explanations regarding the accusations.

And so, Wenceslao Olivero had suggested the possibility that Paéz charged a commission from the shipyards for having taken the conejeros fishermen there. In this sense, the councilor clarified that the group traveled to four different shipyards, implying that none in particular was favored. From now on, the matter will be in the hands of justice. The Cabildo will request, through a judicial procedure, a recording of the statements to the radio station where they were made public. "The tape will be analyzed by a lawyer and the corresponding lawsuit will be presented (to Olivero) to see who receives the commissions or not."

On the other hand, Olivero declared through the airwaves that Páez had taken his "four friends" on the trip, having "pointed out" the fourteen "lucky ones". In this sense, the councilor of the Cabildo wanted to make it clear that an invitation was sent to the fishermen of La Santa and to demonstrate this, he transmitted a copy of it to the editorial staff of this newspaper.

The invitation, the content of which is reproduced on this page, was written and sent to the Tinajo City Council on Saturday, July 23. It invited sailors interested in renewing their boats to appear at the Cabildo on Monday, July 25, with the corresponding documentation to undertake the trip on Tuesday, July 26.

But according to what the Councilor for Fisheries of Tinajo, Cristobal Olivero, told LA VOZ, this invitation arrived too late to the City Council, because being the weekend there was no time to organize a meeting of the fishermen. Olivero himself did not find out until Monday morning that a fax had arrived at the Fisheries Council of the Cabildo. "It's a way of not warning," Olivero said.

Last Friday Wenceslao Olivero severely criticized the attitude taken by the councilor of the Cabildo. Olivero wanted to convey to Páez that "when you go on trips like those, you should first have a meeting with the guilds."

In addition, he assured that at least ten people who wanted to "make new boats" did not travel to the shipyards, while of the fourteen who did go, "no more than six of them will make boats."

Wenceslao Olivero himself had to go to the peninsula on his own to build a new boat. In addition, other fishermen from La Santa, in the words of the sailor, are planning to renew the fleet.

The six orders described by Olivero were endorsed yesterday by the statements made to LA VOZ by Marcos Páez, who assured that at least six shipowners have requested construction projects during the trip.

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