The last time he was seen at the Arrecife City Council was on December 31, 2011, the day the general budgets for 2012 were approved. Since then, the councilor Pedro de Armas has been absent from the City Council, has not attended any session and has not even been on the island, but in the Caribbean. Although he has been absent from the City Council for five months, he has a secretary, whose functions the government group is unaware of, and also a municipal mobile phone, whose expenses "excessively exceed" the 120 euros per month assigned to each councilor.
Therefore, 150 days after nothing is known about Pedro de Armas, and his party, the PNL, has not given any explanation, the government group has decided to take action. It is still studying in what sense, since the councilor's act is personal and cannot be recovered. "We have to see if administratively something can be done against a councilor who is not doing his job at the moment," says the first deputy mayor of Arrecife, José Montelongo.
During these five months, Pedro de Armas has left the 1,055 people who voted for him as head of the list of the PNL without representation, a party that ran in coalition with Nueva Canarias and Opción por Lanzarote in the elections of May last year and won a councilor. La Voz has tried to contact, although without success, with the president of the PNL, Juan Carlos Becerra, to know his opinion on the absence of De Armas.
And the councilor of the PNL ran for elections to, months later, embark on an adventure, instead of politics, marine. Thus, on January 8, 2012 he left aboard his boat "El Cabo Andrés" to the island of Martinique, a French overseas department located north of Saint Lucia, in the waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Pedro de Armas made this journey, within the framework of the seventh edition of the Grand Prix of the Atlantic, according to the website of the organization. Since that moment, in the City Council of Arrecife they have not had news about the whereabouts of De Armas. And almost five months have passed.
However, on his facebook, whose wall is public, the councilor has posted several photographs of his journey and has also left some messages, especially during the beginning of it. In one of them, he stated that on his boat he "always" carries the flag of his land raised. "Without complexes, without vanities, without arrogance, with pride to take Lanzarote where he wants to be," he says, literally. "Thanks to all those who have sent messages of encouragement and support (instead of support). I am only making a dream come true since I started in the world of sailing," he said.
Pedro de Armas wrote these words days after his boat "El Cabo Andrés" left the Marina Rubicón marina, in Playa Blanca. His long journey to Martinique culminated 18 days after his departure from southern Lanzarote. But that was not enough for the councilor to return, as he decided to continue sailing in Caribbean waters. Right now, as La Voz has learned, he is in Miami making arrangements to sell his boat, a Canarian schooner.
In his regatta to Martinique, Pedro de Armas was not alone. He was accompanied by Carmelo Torres, who was second on the list for the PNL in Arrecife, and José Francisco Abel Reyes, son of the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, among other crew members.
During the 150 days that Pedro de Armas has decided to be absent from the City Council, events as important as a change of government have occurred. The councilor of the PNL was not there and, therefore, could not vote or represent his voters in the plenary session of March 12, in which Manolo Fajardo Feo was elected new mayor, after Cándido Reguera resigned from his position to avoid a motion of censure. De Armas has not yet met this new government group, he has not yet worked with these new acronyms in the Arrecife government.
Taking action on the matter
Therefore, the new government group "will make a decision" regarding this councilor, according to the first deputy mayor, José Montelongo, tells La Voz. "It is a situation that we have detected and that is not normal. He represents a party and, even, has a person assigned, who we do not know in what sense he will be working, since no motions are presented. There is no active participation on the part of the PNL", he says. Montelongo affirms that the government group will adopt a decision "this week or next".
For her part, the councilor Blanca Blancas assures that the government group was "waiting" for either the PNL or Pedro de Armas himself to "say something, explain some reason". In view of the "silence" that has been on this issue, the government group has decided to "act in some way". "The secretary is causing an expense to the City Council, but it really has no practical effect for the administration. If she is limited to taking four notifications, then it does not seem normal to us. Out of responsibility on our part, we cannot allow a salary to be spent for the secretary plus a municipal mobile phone of someone who is not there," she affirms.
"Excessive" mobile phone expense
Precisely, José Montelongo reveals that the City Council "has detected excessive invoices" from Pedro de Armas' municipal mobile phone. "The normal thing is that he should return the difference, but if not, we will demand it", he assures. In this sense, Blanca Blancas says that "the population does not have to worry about this issue because the difference will be paid".
Despite all this, there are still politicians who defend the attitude of Pedro de Armas or some who prefer not to make statements on this matter, such as Cándido Reguera. One of those who justify him the most is Carmelo Torres himself, a traveling companion and party member, who assures that Pedro de Armas communicated it to the previous mayor, Cándido Reguera, as well as to the Political Council and the Local Committee of the PNL. "There was no one who told him otherwise. Everyone thought it was fine, no one said anything against it," he assures.
In his opinion, he believes that De Armas "should have been in the change of government". "But I don't see it as serious or bad," he assures.
From the PIL, its spokesperson, Juan Jesús Docal, prefers "not to enter" the issue. "We have no opinion," he says, while pointing out that the situation of De Armas "is true that it has been lengthening". "There is the law and the mayor to take action on the matter or not," he indicates.
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