Podemos faced this debate on the state of the island as part of an island government for the first time in its history “with responsibility and with a strong commitment to the political principles that saw us born as a project”, as stated by its spokesperson Myriam Barros in her speech.
Myriam Barros, currently Minister of Education, Youth and Equality of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, developed in her speech a tour of the "main milestones of the formation since its arrival to the island government: the progress in employment and housing policies, the improvement in the management of natural spaces and the implementation of participatory processes have been some of the aspects highlighted by the Minister, also praising the work of her party colleagues, Jorge Peñas and Elena Solís".
While moving away from “triumphalism”, Barros has celebrated the achievements of the formation, highlighting that “today Lanzarote has better rates than a year ago in all parameters and public management is being much better. To give just one small example, we were told many times that it was impossible to open the Papagayo campsite all year round. Today it is permanently open”, she recalled.
In a speech full of nods to the figure of César Manrique, the Minister made it clear that she is aware of the difficulties of the present and the intensity of the challenges facing the island, claiming “the optimism of those who always have utopia on the horizon”, which according to her words would be the engine behind her political formation.
Following the purple representative, “there are great steps being taken towards that utopia”, which would be none other than “transforming the productive model towards environmental, social and economic sustainability”. The Minister's speech, which takes place in the midst of the explosion of the Canarian social movements for the sustainability of the archipelago, has not spared criticism of the management of the territory that the previous administrations carried out, highlighting the “courage” of the current government (PSOE-Podemos) compared to the previous stage of the Canarian Coalition, of which she recalled dark episodes such as the corruption cases “Yate” or “Unión”, and also compared to the governments of Mariano Rajoy, whose policies have been contrasted with the progress in labor rights led by Yolanda Díaz from the Unidas Podemos space.
Barros has taken advantage of her speech to urge her government partner to address “being brave” the challenges that the island currently faces, highlighting the need to develop the new island plan of Lanzarote, which she has considered as “the greatest of its pending challenges”.
