The third time's the charm, and the Podemos group in the Cabildo achieved majority support from the Plenary this Friday to urge the Tourist Centers to terminate the contract they maintain with Marina Rubicón, through which they continue to rent a premises in this illegal marina. The initiative had been rejected on two previous occasions, but this time it has had the support of the PSOE, which has changed the direction of its vote after learning that the Yate case ruling, which declared that port illegal, is now final.
"In a previous plenary session, the Socialist Party asked that this request be withdrawn until it was final. The PSOE is being consistent with what it said in that Plenary and we voted in favor of the Podemos motion," explained the party's spokesperson and vice president of the Corporation, José Juan Cruz Saavedra, to justify his vote. The socialists have thus distanced themselves from their government partner, who has once again rejected the motion. However, this time CC has not obtained enough votes to prevent it from prospering. Not even to prevent it from being put to a vote, which is the first thing it has proposed, arguing that the Cabildo Plenary did not have the powers to approve what was being proposed.
Finally, the initiative has passed with 11 votes in favor (PSOE, Podemos, Somos and Ciudadanos), 9 against (CC, PIL and the NC councilor) and 3 abstentions (PP). However, the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, has already stated that the Centers could ignore the result of this vote. "It is still a political declaration of intent," he said, stressing that the motion "only" involves "urging" that contract to be terminated, which is something that does not depend on the Cabildo, but on the Tourist Centers. "It remains to be seen whether it will heed that request, which in my view is totally out of place," he questioned.
A contract was terminated and another was signed on the same day and "hidden"
The contract with Marina Rubicón was signed two years ago, to rent two premises that served as a workshop for Jason deCaires while he was creating the figures for the underwater museum, located in front of that illegal port. Months after the museum had already been inaugurated, the Centers were still paying for those premises, despite the complaints that Podemos had been making. Finally, last April they terminated the contract, but on the same day they signed another, to continue renting one of the two premises, which is now used as a museum information office.
"That contract was signed in a completely opaque manner," denounced the spokesperson for Podemos, Carlos Meca, stating that it was "hidden from the Plenary", "despite the repeated questions" that his formation made "for more than two months". In addition, he referred to the press conference offered a few weeks ago by the Minister of Tourism, Echedey Eugenio, in which he accused Podemos of "lying", for having denounced that the Centers were still renting premises in that port.
"He showed the termination of the contract, but what he did not show, quite cowardly on his part, except when the journalists asked him in their question time, is that there was a new contract for the rental of one of those premises," Meca recalled.
The premises, 120 meters according to the contract and 20 according to Eugenio
In addition, the spokesperson for Podemos has also pointed out that the premises has 120 meters of surface area according to the contract, but "the councilor himself acknowledged that the usable area is only 20 square meters". According to Eugenio, "the rest" corresponds to the terrace, but Podemos maintains that the councilor "also lied about that". On the one hand, because the terrace "would have no use" for the museum office. On the other hand, because the rental contract expressly speaks of the meters of the premises, regardless of the terrace. And this, as Carlos Meca has pointed out, means, among other things, that one of the payments stipulated in the contract will be increased, which includes not only a payment of 500 euros per month for rent, but also a maintenance fee.
Specifically, the Centers undertake to pay 2.4 euros per square meter, which multiplied by the 120 meters stipulated in the contract, would be 288 euros more per month. "They would pay an extra to Marina Rubicón", "some extra money for the councilor's family", Meca questioned, recalling that the councilor of the Centers, José Juan Lorenzo, is the nephew of one of the owners of the port, Rafael Lasso, and cousin of the manager, Rafael Lasso Lorenzo.
Thus, in addition to insisting that the underwater museum was created "so that the port would benefit economically in an obscene way", he has denounced that "for two years they diverted public money" to Marina Rubicón "with the excuse of Jason deCaires" and the rental of the premises for the workshop, and "then they invented" the supposed need to open an information office. In this regard, the spokesperson for Podemos has asked "what is the point" of having that premises there, considering that there is no direct sale of tickets and that everything is managed through the diving clubs. And "most are in Puerto del Carmen" and not in Marina Rubicón, where they have to travel from the clubs to buy the bracelets.
In Meca's opinion, all this, added to the illegality of the port, the corruption that surrounded its construction and "the family relationships", makes it "a scandal" and "an immorality" that this institution does not have to continue to endure". For this reason, with the motion that he has managed to get approved, the Centers will be urged to terminate "immediately" the contract and, "if necessary", to look for another premises "in a location outside an illegal marina".
San Ginés argues that they also hold events in illegal hotels
"We are anxiously awaiting your new excuses, Mr. President," Meca had pointed out when defending his motion. And it is that, like the PSOE, in previous plenary sessions CC had also appealed to the fact that the Yate case ruling was not yet final. "Now we can say that it is final, that the port is illegal and that there is no appeal," stressed the councilor of Podemos, referring to a ruling that also considers proven that the owners of the port bribed the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, to obtain that and other illegal licenses.
"What is definitively illegal? Are the premises that are there? The port? Are you sure that the facilities are going to be demolished?" San Ginés responded, rejecting the termination of that contract. Even, to defend that this rent is maintained, he has referred to "innumerable acts" that the institution carries out in "hotels and complexes" with annulled licenses. "As long as a demolition and demolition sentence is not executed, they are within their right to try to regularize," he defended, assuring that the same applies to "a great businessman" as "to a neighbor".
"It is true that this institution holds events in illegal hotels. The EPEL spent 70,000 euros last year at the Princesa Yaiza, you are right. There are certain hotels where it does," responded the councilor of Ciudadanos, Benjamín Perdomo, referring to this hotel of one of the owners of the port, Juan Francisco Rosa. "When it comes to certain locations and certain hotels, you don't care about the rule, you care less about legality and you skip morality," Perdomo reproached the president.
"A matter of morality"
"It is clear that there is a ruling that corroborates that there was corruption. From there, a public institution should not have any kind of connection. I know it is difficult for you because of who is behind it, it is difficult for you," Benjamín Perdomo once again stated, addressing San Ginés. "But a public institution cannot be in a place where Justice has said that there was corruption. For a matter of morality, we cannot be there," he insisted.
Also the spokesperson for Somos, Tomás López, has described as "immorality" that the Centers continue to rent that premises in Marina Rubicón and that "they maintain a link with a space that is sentenced to have been built through a corrupt procedure". In addition, he has once again questioned that this location was chosen to locate the underwater museum, ironically saying that "surely it was a coincidence".
For its part, the PP has abstained, alleging that it wants to know "with a legal report the consequences of this issue" before pronouncing. As for the councilor of Nueva Canarias, Juan Manuel Sosa, he has distanced himself from the position maintained by his party and has voted against the motion of Podemos, and the same has done the councilor of the PIL, Manuel Cabrera, who are the only two who have voted together with CC.
