"Transferring improved males of the Cape Verde goat breed". That was the reason that led the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, to travel to that country, as he explained himself during the Plenary session held this Friday, to justify that trip paid for with public money. "Because it is a goat that produces very little milk," San Ginés then added.
In an appearance requested by the councilor of Ciudadanos, Benjamín Perdomo, San Ginés has also confirmed that the director of Landscape and Food Sovereignty of the Cabildo, Francisco Fabelo, also participated in the trip, who in turn works as manager of Finca de Uga, owned by Juan Francisco Rosa, as the Podemos group has been denouncing for months.
"Paco Fabelo is preparing the report on what we went to do," said Pedro San Ginés in response to Benjamín Perdomo's questions, whom he began by answering that he did not go to Cape Verde "to see any native goat," as the councilor had pointed out when conveying his questions. "It was within the framework of a collaboration agreement," the president defended, stating that there is an agreement between the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote with the Government of Cape Verde, and another agreement between three municipalities of the island and three of that country. Then, he explained that the specific objective was that transfer of "improved males of the goat breed," although he did not give more details.
"You know how much it cost and you're afraid to say it"
What San Ginés has not provided either are figures for the total expense that the trip entailed, limiting himself to pointing out that the allowances he received are "those that are approved" in the institution "since 1993", and referring to an invoice from a travel agency worth 1,556 euros, but without specifying what expenses it included and without giving either the breakdown or the total sum that this trip entailed, both for him and for Fabelo.
In addition, the president has also continued without revealing the cost that another of his trips has generated, specifically the one he made more than a month ago to South Africa to accompany a group of firefighters from the island to participate in a championship.
"We asked you a month ago. Do you really still not know? Forgive me for saying so, but we don't believe it. You know it and you're afraid to say it," the spokesperson for Podemos, Carlos Meca, reproached him, who had also requested an appearance in the Plenary session to ask for explanations about both trips. "Are you really so ashamed to say how much you received in allowances for going to see the nightlife of Johannesburg? Are you going to continue trying to make us believe that you don't know?" Meca insisted.
However, the president remained silent and his only response was to specify that the South African city they visited was "Cape Town, not Johannesburg." Regarding the cost, he continued without giving the price of the hotel and the other invoices and expenses. And regarding the allowances, he insisted again that he will receive those that are established "for all public officials and civil servants" when they take a trip.
After recalling that the Cabildo of Lanzarote is the only one in the Canary Islands that fails in transparency and that it is one of the most opaque institutions in the country, the spokesperson for Podemos has criticized that the transparency website where these data should be published is still not working. "It is the second time that we have had to bring to this plenary session how much you have received in allowances. It is regrettable that we still do not have a website where we can see the expenses of your trips", the councilor questioned.
"I was wrong, I probably shouldn't have paid for my plane ticket"
In his speech, Meca began by reproaching San Ginés for "not telling the truth" in the previous Plenary session, when he assured that he had paid for the trip to South Africa "out of his own pocket", since the only thing he paid for was the plane ticket and then he signed a decree so that the Cabildo would pay him the allowances and so that they would pay him for expenses, accommodation and taxis or rental car used during that trip.
In this regard, the spokesperson for Podemos has asked the president to clarify whether or not it was an official trip, and also to explain why he paid for the ticket if he maintains that it was. "Why? I'm going to confess it to you," San Ginés began, who then said that the councilor Juan Manuel Sosa was also initially going to go on that trip. "So much so that the hotel bill is in the name of Dr. Sosa," the president added.
According to him, the firefighters themselves "insisted that he accompany them" to South Africa. "And I said come on, okay, I'm going to go. And I'm going to pay for the ticket," he stated. "As there were two of us, I wanted to have that gesture with the institution. I was wrong," he added later. "It's true, I was wrong, I paid too much," he repeated at another time, insisting that it was an "official trip" and that the Cabildo should also have paid for his plane ticket. "I probably shouldn't have paid for it. Just like Dr. Sosa doesn't get paid for it and Ángel Vázquez doesn't get paid for it when he goes to a fair. The mistake was paying for a ticket that I wasn't supposed to," he maintained.
