The Councilor for Festivities of Arrecife blames the autocovid controversy on "the fights between the PP and the PSOE"

She asks the health authorities on the island to sit down and talk to her, stating that she is "responsible for the carnivals." "Encarna Paéz is willing, because there are solutions"

February 3 2022 (21:03 WET)
Encarna Páez
Encarna Páez

The Councilor for Festivities in the Arrecife City Council, Encarna Páez, has finally spoken about the Arrecife autocovid controversy and has attributed it to "the fights between the PP and the PSOE." The Coalición Canaria councilor had not wanted to speak until now, stating that the request to remove that facility for the Carnival was a matter for the Mayor's Office, but more than two weeks later she has broken her silence on this matter.

Among other things, Paéz has stated that her predecessor in the Department of Festivities, the socialist Alfredo Mendoza, had already "tendered and prepared the Carnival" before being dismissed last November, and that they were waiting for them to be "authorized" to work in the Fairgrounds, since the stage is occupied by the autocovid. However, there is no document stating this request, which she claims was "verbal".

Regarding her management, Encarna Páez states that when she took office and learned about the situation, she contacted the Minister of Health in the Cabildo, Juan Manuel Sosa. "I told him that it only had to be moved a few meters," says the councilor, who details that it could be placed "in the lower part of the fairgrounds." "This way the autocovid is in one place and the carnivals in another, all very close," she argues, maintaining that it is the PSOE that has changed its discourse since leaving the Arrecife government.

"Juan Manuel told me to ask the president for it in writing, so that she would also request it, in writing, from the Canarian Health Service," says Páez, who acknowledges that the City Council also did not formalize this request. In this regard, she states that when she conveyed this information to the Department of Festivities, they told her that "nothing was going to be sent," because everything that had been requested had been by telephone, although the transfer of the land was officially done in its day, despite Encarna Páez claiming that she is unaware of that document.

In any case, the call that sparked the controversy was the one made by an advisor to the Mayor to the manager of Health Services of Lanzarote, José Luis Aparicio, urging him to remove the autocovid before February 1. In this regard, Páez confirms that this call existed. "That advisor was also in the Cabildo when it was requested from the Consortium. And he was the Councilor for Security and Emergencies. There is only cheap populism here," she adds, confirming that the person who established that contact was Francisco Javier Aparicio, who after being left out of the Cabildo government, after the breakdown of the pact between the PSOE and the PP, was appointed advisor in Arrecife.

In addition, although she states that she only had one contact with the Cabildo councilor Juan Manuel Sosa, she has now publicly demanded that the health authorities on the island, José Luis Aparicio and Noelia Umpiérrez, "sit down and talk to the Councilor for Festivities," since she assures that she is "responsible for the carnivals".

"Encarna Páez is willing, because there are solutions, and if the autocovid cannot be moved from where it is, then give me a solution as to where I can hold the carnivals," argues the councilor.

Does not rule out delaying the carnivals

In any case, the councilor has also pointed out that the celebration of the carnivals, which have already been delayed three weeks, is still up in the air, pending the health evolution. For now, they are scheduled to begin on March 11, and the councilor's intention is that they be held, although she opens the door "to a possible postponement."

It should be remembered that the Day Carnival, dependent on the Tourism Area, has already been officially suspended by the councilor Armando Santana. For Páez, this episode is "cheap populism" from her government partner.

"The tapas fair was accompanied by the Day Carnival," explains Páez, who points out that there is "something invented" for the groups that were going to perform at the event. However, she assures that she "wouldn't mind" if the carnivals were delayed "to April, May or June."

Regarding the possibility of holding the carnivals in another location such as the José Ramírez Cerdá Park, the councilor has assured that this possibility "is blocked by Costas." "It seems silly, but in the Fairgrounds we have a stage, dressing rooms or bathrooms. All of that involves an expense that people don't imagine," she concludes.

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