The Councilor for Youth and Festivities of Teguise, Daniel Morales, has responded to the mayor of Tinajo, Jesús Machín, who in statements to La Voz de Lanzarote blamed the City Council of La Villa for what happened with about 25 young people who were "stranded" at the Famara festivities, when the bus that was supposed to take them back didn't show up.
"What Suso (Machín) has to do is hold the company that provided the service accountable, but he can't pass anything on to us," Morales told La Voz. "It's like if I, when I put buses to go to the Fariones festivities, the company doesn't do the service well and I blame the Tías City Council."
According to the mayor of Tinajo, the problem originated when the bus arrived with the young people from Tinajo to Famara, and the Local Police told the driver to stop in an area that was not the one that was theoretically enabled. At that moment, according to the explanations provided by the mayor of Tinajo, the driver told the young people that they would be picked up there at 4:30 in the morning. However, the bus could not access that area afterwards.
"The police order them to be left at a stop, and on the way back they don't let them get to that stop," Machín criticized, assuring that everything was due to "a coordination problem between the company and the Teguise City Council. In his opinion, this would have been avoided by enabling "a plain where all the buses go". "This doesn't happen in Los Dolores!", he exclaimed, suggesting that "there should be a coordination center, as there is" in the Mancha Blanca festivities.
"I've even called the Pope"
However, from Teguise, the head of Festivities gives a very different version. "I've even called the Pope to see if there was a coordination failure", responds Daniel Morales, who assures that his conclusion is that everything worked correctly on the part of the City Council of La Villa.
According to him, it was established that until midnight the buses could access a stop, and from then on they should stop at one a little further away, which is "only one street away, a few meters away". And that, he maintains, had been explained previously.
"I'm lucky that on Thursday, before the festivities, we sent an email from the department to the company, saying that the outbound stops were not the same as the return stops," explains the councilor, who says that this same Tuesday he has forwarded that document to Jesús Machín.
"I don't understand how he can pass responsibility on to another City Council," insists Morales, who does not hide that he is "annoyed" with the statements of the mayor of Tinajo. "If I have a problem, I am in favor of calling colleagues, and even more so if they are party colleagues, and not going out in the press", he maintains.
"The only one who had problems"
The Councilor for Festivities of Teguise recalls that for that night of verbena there were three different bus services, one organized by the Cabildo, another by the Haría City Council and another by the Tinajo City Council, and only the latter had problems. "The problem with Tinajo is that the driver who brought them is not the same as the one who picked them up. It's a coordination problem between the drivers. What are you telling us!", he insists.
In addition, Daniel Morales affirms that the local police who were on duty in that area were "aware and knowledgeable of everything", but "what they could not expect is that the bus would go to another stop, when the access was closed and the town was celebrating".
According to what the agents have told him, they even offered the driver to accompany him walking to the other stop to see if the young people were there, "but he didn't want to go". "If you order a service that has to pick up young people and they weren't there, what I don't understand is how he left," emphasizes the councilor. In addition, he assures that the police themselves "called the company by phone and no one answered".
For that reason, Morales insists that the mayor of Tinajo should clarify this with the company, Lanzarote Bus, and not blame third parties and question the coordination that was in Famara. "It has been outstanding, because there has been a group of professionals in charge of all this. In the three years that I have been here, I think it is the one that has worked best", he highlights.
Finally, the young people from Tinajo ended up leaving on their own, with parents who went to pick them up or traveling in other friends' cars. The mayor of Tinajo himself and a councilor went to Famara with a minibus from the City Council when they found out what had happened, but when they arrived it was 7 in the morning and there was no one left.
The person who accompanied the young people "is not a monitor"
In addition to what happened with the lack of coordination of the buses, the councilor of Tinajo Nicanor Rodríguez has added a criticism, since he assures that the person who accompanied the young people of the municipality as a monitor, is not really a monitor. "He performs another job and, with all due respect, he probably does not have all the qualifications or any course that accredits him as a monitor".
In addition, he maintains that the problem would have been avoided if this person had reacted. "The whole mess comes because no one is notified, no one is called? This monitor does not have any phone number of the government group of Tinajo", says Rodríguez, who affirms that there were "very complicated situations at that time, because there were minors".
For that reason, he insists that "you cannot send a person who is not qualified as a monitor, and who does not have a phone to be able to call a person in charge of the Tinajo City Council if a problem arises". The councilor considers that this is "very serious" and assures that he does not understand "why that person was sent" to accompany the young people, if "Tinajo has monitors".
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