The CEO of the Tourist Centers, Benjamín Perdomo, has clarified that "the image of Lanzarote and the Centers cannot be linked to a friend of San Ginés accused of misappropriation of public funds" due to the removal of two sculptures from the Atlantic Museum this past weekend from the waters of Playa Blanca.
"It is an issue that we wanted to do with absolute discretion for democratic health and hygiene" he justified. "We cannot be complicit in this monument to political corruption nor stand idly by in the face of two figures of someone accused of having enriched himself at the expense of INALSA. We cannot give legitimacy to a shameful behavior for the island and for the Tourist Centers," explained the CEO of the Entity, Benjamín Perdomo.
"These figures," Perdomo insisted, "are a tribute from Pedro San Ginés to his close friend that we all pay for; a mockery of society that they boasted and bragged about in their conversations".
"At least we will have the sculptures left"
In that sense, the councilor recalled that the media recently published an excerpt from a WhatsApp conversation intercepted by the Civil Guard in which Calatayud boasted to Pedro San Ginés that his statues would always remain. As La Voz published, San Ginés decided to build a museum with public money in front of the illegal Marina Rubicón marina, and for which Calatayud modeled.
After that information was published, San Ginés wrote to the lawyer. In the message, he told him that the current councilor of the Tourist Centers had given a press conference "to say that the museum was to make figurines for Pedro's buddies." "Nothing, you're already portrayed. I'm sorry friend," he added. "My friendship with you is going to cost me my career!!! At least the sculptures will remain!!!", Calatayud replied.
In his statements in court, in the case for the seizure of the Montaña Roja desalination plant, the lawyer denied that there was a "friendship" between them, despite the fact that San Ginés had publicly acknowledged it.
Response to the Tourist Federation
"The problem is not how much it has cost to remove those figures but how much they have cost the society of Lanzarote. A public space," he concluded, "cannot and should not be occupied by someone accused of having appropriated public funds," says Perdomo.
The response of the Tourist Federation to the removal of these two sculptures "from a set with more than three hundred (300)" has caused some surprise within the Tourist Centers. "We understand that the installation has not lost any value, on the contrary," Perdomo pointed out.
The councilor wanted to clarify that the Atlantic Museum "has never been dismantled. Only admission has stopped being charged, a circumstance that benefits the clubs in the sector. And no admission is charged," he recalled, "because there were so few visitors that it was more expensive to pay the staff to charge than what was collected."
