The PSOE of Lanzarote has described as "ridiculous and opportunistic" the responses offered by the current president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, after a painting made by a tourist in an old house on the island went viral. Thus, the spokesperson and councilor of the Socialist Group, Ariagona González, has highlighted that this "shows once again" that the leader acts "on a whim, proposing measures in an improvised way, prioritizing the headline over rigor.”
“The real problem that puts the protection of our heritage and our way of life at risk is the absence of containment policies that stop the uncontrolled arrival of tourists. The President of the Cabildo refuses to see a problem for which he also has verified data,” González said, referring to the Lanzarote carrying capacity study, which warns that Lanzarote has exceeded its limits for the arrival of visitors and the impact this has on the depletion of its resources.
“Lanzarote receives 150,000 inhabitants every week: the same population as the island doubles every week with the visit of tourists. While these data, which make some rich and impoverish the majority, continue to grow, the protection of our environment will continue to be at risk, we will continue to see our services saturated and we will experience crises that affect the local population, such as the one suffered with housing,” says the spokesperson for the Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote.
She also emphasized the “insolvency” demonstrated by Oswaldo Betancort, who has given the shameful impression of acting “in any way” to rush to have a response to a controversy generated on social networks: “He shows more and more that he acts on a whim, motivated by being on the covers and without a solid and rigorous government project.”
In this sense, she pointed out that Betancort never showed concern for the degradation of the landscape while he was mayor of Teguise: “This President, who has a spontaneous concern for the landscape, was the mayor of Teguise who passively coexisted with the skeletons of shame.”
