The Socialist Group in the Cabildo of Lanzarote denounces "a new episode of waste and opacity" by the island's president, Oswaldo Betancort, with a trip to Texas that will cost more than 250,000 euros of public money.
The party assures that "the contracting has been processed through a private company awarded by hand, a model that prevents knowing the real breakdown of expenses and in what concepts they are applied."
The spokesperson for the Socialist Group, Ariagona González, recalled that "the Cabildo is in technical bankruptcy, a situation that has already forced the cancellation of projects and commitments acquired with citizens."
“It is an absolute incoherence: while initiatives are suspended due to lack of funds, Betancort finds more than a quarter of a million euros for a trip to Texas. The island is experiencing a water crisis, a housing emergency and cuts in basic services, and yet the island's president prefers to allocate the money to political marketing.”
González warns that "this outsourcing system shields access to key information such as invoices, caches, trips, diets, production or logistics costs, reducing transparency and hindering public scrutiny."
“A private company is hired by hand precisely to hide how each euro is spent. It is not a specific error, it is a pattern of opacity. There is no accredited return for the island, there is no serious economic report or evaluable objectives. There is only propaganda paid with public money while the Cabildo admits that it cannot meet its commitments,” concluded the socialist spokesperson.
