The autonomous assembly of Verdes Equo Canarias has decided that its two councilors in the Arrecife City Council, Esther Gómez and Leandro Delgado, abandon the municipal group Lanzarote en Pie - Sí Podemos, which would imply its dissolution.
"The decision, which has not been easy or pleasant to make, is motivated on the one hand, because Podemos, a formation with which the agreement was signed and the project was presented, no longer has representation in the municipal group and, on the other hand, because the party is not having its own voice within it nor has it been able to access the accounts of the municipal group at any time," the formation said in a statement.
It should be remembered that the joint list they presented in 2019 was headed by the then general secretary of Podemos in Arrecife, Leticia Padilla, who a year and a half ago left the purple formation. Since then, Padilla has continued as a councilor under the umbrella of Lanzarote en Pie, which was initially just the name given to the confluence, and was not registered as a political party (it was registered two months ago as such).
"We want to remember that Verdes Equo has not caused this situation and, therefore, we are not responsible for it," say the ecologists. In addition, they emphasize that they have already conveyed their decision to the leadership of Podemos, "despite its lack of representation in the group." "It is exactly what we would have liked them to do with us if we were in that circumstance, and they have understood it that way," they say.
Equo also claims to have been "respectful" of the decisions of both Podemos and the mayor Astrid Pérez "regarding the consideration of the municipal group." The former asked that Leticia Padilla be removed from the group and that she move to the non-attached, considering that she had incurred in defection, but the mayor rejected it. That allowed her to continue released as spokesperson for the group, although the circumstances could change now. And it is that to have its own group are needed three councilors, which are just those obtained by the coalition, but two of them belong to Equo.
"We understand that, now more than ever, the citizens of Arrecife do not need this policy of juggling and do need the one that focuses on solving their problems. Solutions that must come from the same people, because they are the ones who have knowledge from their daily experience," says the ecological formation.
"In Verdes Equo Canarias we know that very complicated times will come because it is not finished seeing, with certain stubbornness, that if we do not base our policies on social and climate justice, our islands and their people will have a very difficult time getting ahead and having a decent life," adds the party. Finally, it concludes by appealing to "another way of doing politics, which really opens the future and the confidence of those who live, work and enjoy Lanzarote and Arrecife."
"We will dedicate ourselves to that work, as we have always done, but now with more desire and motivation, precisely because of the generalized crisis situation in which we are," he says.