The bad thing about being owed money and not being paid is that, on top of that, there comes a time when you have to go through the uncomfortable ordeal of claiming it. And as if that were not enough, the response you sometimes receive is almost as bad as the debt...
The bad thing about being owed money and not being paid is that, on top of that, there comes a time when you have to go through the uncomfortable ordeal of claiming it. And as if that were not enough, the response you sometimes receive is almost as bad as the debt itself. And it is that in these cases, whoever should go to extremes is the one who maintains the debt, and not the creditor, but that does not always happen.
That is the case of what is happening in the lawsuit between the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the City Council of Haría. And it is that, apart from all the parallel debate and all the political connotations that may be behind it, the concrete thing is that the first institution has not complied with the payments to the Consistory. That is, to all the residents of the municipality. And far from trying to calm tempers and making every effort to try to minimize the damage that is causing to the coffers of the City Council, the president, Pedro San Ginés, has become embroiled in an open fight with the mayor, José Torres Stinga.
Now, it seems that the situation has reached a point of no return that benefits no one and that, perhaps with more will, could have been avoided. But the City Council has already lost patience and has decided to fulfill its threats, claiming for now the management of the Cueva de los Verdes. For the moment, it has done so with a letter addressed to the Minister of Tourism Centers, but in that letter it already warns that the next step will be in court, to request the eviction if they do not reach an agreement in ten days.
If it really comes to that point, the situation for the Cabildo could be more than complicated, since really, both the Cave and the Jameos are in the name of the City Council of Haría, no matter how much the island president tries to claim ownership of the assets or the works that may have been done there. And in any case, it will be a judicial dispute in which the people of Lanzarote will gain nothing.
Until now, the consequences have been paid by the residents of Haría, since the coffers of the City Council are suffocated because the Cabildo does not fulfill the payment commitments. Now, if the intention to take the claims to the ultimate consequences is consummated, the problem will become the whole island's. Perhaps then, the first island institution will change its attitude and recognize that it has made mistakes and has failed in the forms, as in fact some councilors of the government group already admit, even from the Canarian Coalition.
And it is that the nationalist party itself is also going to be harmed. Because although it has tried to stay on the sidelines, it cannot avoid being splashed by what has become an open war between the president of the Cabildo and one of the strong men of CC in Lanzarote, who even came to occupy the presidency of the formation in the Canary Islands.
The problem is that redirecting the situation now is going to be really complicated, and of course it is not enough for the Cabildo to say that it is willing to "dialogue", or that there has always been a chair waiting for the mayor. Basically, when one owes money, what one has to do is pay, or apologize for the delay and offer alternative payment options within certain deadlines. But that has to be done from the beginning, and not after a year of pulse, in which all they have done is heat up the atmosphere even more, opening debates about the ownership of the centers or threatening to withdraw or reduce the fee that is paid to the city councils.
Unfortunately, for years, the Tourist Centers have ceased to be the benchmark they were and there is more talk of them for the millionaire debts, mismanagement, labor conflicts and the back and forth with the municipalities involved. And if the Cabildo is not able to put a stop to that spiral, or at least not to feed it more, perhaps the best thing to do is to step aside and renounce the management.
Contrary to what the president of the Cabildo said this week on Radio Lanzarote, this is not a story of "aggressors and aggressed", but of creditors and debtors. And for the good of the Tourist Centers, the Cabildo and the City Council of Haría, it would be good to try to redirect the debate as soon as possible.
