He has not held public office nor is he a powerful real estate businessman, but Felipe Fernández Camero has been linked to the major businesses that have been developed in recent decades in Lanzarote, almost always linked to the same ...
He has not held public office nor is he a powerful real estate businessman, but Felipe Fernández Camero has been linked to the major businesses that have been developed in recent decades in Lanzarote, almost always linked to the same businessman, Juan Francisco Rosa, also charged in the case, from the sadly famous case of the Hotel Fariones Playa in the late eighties (built on the sand of Puerto del Carmen beach) to the heartbreaking case of the Hotel Papagayo Arenas, built on the cove of Las Coloradas just a few years ago, passing through the Tías Golf course or the thirty illegal hotels that in the late nineties obtained "express" licenses from the Yaiza City Council, of which the Hotel Princesa Yaiza is a paradigmatic example.
Therefore, and although he already had other charges behind him (which he has always tried to hide), his arrest in the framework of the "Unión" case takes on a special significance. The two major cases opened against corruption on the island, in the Investigating Courts Number 2 and Number 5 of Arrecife, had put many politicians and businessmen against the ropes, putting an end to too many years of impunity, but now, a transcendental leap is taken again, also ending with the figure of the alleged "untouchables".
The fall of José Francisco Reyes or that of María Isabel Déniz were only the tip of a giant iceberg of alleged corruption, in which the real protagonists remained in the shadows. Therefore, determining who was behind and who was putting the brain to those "businesses" was essential to get to the bottom of what happened, and also to dream of a new Lanzarote.
Some, including Felipe Fernández Camero himself, as well as the lawyer Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, and some of their new puppets, have been on an unprecedented crusade for months against anyone who tries to highlight the questionable relationships that for years have united and continue to unite certain politicians and businessmen on the island. They have even attacked the people who, from the judicial spheres, have acted without trembling and have managed to make Lanzarote start believing in Justice.
Now, as we see how the case investigating the alleged plot for the granting of illegal licenses, as well as the "Unión" case, are progressing, the nervousness of certain people is better understood.
For the moment, not all those who are, are there, and it will still be necessary to prove the guilt of those who are, but the arrest of Felipe Fernández Camero has much more significance than it may seem, and certainly will have had for all the politicians and big businessmen behind whom he has been for years.
His arrest in "Unión" highlights that he has not only been intimately linked to the alleged urban corruption of Playa Blanca, through his simultaneous connection with the Yaiza City Council and the major developers, but also that of Arrecife, in the controversial management of María Isabel Déniz.
Like any defendant, Felipe Fernández Camero is undoubtedly presumed innocent in this case, and we will have to wait for the secrecy of the proceedings to be lifted and for the trial to arrive to know the forcefulness of the evidence that has been found against him. However, what has been unquestionable for some time is that in recent decades, Camero has been the great defender of urban illegality on the island.
Until now, the trials had been developed in the administrative channel, and had ended with dozens of judgments declaring illegal hotels, parking lots, partial plans and many other issues behind which the figure of Fernández Camero has been. And even if only because of the chaos that this has left as a sad legacy to the island, it was essential that all this be investigated also from the criminal field, as is happening now.
In addition, we must add a sentence that La Voz de Lanzarote made public this week, and that has undoubtedly been a reason for celebration for all the citizens of this island who have no interests in urban speculation. The Investigating Court Number 7 has sentenced three developers of the Playa Blanca Partial Plan (one of them from Federico Díaz de Aguilar) to return to some buyers the money they paid for their home, and to pay the interest and costs of the trial. And the judge considers it proven that the companies acted in "bad faith" and deceived the buyers, by hiding from them that the Partial Plan was immersed in several judicial processes and ran the risk of ending up being declared illegal, as finally happened.
The sentence, which could be the first of many in the same sense, is not only a relief for all those who have felt cheated when buying those houses, but also a reason for satisfaction to see that businessmen cannot do what they want. Without a doubt, this has been a great week for Justice on the island.
