"Sad day for Lanzarote, sincerely." That forum sent by a reader to lavozdelanzarote.com, when this media outlet broke the news that Judge César Romero Pamparacuatro will be leaving the island next September, ...
"Sad day for Lanzarote, sincerely." That forum sent by a reader to lavozdelanzarote.com, when this media outlet broke the news that Judge César Romero Pamparacuatro will be leaving the island next September, summarizes the feeling that many citizens of the island have undoubtedly had. In the last year and a half, the magistrate had become a kind of symbol for those who dream of an island free of corruption.
However, his departure does not mean that the "Unión" case is going to be extinguished. The judge himself has requested that a commission of services be assigned to him and, for the moment, he has already received full support from the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, and everything indicates that the General Council of the Judiciary will also support this request, because it would be totally absurd for a new magistrate to have to take over not only the open proceedings in the Court of Instruction Number 5 of Arrecife, but also one of the largest judicial cases open in Spain.
Now, the decision is once again in the hands of the Ministry of Justice, which will have the last word. And despite the fact that a year ago it already denied the request for reinforcement so that the judge could focus on the "Unión" case, now its rejection would be much more incomprehensible. Even more so than it was then, because it was more than evident that the magnitude of the case required it, and this had been understood at that time by all the judicial bodies, both the TSJC and the CGPJ.
Since then, the case has continued to grow with a new phase, Operation "Jable", which multiplied the number of defendants, and also the documentation to be analyzed, not even ruling out new fronts. Therefore, now is the time for the political authorities to demonstrate whether they really want to support the work of the Justice system. If they really consider the fight against corruption a priority.
Unfortunately, reality often shows that the basic pillars of society are the most neglected. And we can say the same about the lack of doctors, who hardly want to come to a place like Lanzarote, where often a single professional has to attend to all the patients of their specialty, as about the lack of resources and stability in the Courts of Arrecife. And it is that oversaturation becomes one of the problems that causes judges to only spend a few years on the island and then look for another destination.
Therefore, in the "Unión" case, if logic and common sense finally prevail and César Romero Pamparacuatro is granted the commission of services, the magistrate's transfer could even be an advantage. And it is that although he has to reconcile the case with his new tasks in the Court of La Laguna, his workload would be much less than in Arrecife, since his new destination does not support even remotely the burden of the one he currently carried.
Therefore, it could alleviate what has been an authentic "year of obstacles" for the magistrate, as La Voz de Lanzarote published when twelve months had passed since the public outbreak of Operation "Unión". A cause that, despite the difficulties, has left no stone unturned. And although it has mainly splashed the PIL, with its leader Dimas Martín at the head, it affects almost all the parties on the island. Militants and public officials from the PSOE, the PP, the Canarian Coalition and the PNL also have to answer to justice for this case, which even has Alexia of Greece's husband as a defendant, and has led to the vice-counselor of Justice of the Government of the Canary Islands, Carolina Déniz, whose sister, the former mayor of Arrecife Isabel Déniz, has become one of the main axes of the investigation, to testify as a witness.
For all this, it is logical that Romero Pamparacuatro has also become an uncomfortable character for many, who would undoubtedly celebrate that the magistrate left for Zimbabwe and never returned to the island. But the rest, as reflected in dozens of forums received in lavozdelanzarote.com, has shown their sadness and even their concern for his departure. "It was too good to be true," said one reader. "Why am I afraid?" asked another.
However, and although we must be vigilant about the decision adopted by the Ministry of Justice, the normal thing is that the magistrate can conclude the instruction of this case and take it as far as necessary. And although it is sometimes disheartening to see that many continue to act as if nothing had happened, and that the lesson has not been learned, the truth is that in the absence of its final results, this cause has already achieved a lot.
The work carried out from the beginning by César Romero Pamparacuatro, the agents of the UCO and the prosecutor Ignacio Stampa, and later assumed by the delegate of the Prosecutor's Office for the Environment in Las Palmas, Javier Ródenas, and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, has shown a reality that no longer allows us to look the other way. It has put on the table what many intuited or suspected, and what others refused to see.
Therefore, the work that the judges and prosecutors of the island will continue to do, sometimes without all the support they would need, will also have to be accompanied by the commitment and involvement of the entire society. Because neither the accusations nor the sentences are enough to end a flawed system. Now, it is the citizens who will have to demonstrate that this cause has not been in vain.
