As usual in the mornings, I was at the Zayes bakery, on the corner of Eugenio Rijo Rocha and Luis de Guadarfia, in Titerroy, in the bread line, while I had my usual two-story coffee with milk.
I had already seen the headline of
"La Voz de Lanzarote" in which the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, María Dolores Corujo (always according to the publication of La Voz de Lanzarote) "states that 95% of the infections are local and most are concentrated in Titerroy and Valterra." In my opinion, in the mouth of the president of the Cabildo it is an inadmissible absurdity and it is also insulting to the noble and humble residents of the capital's neighborhoods of Titerroy and Valterra.
I find it unacceptable that the president of the Cabildo says that in a media outlet, ignoring or obviating that all the residents of Arrecife and some of Playa Honda have their health card either at the Titerroy Health Center (Arrecife Health Zone 1) or at the Valencia Health Center (Arrecife Health Zone 2).
For statistical purposes, ALL residents of Arrecife are from Valterra or Titerroy.
Moreover, even if the management of the General Hospital of Lanzarote, Dr. Molina Orosa, has provided the president of the Cabildo with the data of those infected by census districts of Arrecife (which could be, although according to what I have been informed by totally reliable sources, the health authority does not have that data); it is unlikely that a neighborhood like Valterra, which has barely 7 or 8 percent of the population of Arrecife, contributes such high numbers of contagion. The same occurs with respect to Titerroy, whose 7,000 residents are barely 9% of the inhabitants of the municipality. This is even less likely if we consider two other facts. One, that according to the official website of Sanidad Gobcan, the vast majority of new infections are people between 20 and 50 years old. And two, that in a very high percentage the residents of the neighborhoods of Valterra and Titerroy are elderly people.
That said, I have been trying to contrast the information all morning. Meanwhile, I have been interrupted several times by residents of the neighborhood (Titerroy) who, knowing that I have been a councilor of Arrecife and president of the Neighborhood Association of Titerroy, addressed me, some almost rebuking me, indignant at feeling insulted by the president of the Cabildo.
To all of them, as I could, I have explained that, surely, the words of the president obey the arguments that I have exposed. In any case, my explanations did not alleviate the anger of the indignant residents of Titerroy.
Other neighborhood residents, with small businesses, told me, equally indignant, the damage that for them, "that we are at less than 50% of activity", will mean that people do not want to come to Titerroy for fear of contagion.
To the Mayor Astrid Pérez, also at the insistence of many residents, I have said that it is her obligation to demand that the president of the Cabildo rectify or clarify her statements.
Moreover, in an interview with the president of the Cabildo that Biosfera Digital publishes, she admits the possibility of confining the banks of Titerroy and Valterra. Either I am very wrong or such statements are of an unacceptable degree of imprudence and irresponsibility. To begin with, because the Cabildo has no authority or competence to decree the confinement of any population entity.
¿IN THE CENTERS OF WORSHIP?
Those who are also expressing their indignation at the statements of the president of the Cabildo are the people active in the different centers of religious worship. In the information published by La Voz de Lanzarote, Dolores Corujo "points" to family gatherings, nightlife and "spaces and centers of worship as the cause of the outbreaks of contagion."
To this statement, Lupe Toledo, one of the volunteers of the Parish of San José Obrero, in Titerroy, responded very annoyed, "about the CONTAGIONS are due to places of worship; I speak of what I know; let her (the president of the Cabildo) come to the parish of Titerroy. She would like to have her 'Centers' disinfected as the parish is. I invite her to come." And, even more, Lupe reproaches her in terms of "that she take care of what she has to take care of and not mess with places that she has no idea." And she insists "that she take care of the homeless that they throw out at 9 in the morning without more; no mask, no safety distances, smoking. She does not see that, and then closes Arrecife to disinfect where those who came in a boat passed." And this that Lupe complains about is mild, because she has always been a very understanding and calm person.
In any case, I am going to continue making inquiries. I would very much like to have to delete this post in a while and be forced to apologize.
Even so, the damage to Arrecife as a whole and to the neighborhoods of Titerroy and Valterra is already done.
