The changes in the Arrecife Courts, and more specifically in the Investigating Courts Number 2 and Number 5, will not stop the fight against corruption on the island. That has been clear in recent days, with a new ...
The changes in the Arrecife Courts, and more specifically in the Investigating Courts Number 2 and Number 5, will not stop the fight against corruption on the island. That has been clear in recent days, with a new boost in the Reyes case from the judge who has taken over that Court, replacing María Dolores García Benítez, and also with the confirmation that César Romero Pamparacuatro will continue with the investigation of the "Unión" case, despite his transfer to Tenerife.
However, this week it has also become evident again the enormous burden left by political excesses in all areas, and in particular in urban planning. This is the case of the Playa Blanca Partial Plan, which constitutes one of the greatest aberrations carried out by the former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes. And it is that here we are not only talking about breaches of legality, or environmental aggressions, but also about enormous damage to ordinary citizens who have nothing to do with illegal licenses, large real estate businesses or urban abuses. People who took out mortgages to buy a home, and now find themselves with an illegal house whose future they do not know.
Something that the former mayor of Yaiza and his "advisors" should have known when, despite the warnings from the Cabildo, they began to grant licenses to build in a partial plan that was extinct. As in so many other cases, the Corporation had to go to court, which at the time already ruled in its favor, and now they have also ordered the execution of the judgment that declared the Playa Blanca Partial Plan null and void.
Now, the Yaiza City Council has ten days to comply with this judicial order, and a more than complicated scenario is certainly emerging. And it is that although the precautionary measures prevented the construction of more than half of the homes that were planned, the truth is that there are already about 400 houses standing and inhabited with their respective owners, who have been demanding a solution from the institutions for years, which at least clarifies the panorama of these homes.
And it is that the issue is not new, although now it is very topical and it is already unavoidable to give answers. On the one hand, those who have in their hands to define what to do to restore compliance with the law in that area. On the other hand, those who have to explain why they breached it at the time: both the former mayor and the municipal officials as well as the promoters. And all of them are having to give those answers also in the Courts.
In fact, the same week in which the latest decision of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands regarding the Playa Blanca Partial Plan has been known, some of its promoters have had to appear before the Investigating Court Number 2 of Arrecife to testify as defendants, within the criminal process opened almost four years ago. A process that starts from an overwhelming logic: there had to be some reason behind the massive granting of illegal licenses by José Francisco Reyes. And this judicial case has given a name to that reason that many suspected: alleged bribery. That is, payment of bribes.
Reyes himself admitted it after his arrest almost a year ago, when he confessed to having received money in exchange for granting illegal licenses, both hotel and residential, expressly citing the Playa Blanca Partial Plan and establishments such as the Papagayo Arena, among others. A month later, yes, he retracted his confession, and the businessmen he involved have also denied the accusations against them. However, all continue to be charged, in a process that is increasingly close to shedding the light that Playa Blanca has needed for years.
