A few months ago, with this quarantine and confinement thing, I started writing, and although these days without confinement I'm quite busy, I think the occasion is worth writing about everything that is happening on our island.
During all this time in the midst of a pandemic and a strict lockdown at home, a single command has been launched in the hands of the central government that has been marking the steps we should follow, both those of confinement, as well as those of the different de-escalation processes towards the new normal that they say will come after all this.
These are steps that, from my ignorance, I could discuss, but I'm not going to do it, since as I have said in recent entries, I would do everything from ignorance and anyone, even someone more ignorant than me, could debate my opinion, what's more, I think we can spend time without being able to reach a very clear conclusion, but what I am sure of is that it would be a better debate than those that take place in the congress of deputies in any of the sessions.
It must be taken into account that the debate in the congress of deputies has been summarized to, you are with me or against me, right-wing, left-wing, fascists, reds, Francoists, terrorists, and many other insults with the consequence that there is almost no difference between a Sálvame deluxe of Telecinco than a debate broadcast live on Spanish television.
Just as I write, I also like to read and it turns out that I am reading all the Official State Bulletins where they define the different phases of de-escalation, where it says what can and cannot be done and that is why I can debate not what the BOE says or I understand that it says, but the measures that are being taken on our islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa. Here is the link
Here in Lanzarote and through the Cabildo and the 7 City Councils, measures are being taken jointly with the intention that we all go in the same line.
Those who now govern say that it is something new, that for the first time everyone works together, and it is the first thing I want to refute, since that is not new but something that has been done for a long time, examples of this are the joint ordinances on carnival floats, on safety on the beaches carried out from the emergency consortium.
Or the meetings that were held in the rest of the island council areas and the areas of the town councils, such as those held from culture, the primary sector or animal welfare, where, as now, joint decisions were made and that then had to be carried out in the different town councils in the form of ordinances, edicts, etc., with the sole purpose that we all have the same rules.
This institutional unity began a long time ago and I can attest to it in the last legislature, although now they are determined to make it seem that with this pandemic and thanks to those who say they came to dignify the council it is from now, although as I say this unity has been around for some time.
But we continue with this supposed institutional unity because the only difference with the previous unity is that decisions today are made to legislate on what has been legislated, far above the single command.
Without a doubt, they have chosen the easy way, such as making decisions together so that later when the neighbors are not happy, they blame each other and no one is to blame,....
If you complain to your mayor, he refers you to a decision made in the council.
If you complain to the council, they refer you to your mayor who has the powers in your municipality.
And so the days go by and the house is still not swept.
At this point, some of you will already be thinking that I have gone crazy since although I am now focusing on Tías, which is the municipality to which I owe myself, it is clear that the message is addressed to the 7 mayors and the President of the Cabildo as the highest responsible for all of us.
I said before that in Spain we have our single command and that in Lanzarote they have invented another one in order to refuse responsibilities to their citizens.
In Tías I already denounced at the time that while the official Single Command opened the beaches and bathing areas in Phase 2 without time restrictions, in Tías they tried to establish a schedule for the use of the beaches.
My mayor publicly said that bathing was prohibited outside the urban beaches, specifically naming the Quiquere ravine and the cliff, an area that goes from the Tiñosa dock to the Puerto Calero dock.
Measures that lasted in the case of Tías a few hours and the case of some other municipality such as Yaiza lasted a day.
These measures were a clear example that the coordination they talk about from the council is really a lack of coordination because at the first change the council blamed the town councils that were the ones that had powers on their beaches, while the town councils said that they were measures taken jointly from the council.
In Tías it was even more funny because while the Mayor launched a message it was answered by the 1st Deputy Mayor in a lack of coordination even within the same town council.
Like this measure that I describe above, there are many that are being taken from the conejero single command, the last one related to keeping public sports and cultural facilities closed, despite the fact that in phase 3 they could already be opened.
Decisions that are affecting our lives in general a lot but very particularly the lives of many other people in particular such as artists, athletes and groups, clubs, cultural or sports associations and at the same time the economies of businesses close to the facilities where all these activities are carried out.
These decisions taken in Lanzarote by the president of the Cabildo and the 7 town councils are contrary to those that have been dictated by the single command of the central government, which are decisions that are supposedly taken based on expert reports.
For example, in this phase 3 of the de-escalation process, the opening of sports, cultural, etc. facilities has already been authorized, and even the celebration of small-format events has been authorized.
Each decree sets out the measures in terms of capacity or hygiene to be taken, however in Lanzarote it has been decided that they remain closed, after all it is easier to keep them closed than to work on implementing the necessary measures to open them.
Private sports or cultural facilities are already open, even bars and restaurants, following to the letter all the measures to be taken to proceed with a gradual and safe opening.
Meanwhile in Tías The theater, the exhibition hall, the sports facilities, the socio-cultural centers remain closed.
Events such as the Pavoneate that gave life to the town of Tías on Sunday mornings, or the Porilarte that did the same in La Tiñosa, are still canceled.
Even the life of the town of Tías, which thanks to the hustle and bustle of each afternoon of people training in the municipal sports facilities, the meeting point in the socio-cultural centers, now closed against the national criteria.
All this that I mention and despite the fact that from the single command of the central government composed of experts they tell us that we can do it, the single command in Lanzarote tells us no, that for our safety it is better to cancel everything and keep the municipal facilities closed and cultural or festive events canceled until October, yes, only in Lanzarote since in other islands cultural and sports life is already underway.
Without a doubt, one of the great sectors forgotten in this whole crisis is the cultural sector, without Ertes and without the possibility of working and of course without forgetting grassroots sport, while in other places they are already working on summer campuses in Tías we will see.
In Lanzarote in general and in Tías in particular, the easy way has been chosen:
CLOSE AND CANCEL EVERYTHING, IT IS EASIER THAN IMPLEMENTING THE NECESSARY SECURITY MEASURES FOR ITS REOPENING.
One of the last ones and that affects many people is the non-opening of the Papagayo campsite, which although it is not in Tías also affects many people in the municipality, and as if that were not enough, also in Haría they have chosen to close vehicle access to the beaches.
And to finish I do not want to forget one of the last measures taken from the conejero single command, which also seems that with it or so they tell us, they do us a favor in order to maintain our traditions, even forgetting that the night of San Juan will take place not in a state of alert but in the famous new normal and for which we did not need them to give us express permission and even less of a favor.
The bonfires of San Juan as every year, many are the neighbors who gather as a family to make them, and for some years from the consortium a series of recommendations were issued so that these were celebrated safely.
But this year it seems that in addition to the series of recommendations, the single command has pulled an ace out of its sleeve and they have told us that there cannot be more than 20 people in each bonfire and I am still looking for where they have taken that figure of maximum capacity in the exterior. Up to 150 people are allowed at wedding celebrations....
But as if that were not enough, the bonfires will presumably be held in the new normal, so I even imagine that the maximum meeting capacity will be even greater if possible.
Another thing is that while they tell us how they want us to live, our president of the Lanzarote and La Graciosa council walks around the eighth island on an institutional visit without a mask and without respecting any safety distances as can be seen in the same photos sent by the press office of the same council.
And we will also see how in a few days tourism will begin to arrive without any control while we will not be able to go to do some sport or a while to the theater.
REMEMBER THAT IN LANZAROTE THAT IS THE EASY WAY AND THAT EVERYTHING IS BASED ON GUARANTEEING OUR SECURITY
