We have suffered too many times how the most rancid right wing shies away from calling violence by its name. It is not an oversight: it is calculation. A strategy to dilute the problem, blur the aggressor and hide the inequality we suffer from for the simple fact of being women. They seek to turn a structural crime into a domestic, anecdotal dispute, "between two".
But it is not. Gender violence is not a misunderstanding or "an incident." It is a crime and ends the lives of women. It is a scourge that has its roots in a machismo that still contaminates institutions and public decisions.
The most alarming thing is that there are not only those who deny the existence of sexist violence, but also those who, recognizing it, act as if it were not. And that is even more dangerous, because it disguises as normal what is a very serious violation of rights.
The latest and most scandalous example we have experienced in Lanzarote, specifically in the municipality of Tinajo, where its mayor, Jesús Machín, has publicly acknowledged that the City Council has paid for stays in hotels to prevent alleged abusers from being arrested.
"Either we find a place to leave this woman or we have to arrest him." Just like that, without hesitation. As if it were a simple accommodation management. A four-star room converted into a municipal contingency plan that replaces the action protocols to protect victims.
But it's not just about his words. The most serious thing is that he does not deny that it is gender violence. He says it with all his letters. And yet, instead of activating the protocol, protecting the victim and putting the aggressor in the hands of justice, he decides to pay for a hotel with public money to avoid his arrest. That decision is not a slip: it is a policy maintained over time. An institutional practice endorsed by his word, assumed by the Local Police and paid for with public funds.
And above all, it is an alarming confession. A sign of how far some institutions are willing to trample on the social and legal advances achieved in terms of equality to protect the aggressor and not bother a neighbor too much.
Because this is not an isolated case. It is a symptom. A symptom of how denial, the trivialization of machismo and institutional complicity have penetrated public administrations. A symptom of how all the red lines are being crossed without consequences. And in the meantime, the victims remain unprotected.
In this context, what happened in Tinajo cannot be interpreted as an anecdote. It is a warning of where the ideological regression encouraged by the extreme right is leading us: to a society where the aggressor is treated with care and privileges, and where the victim becomes invisible again.
This is not only an indignity: it is a danger that breaks the principle of justice, deactivates the institutional response to sexist violence and sends a devastating message to women: "Report it if you want, but here the one who sleeps soundly is him." And, because of the naturalness in the story, it seems that the mayor has also rested easy.
It is not up to a mayor to decide what to do in a case of gender violence. That is what the state security forces and bodies, the action protocols and justice are for. Skipping all that institutional framework to improvise solutions tailored to the aggressor is not only irresponsible: it is reckless. It is not his function, it is not his competence and, of course, it is not his right.
The fight against gender violence requires rigor, responsibility and courage. It requires that those who govern are clear about which side they should be on. There is no room for nuances. There are no excuses. And much less are there hotels.
The mayor of Tinajo must be held accountable. Not only for what he said, but for what he did. Because he has institutionalized negligence. Because he has crossed all the lines.
And most importantly: we cannot get used to it. We cannot normalize that this is the response of our representatives to sexist violence. The only possible solution is forceful: truth, justice, protection and institutional responsibility.
Everything else is covert management complicity.