If Coalición Canaria is not in the General Courts, the Canary Islands will not be on the political agenda of the next legislature. If Marci Acuña does not occupy the senator's seat, Lanzarote will be invisible in the Upper House. If there are no nationalist deputies in Congress, the Archipelago will be ignored.
Perhaps some may think that these statements are too harsh, but believe me, there is no other alternative. Next Sunday we are risking a lot. We are risking being or not being in Madrid. We are risking having someone who defends our interests, who attends to our demands and who fights for the illusions of our land in the day-to-day debates in the Courts.
Lanzarote needs to be heard. It has been mute in the Senate for many years, without anyone giving it a voice.
The Canary Islands must be present in Congress. Only our colleague Ana Oramas acts as a defender of those born and residing in our islands. Imagine what the Archipelago would be like if she did not exist. Or better yet: imagine what the Archipelago could become if there were fifteen like her.
There are many problems to solve in our land, many injustices that have to end. And this will never happen if we leave our future in the hands of deputies and senators who only obey their bosses in Madrid and Barcelona. Who have to raise or lower their hands as they are ordered, without paying attention to the true reality of their neighbors, of the people with whom they have grown up.
Coalición Canaria has been the only party that has taken the initiative and the weight of defending our interests. We have fought in each law, we have looked for alternatives from under the stones, we have fought in each debate, we have negotiated and agreed whenever possible and always with a single purpose: to benefit our eight islands.
From December 20, a legislature opens that announces breezes of change. The time has come to sit down and talk about issues that are transcendental for the Canary Islands. If the islands do not have an independent voice, others will decide for us. We will lose a golden opportunity and it is a luxury that we cannot afford.
The televised debates, which have a lot of spectacle and little content, have served to make us believe that on Sunday we are electing a president of the Government. But that is not true. On Sunday we are going to elect fifteen deputies and eleven senators, men and women who will have to defend the interests of Tenerife, La Gomera, La Palma, El Hierro, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, La Graciosa and Lanzarote.
What we decide on Sunday is whether we want the Canary Islands to be on the political agenda of Madrid. If we want to be heard and paid attention to. If we want our problems to be solved. If we want all this, there is only one possible option: Coalición Canaria.
Oswaldo Betancort, candidate of Coalición Canaria Lanzarote to the Congress of Deputies
