First, they were media inventions. Then, when the issue reached the Courts, they became "unfounded" and "malicious" complaints that would not go anywhere. With the arrests and searches, the banner of the presumption of innocence took over. And now? What happens when even José Francisco Reyes has begun to confess to the judge that he would have received money from businessmen, linked to the granting of illegal licenses in Playa Blanca?
The Courts of Instruction Number 2 and Number 5 of Arrecife have turned the island upside down. So much so that, even with the accumulation of overwhelming news, one can even lose the dimension of the seriousness of each one of them. And in the face of that, those who intend to prevent Lanzarote from regenerating and changing course once and for all, would only have to charge even against Justice. And of course, in light of some statements that have been heard in recent days, it seems that there are even those who will be willing to do so.
But the island, the society, the street, is going in other directions. And it is outraged to see how a police report from the Udyco confirms that the former mayor of Yaiza spent hundreds of thousands of euros that had nothing to do with his salary as a public official. Or that he docked a yacht "for free" at the Marina Rubicón marina, because apparently he was not charged. Or that, in this case in Operation "Unión", two people were caught "red-handed" with 100,000 euros that would come from an illegal commission.
Obviously, not all judicial processes end in conviction, and there are defendants who are later acquitted, and therefore the right to the presumption of innocence is recognized. But when we talk about concrete evidence, about more than compromising telephone interceptions in the "Unión" case, or about data on Reyes' assets and his environment that are so forceful as to have led him to start talking and giving the names of businessmen who would have "helped" him, as he says, what the society of Lanzarote should do, with honest politicians at the helm, is to take off their hats to the work carried out by the magistrates of these two courts, by the Public Prosecutor's Office and by the agents of the UCO of the Civil Guard and of the Udyco of the National Police, as well as to all the judicial secretaries and people who have allowed us to reach this point.
The most striking thing about all this is that the news impacts, but does not surprise. Many receive them commenting that all this is nothing that was not known, that it was "vox populi" and that everyone knew what was being cooked in some town halls or in the offices of some politicians or some parties. However, it has taken many years to get here. To obtain not only evidence, but even confessions from the accused. So that whoever has granted dozens of illegal licenses, disassociates himself from the "paper theory", which he swore and swore that the hotels and large complexes declared illegal only had "small formal defects" and that the Cabildo had insisted on looking for five legs on the cat.
Now, it is not a medium, nor a party, nor a prosecutor. Now, it is not even a judge. Now it is Reyes himself who completely dismantles that theory, and confirms that here we were talking about much more than "papers".
However, there are still politicians, businessmen and even media outlets that prefer to continue without seeing, without finding out. That try to silence what are already public facts, after the lifting of the secrecy of the summary in the case of the alleged plot for the granting of illegal licenses.
And it is curious to see how the same ones who affirm that the judge has found "sufficient evidence" against the alleged murderer of Benjamín Santana to order his entry into provisional prison, do not also underline the existence of those "sufficient evidence" against José Francisco Reyes. And that it was the same magistrate, María Dolores García Benítez, who intervened and decided in both cases.
Lanzarote, thanks to Justice, is taking fundamental steps in the last year, but this has not concluded. Now is when the real bottom begins to be sought. When the courts try to enter the true nests of power that even cross the borders of the island. And that of course, with all the means at their disposal, they will try to silence, cover up and even counterattack with all their weapons. But for the moment, the people who are in charge of the two largest operations against corruption in Lanzarote are showing that they are willing to continue fighting this battle.
