Canarian Coalition gathered a thousand people this Saturday, April 23, 2022 in La Orotava in their first island meeting after two years of pandemic. The general secretary of CC in Tenerife and host mayor, Francis Linaresinaugurated the May 2023 electoral pre-campaign and revealed four of the nationalist priorities for the island in the next term: re-launch the projects of the trains of the South and the North; dust off the project Puerto de la Cruz pierY recover the Ansina program for the elderly and the strategy of innovation, education, culture and sports Tenerife 2030.
The meeting, which took place in a packed Teobaldo Power Auditoriumwent from Hymn to the Canarian Fight from Los Sabandeños to Live life by Coldplay. With the stage full of public and organic positions of CC, started with three tributes: to La Palma, to the Saharawi people and to Ukraine. In the previous minutes, Linares made it clear that yesterday the electoral battle began to recover the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands: «There are 400 days left until May 28, 2023 and we start with two clear objectives: to govern again in the Cabildo de Tenerife and to govern again in the Canary Islands, to leave behind what we have had in these three years, a submissive government, incapable of claiming what the Canary Islands need».
The president of the Youth of CC, Seraph Table, opened the speeches with references to “Tenerife’s loss of leadership” and a “sectarian” and “submissive to Madrid” PSOE. In his opinion, “Tenerife is worse off and CC is the only alternative to this catastrophe.” Jonathan Dominguezspokesperson for CC in La Laguna and next candidate for mayor, accused the socialist Santiago Pérez of being “classist” and “gentleman” for calling him a “shareholder”, and was “immensely proud of being from the neighborhood”.
Dulce Gutierrez and Ana Dorta They spoke on behalf of the North and South of the island and also had messages for the PSOE. The nationalist spokeswoman in La Victoria warned that “the legacy that these PSOE governments are leaving us is pathetic”, and Dorta pointed to the insular president, Peter Martin“who said he was going to end queues in the North and in the South and now they are worse than ever.”
The mayor of Santa Cruz, Jose Manuel Bermudez, recalled the error of “those who said that outside the government the CC was going to dissolve”; He assured that “Ángel Víctor Torres is delighted to have a submissive president in the Cabildo de Tenerife, which slows down the development of this island”, and called the “ineffective and inefficient” socialist government a “remora”.
The CC spokesman in the Cabildo, Carlos Alonso, stressed that the PSOE “has left the island’s elders alone by suppressing Ansina for revenge and firing more than 70 professionals.” Of the Government of Pedro Martín, he said that he is “sectarian, incompetent and without leadership”, guilty of “the greatest non-execution of the budget in the entire history of the Cabildo, with more than 300 million euros pending mobilization.” He compared them to Vox and accused them of having the island “stranded”. He stressed that “the PSOE has not fixed almost anything and has destroyed almost everything.” And he announced that it is time to “treat municipalities equally” and to “bet on sustainability by definitively burying projects such as the port of Fonsalía and supporting the train and electric mobility.” Alonso also revived the debate on “disorderly population growth.”
«It is time to commit to sustainability by definitively burying projects such as the port of Fonsalía”
The regional deputy and organization secretary of CC in Tenerife, Rosa Davila, said that “people see that our land is coming to a standstill and we cannot allow that”, and added that when they speak to him on the street they always ask him the same thing: “When are they going to come back?” In addition, she made reference to the absent Ana Oramas, who could not travel to La Orotava from Madrid, whom she described as “an inspiration for all the women of CC”.
The general secretary of CC in the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, was greeted with shouts of “president, president!” and he also wanted to mark distances with the PSOE: «CC has a single voice and a single word; we do not sell to the Saharawi people». He insisted that “we are the only political project capable of defending this land without ties.” He valued the reaction of CC after the pacts took them out of the institutions: “He did what he always does, work for this land with more than 550 initiatives presented to the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Tenerife.”
«CC has a single voice and a single word; we do not sell to the Saharawi people»
“After this act, more than one out there is going to have political diarrhoea”
An Francis Linares Destado dismissed the meeting with a tribute to the bases and public officials who have kept the party alive. He recalled the good electoral results of 2019 (“We obtained 140,000 votes and won in La Laguna, Santa Cruz and the Cabildo de Tenerife”) and made several announcements: the confirmation that Jonathan Dominguez will be the CC candidate for Mayor of La Laguna and the first four agreements that his party will take if he recovers the insular government. Restore the Ansina program “because our elders don’t touch each other”; recover the Tenerife 2030 strategy “so that our young people do not have to leave our land in search of opportunities”; bet on the trains from the South and North of Tenerife, and «dust off the project of the fishing, sports and commercial port of Puerto de la Cruz».
Linares encouraged the Pact of the Flowers to “preparing the suitcase” because “they are going to go to the thinking corner for at least four years”. She predicted that Fernando Clavijo “He will be president of the Canary Islands again”, and concluded that after yesterday’s act “more than one out there is going to have political diarrhoea” because “Tinerfeño nationalism has taken to the streets again”.