It was an open secret and yesterday it was consummated. The councilors of the PSOE critical of the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, requested in the entry register of the City Council their removal from the municipal group and their move to the group of non-assigned mayors.
Dácil León, Sebastián Roque, Yurena García, Pura Martín, Elena Cabello and José Luis Gómez justify their decision by the “non-compliance” and “inconsistency” of the Socialist Party, a political formation that supported Mena’s candidacy two weeks ago for Mayor in the 2023 elections.
The six mayors, who were no longer part of the government group, point out in a statement that they feel “hugely disappointed” with a party that “has not complied with what it told us” since the municipal crisis broke out, staged in June 2020 with the dismissal of Luis García as Councilor for Urban Planning. “Now, in a radical turn and without prior explanation, what happened is forgotten and Mena’s candidacy is supported,” they indicate.
Unanswered
After recalling that the Socialist Party was the one that opened an expulsion file for the mayor (which he appealed and won in court), the councilors regret that this political formation “has not addressed this group at any time, despite the request repeated meetings. There has been no response.”
The councilors, who insist that the origin of the problem of the Arona government group was the “external interference” of people outside the public administration, also accuse Mena of “not showing the will to unite the group, nor of dialoguing in the bosom of the party”. The six leave the PSOE, but they will not deliver the minutes of councillors, “because the commitment acquired was with the municipality and the neighbors.”
Four of the mayors who sign the statement, José Luis Gómez, Elena Cabello, Yurena García and Pura Martín, left the government group on the 15th, although relations with Mena and the rest of the colleagues in the local Executive had been going on for more than two broken years. Previously, Dácil León and Juan Sebastián Roque were dismissed, in addition to Luis García, expelled from the PSOE and the first to join the group of non-affiliated.
