The former spokesperson and adviser to the Sí Podemos coalition Canary Islands in the Cabildo María José Belda denounces that she has suffered “violence politics» by the party Podemos. This is the fundamental reason that he uses to announce his transition to non-attached status. Through a statement she adds that “as of today (yesterday, January 10) I will unsubscribe from Podemos.” Not only does he raise this political violence, but he also speaks of a “coup d’état” by his two former groupmates, David Carballo and Cristo González., with the endorsement of the purples. He broadens the accusations to concepts such as “punishment” and “retaliation” of the political formation to which he belonged until now.
“I am not going to allow myself to be displaced for working and complying with a program”
Belda assures that he has been punished after announcing his departure last October. The “retaliation has destroyed a political group,” she points out, whose work in these more than three years she praises for being “coordinated with organized civil society and with strict monitoring of the program.” He argues that “I am fired without justification that my work as spokesperson is contrary to the political interests of the group.”
The exporter values that the 732 votes from the 2019 primaries that supported her as head of the list for the presidency of the Cabildo “have been devalued and are no longer of interest to this party.” In the same vein, she points to the letter signed by 100 leftist voters, most of them militants on the island, and the 16 letters received from 30 collectives requesting that it continue until the end of the mandate as endorsements of her work. But “they have not been taken into account”.
“One message remains for the public: Podemos has killed hope”
Belda wields the report Political violence based on gender in Spain, published by the Ministry of Equality, to detail that it has been exercised against her since October when she was at the United Nations headquarters in New York in defense of the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people. At that time, she underlines, the general coordinator of Podemos Canarias, Laura Fuentes, “unilaterally broke the pact of external support to the island government of the Cabildo without consulting or notifying.” Two days later she announced that the militancy would dismiss her as spokesperson.
The left-wing policy emphasizes that “”the fact of knowing the termination hours before it was made public shows that it was a decision made by the party executive without the participation of the militancy.” The affected person understands that she was kept as a spokesperson “so as not to make noise during the primaries” and to carry out the plenary session of the budgets. But in recent months she has been “invisible” from the party despite the fact that she was “co-founder” of Podemos in Tenerife.
“They have used elements of the patriarchy to silence me”
Belda sentence: “The tools of the patriarchy have been used to silence my activity and dismiss me without any objective reason.” He criticizes the current “verticality” of the party that was born to change the way of doing politics. He believes that “they have made horizontality disappear and silenced the voice of the people in the administrations.” She considers that a message remains for the public: “We can have killed hope.”
Belda announces that she will not allow him to be displaced “for working and complying with a program.” For this reason, between now and the end of May, she will remain unattached to “represent those who have voted for me.” She claims to have consulted her decision “with the people who have endorsed my career” and with those who make up the platforms and associations to which – the island councilor concludes – “I want to thank her for her support, perseverance and commitment”.
David Carballo, the new voice of Sí Podemos Canarias
José David Carballo Ceballos (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1977) is the new spokesman for the purples in the Cabildo. Officially since January 1, although on December 22 he presented, together with his partner Cristo González, a letter to the plenary secretary to communicate the change. They also asked about the condition of a group with only two counselors. Like Belda, who requested compatibility to continue with her consultation as a part-time psychologist, Carballo, who has carried out her political activity in El Sauzal, will receive only part of the spokesperson, since she will continue to practice her profession in the health field. Sí Podemos Canarias in the Cabildo explained on Monday (yesterday there were no statements) that the change in the spokesperson was due to “an internal decision of the political group” to add that “the PSOE also made a change of island spokesperson a few months ago for reasons internal”. Cabildo sources point out that the president, Pedro Martín, has dismissed the two positions of trust of Sí Podemos Canarias. The purples supported the PSOE and Cs government externally from the beginning of the mandate in 2019 until last December when they opposed the island budget project for 2023. | JDM