The wave that promoted Ciudadanos throughout Spain also reached the capital, and with it, Matilde Zambudioreached the first tenure of Mayor of a municipality that, for the first time in the last 40 years, was not going to be governed by the Canary Islands Coalition.
The good harmony between the socialist mayor, Patricia Hernández, and the head of the Ciudadanos list, led to an agreement that, with the support from outside United We Can, imposed the change of government in the capital. A year and a half later, a motion of no confidence evicted both parties from the government team, partly due to the breakdown of Ciudadanos, with a councilor on the run, Juan Ramón Lazcano, and a councilor, Evelyn Alonso, who turned a deaf ear. to his party and supported CC and PP to recover the mayoralty.
On May 28 there will be elections again, and Matilde Zambudio and Patricia Hernández have decided that it is the opportunity to finish the work that both began in 2019. At least, this is how the still spokesperson for Cs in the Santa Cruz City Council explains her move to the ranks of the PSOE, where he will compete as an independent, in position number five on the list.
He assures that he is leaving Cs because “we all had high expectations with the refoundation, but the change we expected did not take place.” So, after speaking with Patricia Hernández, “we both agreed, as we did in 2019, that we could start working to finish what we laid the foundation for back then.” Matilde Zambudio details this decision and what she expects from the next elections to DIARIO DE AVISOS.
-What leads you to make the decision to leave Cs and join the PSOE candidacy?
“The decision to leave Cs took place a few months ago. We all had high expectations for the refoundation when it was announced at the end of November. We expected a real change to take place in the party, not only in image, but also in terms of structure and internal organization. However, we saw that these changes did not take place, and that is when I made the decision, mainly because what you can never do is go into an electoral campaign with disappointment. For me it is very important to believe in your project because I understand that this is the best way to get the best possible result”.
-Is that when you talk to Patricia Hernández?
“When that situation occurs in Ciudadanos, where the changes I expected are not going to take place, that is when I decide that Cs is a project for me that no longer represents me, and that is when I communicate it to Patricia Hernández. At that time we talked about whether we can go together to finish what we started in 2019. We must not lose sight of the fact that when we were governing, we had the same diagnosis of the city’s needs and we had the same city model. There was no discrepancy regarding the positioning of what the chicharreros need. Therefore I consider that this step is to finish or start working on those foundations that were laid in 2019 and on which we fully agreed”.
-How have you been received by the PSOE?
“Very well, there have not been any complications.”
-According to the list that Patricia Hernández has presented, you occupy the fifth position, did you negotiate to go in this place?
“No. That is something that was not even negotiated. When I spoke with Patricia, we both reached an agreement that, as I already said, we could go together to finish what we started in 2019”.
Will you continue as spokesperson for Cs until the elections?
“What is going to be done in Santa Cruz is the same as with other public officials who have already communicated that they are not going to continue. We must not lose sight of the fact that I am also joining the PSOE as an independent. I will continue fulfilling my mission as a spokesperson for Cs, a formation with which there is no conflict. Each one makes their decisions on a personal level, and each one will follow their path as of May 28, when we are already separated.
-You talk about finishing a project in which you fully agreed with Patricia Hernández, what are the main points that unite you with the PSOE program?
“What unites us is the already well of the situation of abandonment of the municipality. There are none of the municipal government areas that have an approved scraping. We fail in cleanliness, accessibility, mobility, parking, culture… I would love to be able to say the opposite, to be able to find an area that stands out and say hey, I applaud you, but that’s not the case. We are facing a situation of abandonment of neighborhoods that has continued over time, spaces in which, at the time, a great effort was made to provide them with infrastructures and services, and now you see that all this has not been maintained, attended to, no care. The truth is that it is very sad. Santa Cruz is a challenge because it has all the conditions to be a top ten city in Spain, what it lacks is management. And we see that year after year when they don’t bother to execute the investments. Last year was scandalous, leaving 80% of Chapter VI, the investment chapter, unexecuted. Obviously what we have is the result of the little work that has been done in the last decade in the municipality.
-There are many criticisms that you are receiving for your move to the PSOE, even as an independent. How do you defend that it was the PSOE and not another party, such as the PP, with which Cs governs in other parts of Spain?
“I joined Cs in 2015, and when I did, Cs was a social democratic party. The change in the political position of the party occurred in 2018. We have to take into account everything in which a center party such as Cs converges, with positions both with the left and with the right. I mean that I don’t go from one extreme to another or change positioning radically. I agree that it would not be understood that now I went to a Vox or a Podemos, but that was one of the advantages that Cs had as a center party, in which many policies from both sides converge. Also, in my case, we are talking about municipal politics, where, in the end, what it is about is managing, thinking about what the residents of Santa Cruz need and having management capacity”.
-Yes, but depending on the party, these policies are approached from different perspectives…
“True, and in this case, that is what I share with the PSOE, its vision of the city, the political perspective of what has to be done. It is often said that the best social policies are applied by the PSOE and the economic ones by the PP. But it is that in Santa Cruz, precisely the PP has not stood out for that philosophy that is applied to it, for example, not raising taxes. We cannot forget that if there is someone who has raised taxes in these four years, it has been the PP with the increase in the water rate, who are not happy with what the Price Commission determines, they want to raise it by 8%. Faced with this, the PSOE has always been very clear that the tax issue was not going to be touched. So, from my point of view, despite the fact that the PP is in the government team, which is supposed to have greater support for companies, here we still have to work hard to support the companies in the municipality that are the real town engine. Companies that after the 2008 crisis, many of which had not yet recovered, have had to face the pandemic, and it is the self-employed and small companies that need support. Therefore, if you want to blame me for having chosen the PSOE over the PP, among the reasons are these”.
-In your government, the one you shared with Patricia Hernández, something that both of them were clear about was not to agree with CC, is that something that they are still clear about?
“That’s something we haven’t talked about. If you ask me if there are red lines, it’s something I don’t think it’s my turn to talk about, since I’m just one more member of the list headed by Patricia Hernández. But, in any case, I insist, it is something that we have not discussed.
-If before you talked about what you share with the PSOE, what does Matilde Zambudio bring to the Socialists?
“My experience in all the management part that I performed together with Patricia Hernández in the government team with which the mandate began. At the time we made a good division to establish competencies and areas, and I think that each one in its role was very well received by the residents of Santa Cruz. I fought a lot for the self-employed and small and medium-sized companies, placing great emphasis on building up our business fabric, and all that part and vision that I may have of the different economic sectors of the municipality, that is what I want to contribute. There is also the cultural part, in which we pushed a lot because it was an area that practically did not exist. So I think that, for all those undecided people who are discontented in the municipality, I hope that with my incorporation into the PSOE they will see that the only person who can move forward with this situation of abandonment to the city and lift it up is Patricia Hernández”.
-The clashes with the current government team are notable in your case, are you aware of that tension, sometimes even higher than the one you have with the main opposition party?
“The truth is that I do not know the reason why they always direct a direct attack towards me, no longer because of political ideas or positioning, because on many occasions we coincide, but it is true that there is a personal stubbornness with me. There are times when I think they don’t like to hear me speak, I don’t know if because of what I say, or because of my accent (laughs), but it’s just opening their mouths and it bothers them. I think it’s more because they don’t like to hear me speak because of the forcefulness of how I say things”.
-What do you think is the main shortcoming of the current government team?
“The incapacity of management. If you stop to think about what they have done in these three and a half years, the only thing that comes to my mind is the pedestrian crossing on La Rambla, which on the other hand was a project of the Socialist Party. You also see the unemployment rate and the social exclusion rate, the first 11 points above the national average, and the second that affects more than 50,000 people in a city of 200,000 inhabitants, give you the measure of this lack of management. These are devastating data for a city that also has not grown in population for years, people do not see the city as attractive to live. That is the inheritance of Mr. Bermúdez”.
