Born in Bilbao, but deeply rooted in La Palma, Asier Antona (1976) has been politically resurrected after being removed from the leadership of the Canarian PP for being accused (internally and externally) of frustrating a center-right government in 2019. He continues to vehemently deny it (and he is right) and, now as mayor of Santa Cruz de La Palma and national deputy, he maintains his personality and criteria, insisting that the only way for his party to grow is at the cost of “weakening.” to CC, no matter how much they co-govern.
-Are you living your best moment?
“I am happy for my responsibility as mayor of my city, with which I am in love and which has behaved so generously with me. And, yes, I am enormously satisfied with what has been accomplished in these months.”
-I conclude that it is his best moment or one of them…
“It’s magnificent. As you know, in my long career I have had several responsibilities but this is, without a doubt, one in which I feel best.”
-Did politics owe you something because they were not fair to you, since Casado was not?
“That is a thing of the past and I have always looked to the future, what I do now with all the desire, enthusiasm and strength. My only objective is my commitment to transform Santa Cruz and achieve leadership as capital in all areas. “I ripped off the rearview mirror.”
-Although he doesn’t say it, did Feijóo answer that ‘injustice’?
“I am delighted with Feijóo, I am part of the national leadership of the PP, in the previous term I was also a member of the group’s leadership in the Senate and, when you are part of the team as executive secretary of Electoral Policy, you feel super recognized.”
-Allow me to recover the rearview mirror: weren’t you president out of principles and self-love?
“I wasn’t because I needed 36 deputies and I never had them…”.
-But they offered them to you at the famous Presidency meeting in Las Palmas: didn’t you want to be a puppet president in 2019?
“On the contrary, there were never 36. There was a red line of Cs, who did not want Clavijo because he was accused and, when he decided to leave, Casimiro, who had a commitment with him, the next second ran to support Torres.”
-Well, beyond the Navarro option, that was sold…
“I know, but it is radically false and I do not know any politician with ambition, and I had it and I have it, who rules out being president of his land. That was how it was.”
-Is Santa Cruz your culmination or do you not rule out relaunching yourself?
“That is never known; Now I am also a deputy and I am on key commissions for the Canary Islands. I have a commitment to my fellow citizens and I will not renounce it, even if it were said that, when going to Congress, I would, but never. My commitment is certain and is to transform the city, as the neighbors are already seeing.”
-Will you repeat the poster in 2027?
“In politics, you can never make plans because it does not depend on your ambition or your priorities, but on many factors. My goal today is Santa Cruz, a city that deserves leadership not only insular, but also autonomous, as some parameters already prove. For example, if Airbnb says that, by 2024, it is the most searched Canarian city: we will be doing something right…”
-Is it only due to these months or to the years of PSOE and PP?
“I’ll give you data: we approved the General Plan, which had been under review for 24 years and which a few mayors and councilors went through. We began the second phase of the rehabilitation of the maritime avenue, which we will finish in June 2024. We opened the Casa del Césped, we resumed the port-city commissions to unblock many issues, we gave up land for housing and this Sunday (yesterday) the largest park opens children of the island. Today (Thursday), something historic: making 7,000 meters available to the Government for the Palace of Justice and parking lots. In addition, a large number of cultural and sports initiatives, and a project for a sustainable urban park in the upper area of 15,000 meters. “They are realities that I do not invent.”
-And it was impossible before, the previous PSOE government lacked leadership and you?
“No, I recognize the work of each one; I’m only talking about milestones in these months. Obviously, a government action requires momentum and clear ideas about the city model to put it on the map. “There is now a magnificent government and a clear roadmap and leadership.”
-Why did La Palma punish the PSOE-PP pact in May?
“Because the volcano was not measured electorally. Although they left their lives in the management, the people held the Cabildo responsible.”
-Did CC do too much electoral demagoguery?
“Without a doubt, he took advantage of the circumstances and everyone will know if he played fair. In addition, the central government’s non-compliance took its toll.”
-However, the PSOE later easily produced the only Senate record: were you surprised?
“But the PP wins Congress… Politics… The people…”
-Is CC already disappointing with the volcano because it is going long?
“We must be demanding with the Government of Spain and the canary must also comply. There are people who lost everything, not only their home, but their future linked to it, to tourism, especially in Puerto Naos. “It is a catastrophe and we need everyone’s efforts.”
-You have always been liberal and moderate: what do you think when you hear that there was a coup d’état or that there is a dictatorship…
“I don’t like at all that governance is in the hands of a fugitive, and firm sentences say so because he fled in a trunk. I am also worried that it will fall to ERC, which wants to break up Spain with a referendum, or to Bildu, which until a quarter of an hour ago supported the attacks, as well as that a part of the Government is a left-wing populist that is no longer adding, but subtracting. , when it breaks… I would like a PSOE in the center and for it to understand with the PP, but, as even former presidents lament, this drift is taking the country to the precipice.”
-Is the PP focused after 5 years without renewing the CGPJ?
“It must be renewed and the PP has the will, but the PSOE intends to control it. It must be done with absolute independence and that the judges choose their government.
-Yes, but, and as the EU says, the law must be changed before…
“The Government does not have the will. Do you think that a Sánchez associate can be allowed to insult judges in Congress? The CGPJ has said, for the first time, that there is no judicial independence from the executive, and that is without mentioning the complaints from the notary college, the diplomatic college, the judicial associations… This worries me and you, as a democrat, should worry you too. ”.
-As a Democrat, I am worried to hear that a president will end up hanging by his feet…
“I obviously don’t like that, but it’s an anecdote compared to what there is…”
-He is the leader of the third force and multiple partner of the PP…
“And I denounce it, but I do not see the same forcefulness in Bolaños or in the president of Congress to demand that the leader of Junts withdraw what was said. Do you see it as reasonable that they intend to control RTVE and, now, the EFE agency? Aren’t you alarmed as a journalist?”
-PP and PSOE have always put those they wanted there and I remember very well, I correct, very badly, Urdaci and Sáenz de Buruaga on RTVE…
“This interview is already for four pages… (Laughs).”
-Is the pact that PP-PSOE promoted in La Palma now impossible in the Canary Islands?
“It is not my place to affirm this. “I am not part of the regional leadership of the PP.”
-Is it convenient for the Islands to ever have that pact?
“I have always said that, the weaker CC is, the stronger the PP is because we compete in the same space. Therefore, our political objective to grow must always be to weaken CC, as happened in La Palma, when we assumed 10 of the 14 mayoralties, and we did not have one when I arrived.
-This is what Domínguez achieved in Los Realejos, where he went from 2 councilors to absolute majorities, while CC fell from 10 to 1: is that your current strategy?
“I don’t get into that.”