On November 9, he celebrated 10 years as mayor of La Orotava. It was in 2013 when he replaced the historic leader of the nationalists Isaac Valencia as head of the City Council. Since then, he faced three municipal elections in which he managed to maintain the absolute majority of his party, Canary Coalition (CC), of which he is its general secretary in Tenerife. This year, in addition, he makes his debut as a deputy in the regional Parliament. As mayor, he has several challenges to carry out for the municipality, among which the General Planning Plan (PGO) stands out, as well as the different projects that the El Rincón Consortium has worked on in recent years for this very area. emblematic of the northern town.
-When is the Holy Trinity Hospital?
“This hospital was closed by order of the Tenerife Cabildo in November 2013, since previous technical reports confirmed that it suffered several defects in its construction that advised its closure. In 2015, the new construction project for the future Socio-Health Center of the Santísima Trinidad was presented, which will be located on a 27,000 square meter municipal plot located in the La Boruga urbanization provided by the City Council. After overcoming various obstacles, administrative and urban planning procedures, and with an initial budget of around 10 million euros, the prices of the project, which have become outdated, are currently being updated. This means that the final execution plan will have a final increase of 30% compared to the original. As we have been informed by the Cabildo, the project updated in prices will be completed in the first quarter of 2024 and, then, the tender for the work will be carried out. The final amount of this social and health center may reach 13 million euros.”
-The Atlante movement hoped that the City Council would meet with its members before presenting the preliminary project for the sociocultural space located on the site of the old theater. Is there any scheduled date for this? Is the Government group open to changing it if it expresses its disagreement with the idea presented?
“The future Atlante Cultural Space will be located on the old site, which today is municipal, since it was acquired a few years ago in order to convert it into a social, educational and cultural space. There are still only a series of preliminary ideas with the aim of locating there the Municipal Archive, a large study room, another for exhibitions and others for multiple uses. Now, these suggestions can be modified or adapted to other realities. That is the idea that we as a government group have proposed and that is in the preliminary phase. When we have the preliminary project and its approximate financial costs, a task we have given to the public company Gesplan, we will sit down and talk with the Atlante Movement and all the political groups to make them partners and have a calm and open debate on the future Atlante Cultural Space. The Government group will be open to receiving all suggestions for improvement for said project; “It is the right thing to do, and as mayor of the municipality I am predisposed to change whatever is necessary so that in the end, and before commissioning the final project, we have a working document agreed upon by the local Corporation and the civil society that represents the Atlante Movement.” .
-In your last meeting with the general director of Cultural Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands, there was talk of resuming the project of the Humboldt Interpretation Center and the Bencomo Cave. In relation to the latter, has there been an attempt to speak with the owners of the property to reach an agreement and acquire it?
“Indeed, the so-called Mirador de Humboldt will become two interpretation centers in the shortest possible time, one for the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in the upper part, while in the lower part, it will be for the Mencey Bencomo, once a return has been ruled out. to open a cafeteria there. This space will exclusively be a viewpoint and a cultural meeting point around two emblematic characters. The conversations with the general director of Cultural Heritage, Miguel Ángel Clavijo, were very positive in that sense and he showed us his total collaboration to start this exhibition project. In recent years there have been several working meetings with the property that have not been easy, since at the beginning two owners even appeared. Once the property identification problems have been clarified, the City Council has an offer approved by the municipal technical office; Therefore, if there is an agreement with the property in the short term, the City Council will purchase the land necessary to access the caves. If there is no agreement, we will be forced to begin the expropriation process as it is an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC). “I have full confidence that in the end we will reach an agreement and we will not have to resort to expropriation.”
-Now that you combine your position as mayor with that of regional deputy, will you take steps to modify the Master Plan for the Use and Management of the Teide National Park (PRUG)?
“Indisputably yes. I have presented two parliamentary initiatives where I have asked the Territorial Policy Advisor about the administrative status of the PRUG, as well as the National Park Mobility Plan. Regarding the first point, the information they gave me is that 8,000 allegations have been registered and that almost all of them have already been answered. When we have the final document analyzed, as mayor and regional deputy I will take stock of it together with my municipal government. I am confident that the majority of the amendments presented have been taken into account. The PRUG is more than a working document, it is part of the future of the idiosyncrasy of Tenerife. My position, which I have made public on several occasions, is that in the end a document must be agreed upon with the Civil Society of Tenerife so that the Teide National Park is protected with regulated and controlled use.”
-Why were the members of the El Rincón Coordinator not invited to the meeting held in September, when the Consortium’s electronic headquarters was put into operation?
“The last meeting of the Consortium was in May 2022. There has not been another until December 27, 2023, the date on which the new Government of the Canary Islands, with its Territorial Policy Minister at the helm, made a new call. Between these two dates there has been no other meeting of the Consortium. Therefore, it is false that a part of it has not been invited, the Consortium meetings are official and all parties are summoned.”
-Are you confident that the El Rincón Special Plan will go forward in this mandate?
“I trust that during this mandate progress will be made and the pace of work of the El Rincón Consortium will be recovered, it is the only way to expedite and process many pending issues, among them is the review of the El Rincón Special Plan that dates back to 1997. They have Almost 30 years have passed and although the philosophical background of the Plan remains valid, it must be updated normatively and new forms of financing must be sought, such as agrotourism, to allow this protected area to survive economically. Therefore, I trust that by working together and with generosity on all sides we will reach good agreements for the future that benefit us all.”
-And the variant project?
“The La Orotava bypass or bypass is a project that is planned, but does not have a financial record from any public administration. It is a medium-long term project that will end up being carried out but that will even need to be part of future road agreements with the Government of Spain, since we are talking about a road that will exceed 100 million euros.”
-Are there projects to pedestrianize new streets in the historic center?
“Although they are not yet defined, logic says that sooner rather than later the area around the La Concepción church will be pedestrianized. It is not normal and it does not happen anywhere in the world that a monument of national interest is surrounded by cars, traffic and pollution. This premise is reflected in the Local Mobility Plan and little by little over the next few years it will be carried out.”
-How will the Villa continue working between now and 2027 to be declared a World Heritage Site?
“In 2020, the Government of Spain, unilaterally, paralyzed all new World Heritage Declaration files. My intention as mayor and that of the Government group is that throughout 2024 we reactivate this request to insist again before this administration so that, at least, the entry of our request on the previous list can be managed before UNESCO. I think it is an opportunity that we should not miss and we will continue working and insisting on it.”
-La Orotava was one of the municipalities most affected by the forest fire that devastated Tenerife in August. What assessment do you make of what happened?
“The fire suffered in Tenerife, which was not extinguished until the month of October, has been terrible. In my case, I have already had several fires behind me, I have never seen one as Dantesque and brutal as this one. Not only because of its dimensions, which were something never seen before, but because of the strange behavior that he had and for which he was called sixth generation. The effects on infrastructure were relatively important, but the environmental damage and ecosystem damage affected by the fire was dramatic. Now it’s time to recompose, rebuild, work as a team and analyze what happened. We have to be increasingly better prepared for these types of fires, climate change has arrived and is here to stay. As a regional deputy, I demanded at the parliamentary headquarters that the Canary Islands must have a permanent base of aerial means, because in fires the response times in the first hours of the fire are crucial for its control.”
