The current mayor of Candelaria and president of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam), Mari Brito, as well as the former mayor of the same town Gumersindo García (both from the PSOE), Carmen Luisa Castro (PP), former mayor of Güímar, and José Juan Lemes (PP and later, CC), former mayor of Arafo, are about to sit in the dock in the oral trial against them for the discharges from the Güímar industrial estate on the east coast of Tenerife.
Sí Se Podemos and Izquierda Unida Canaria (IUC), both parties appearing as popular accusations in the case, asked this Monday for Brito’s resignation after the judge dismissed the appeals presented by the accused.
The order establishes that these mayors, “consciously and voluntarily”, omitted administrative actions since the summer of 2013 to control and legalize wastewater discharges, something that they did undertake after the criminal case was opened, starting the complaint filed by Sí Se Podemos and IUC.
The judge added in his writing that the discharges were continuous and uncontrolled and coming from all the “companies of the largest industrial estate in Tenerife and the urbanizations of El Socorro and La Viuda, without purifying, treating, or legalizing, which in the receiving marine environment caused, at least in 2017, a serious risk for the quality of the waters, the balance of natural systems and the health of people, directly violating the applicable environmental regulations.”
After the dismissal of the appeals, all that remains is the opening of the oral trial and in the trial the facts and criminal responsibilities will finally be established.
The two groups indicate that the judicial order is “conclusive” and leaves no room for doubt about the knowledge of the facts by the political leaders, “their inaction and the negative impact of these discharges on the environment and the health of the community.” citizenship”.
Regarding the classification of the facts, it was established in the indictment that environmental legislation had been broken, that the polygon’s facilities were obsolete and lacked maintenance and that there was no trace of life on the polygon’s coastline.
With the development of the events from the complaint by Sí Se Podemos and Izquierda Unida Canaria to the present, and as a result of this complaint and the judicial process initiated, in autumn 2022 an Industrial Wastewater Station was put into operation in the industrial estate. (EDARI), something that these political forces insisted on despite the resistance of the Cabildo of Tenerife.
However, they point out that this judicial process is based on the “political inaction” reported during the period that is the subject of the complaint, on which they will establish the responsibilities of each of the political positions at the head of the different municipalities in the Valley.
“They turned the coastline of the Güímar valley into a desert by allowing uncontrolled industrial discharges for decades. The environmental damage caused is equivalent and as serious as the extraction of aggregates in the Güímar ravines, which is why we had to demand responsibility. We have to remember that, in this matter, all administrations have acted negligently,” says Lourdes Mondéjar, a member of Sí Se Podemos and currently a councilor for the Unidas Sí Podemos coalition in the Candelaria City Council.
The IUC coordinator in Tenerife, Ramón Trujillo, highlights that we have now reached “the moment of truth” since all the information that supports the complaint can be offered to the court.
Repair the damage
“We trust that, based on this trial, measures will be established to repair the damage caused and serve as an example for all the municipalities of the Canary Islands about their responsibility in the control of discharges of untreated water into the sea, which threaten the environment. environment and against people’s health,” he points out.
Both organizations denounced the events in June 2017, stating before the court that industrial water had been dumped into the sea for several decades without any type of purification, despite containing highly polluting components derived from its use in industrial processes with toxic waste products. all.
The complaint highlighted that the pollution levels double, triple or quadruple or more than the reference values established in the regulations, so that the values referred to heavy metals are also not met, which is a good example of the seriousness of the situation.
In May 2018, Izquierda Unida Canaria and Sí Se Podemos appeared as a popular accusation in the case.
The two parties have drawn attention to the fact that these discharges had, in an “incomprehensible” manner, authorization from the Vice-Ministry of the Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands by resolutions since 1998, an authorization that should not have been granted due to the lack of a treatment plant and the characteristics of these waters, which come from industrial processes and contain highly polluting materials, including heavy metals.
