The shortage of financial resources and budget allocations has compelled the Puerto de la Cruz City Council to cancel the municipality’s summer carnival, which the prior governing team of the municipal council had declared would take place from 3 to 8 September.
The cancellation has been made with the unanimous agreement of the summer carnival groups, as stated, which further notes that this, alongside the absence of documentation to contract the necessary services, has compelled the Department of Festivals under the new governing body to reach this conclusion.
The Councillor for Celebrations, Luis Javier González (PP), has expressed that he fully comprehends, respects, and concurs with “the choice made by the carnival groups”.
He sincerely regrets that, despite arriving less than two weeks ago and finding nothing at the City Hall that would facilitate this event, they are left with no choice but to take this unfortunate decision.
From the Department of Festivals, “we have reached out to the designers who had been involved with the Carnival King’s costume, agreeing to shift their gala to the Winter Carnival of 2025. Exceptionally, the next Puerto de la Cruz International Carnival will encompass four galas: the Children’s Queen, the Carnival Queen, the Grand Lady, and the Carnival King,” he elaborates.
He also emphasises that the Department of Festivals and its technical sector prioritised multiple meetings with designers, carnival groups, and the CIT Centre for Tourist Initiatives, “where we discussed the actions the department will undertake to quickly address the overdue payments, thus enabling us to organise the upcoming Summer Carnival in 2025”.
The Festivals sector confirms that it is operating “in a coordinated and organised manner, collaborating with all stakeholders involved in the forthcoming Winter Carnival, which will revolve around the theme ‘The World of Tim Burton'”.
The current governing team leads the Puerto de la Cruz City Council following a motion of censure orchestrated by the PP in collaboration with CC and the Portuense Citizen Assembly, which was sanctioned on August 16.
Consequently, ACP and CC reinstated the Mayor’s Office to the PP in Puerto de la Cruz through a censure that further divides the main city in northern Tenerife. The conservative Leopoldo Afonso (PP) therefore became the mayor of Puerto de la Cruz due to a motion of censure backed by CC and the Portuense Citizen Assembly (ACP), which, despite branding itself as the sole left-wing faction in this principal city in northern Tenerife, reverting the Mayor’s office to the PP, marks the third censure against the PSOE and was portrayed by socialist members and supporters in the Plaza de Europa as the “only right-wing party”.
Leopoldo Afonso is now the mayor of Puerto de la Cruz, taking over from Marco González of the PSOE, who had been in power with the backing of the Portuense Citizen Assembly (ACP) since the last elections.
