The councillors of the Güímar Town Council took almost longer to arrive at the ordinary plenary session for the month of July than to conclude a meeting that dealt with eight items in thirty minutes. Curiously, it was a session dominated by honours and the absence of three renegade councillors – José Miguel Pérez and Patricia Encinoso, who have been expelled from the PSOE, and Carlos Llarena from Alternativa por Güímar, part of the electoral grouping with Nueva Canarias – that facilitated the motion of no confidence which, barring surprises, will elevate the popular Carmen Luisa Castro to the Mayoralty on Monday, August 11.
The calm preceded the storm anticipated in ten days’ time, following tensions that began on Monday when the presentation of the no confidence motion against the current mayor Gustavo Pérez was officially announced, who governs with the support of the Socialists.
It was an atypical session that had nothing to do with the tension of those risking their continuity at the head of the plenary chamber or those aspiring to the position… Thirty minutes barely allowed time to see that the last mayor immortalised on the walls of the town hall is the socialist Rafael Yanes.
Unanimous agreement to honour Professor Carlos José Elías and the remembered midwife Ana María Díaz-Mesa
Their successors, namely Carmen Luisa Castro through a motion of no confidence, and then Airám Puerta and Gustavo Pérez, are still active…
Peace reigned in the session, with the unanimous approval of various agreements of significant institutional and social importance, highlighting the recognition of Professor Carlos José Elías Pérez as Favourite Son of the municipality and the posthumous awarding of the Silver Medal to midwife Ana María Díaz-Mesa.
The session approved the first extension of the cleaning service contract for municipal facilities and schools. The agreement was supported by the Government Group, while the PP chose to abstain.
One of the most highlighted moments of the day was the designation of Carlos José Elías Pérez as Favourite Son of the municipality, a scientific journalist and professor at Carlos III University in Madrid. The proposal, unanimously approved, underscores the academic and research trajectory of the Güímar native, specialising in misinformation, media, and scientific literacy.
The Popular Party abstained on the extension of the cleaning service in municipal facilities
Elías Pérez, with a background in chemistry and journalism, has worked as a correspondent for media such as Agencia Efe and the newspaper El Mundo. He is the author of reference academic works and has been a visiting researcher at prestigious universities such as Harvard and the London School of Economics. His strong connection to Güímar, where he remains registered and resides regularly, was highlighted by several councillors as an example of commitment to his roots.
It was also approved, after extensive debate, the posthumous granting of the Silver Medal of the Municipality to Ana María Díaz-Mesa, a nurse and midwife widely recognised in Güímar for her professional and humane work. She served for decades at the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria and at the local health centre, where she taught maternal and sexual education classes.
Row over a medal
Although the formal procedure of the proposal was a matter of discussion due to an apparent administrative error in the referral to the Culture Commission, the Plenary decided to maintain the recognition in this session for reasons of social justice and opportunity. “We honour very few women in our institutional acts,” pointed out local nationalist Javier Eloy Campos from the government bench during the altercation he had with the proponent David Román from the PP.
The Plenary approved an institutional motion urging the Spanish Government to conduct an audit of the Social Security accounts from 1967 to 2024 and, furthermore, granted approval for the settlement of the 2024 budget, in a procedural matter where there was no real contention, as everyone was more concerned about what would happen on the 11th.
