Jose Julian Mena Mayor of Arona Y Pedro Javier Hernandez Velazquez, municipal secretary of the Aronero City Council, will have to testify on May 24, as an investigator, in Court number 4 of Arona, in the preliminary proceedings that were opened on February 25, 2021 after an order from Judge Nelson Díaz Frías . The mayor and the secretary are being investigated “as the possible existence of a crime of administrative prevarication”.
The judicial procedure was opened after the complaint of the socialist councilors Dácil León, Sebastián Roque and Luis García in January 2021, after the mayor withdrew from the municipal plenary session of November 26, 2020 the item on the agenda where it had to be give an account of his passage to the condition of non-attached councilor after the expulsion of militancy from the PSOE on November 13.
According to the complaint, the secretary made a first report where the status of “expelled” from the PSOE of the mayor is recognized and therefore his move to “unassigned councilor”, but on the same day of the plenary session, held in the afternoon at the Civic Center of Cabo Blanco, avails itself of a complementary report where it points out that “it is not a firm act” because sooner “the appeal filed by José Julián Mena to be expelled from the party must be resolved.” Despite the fact that the entire opposition demands to know this new report and that the point on the agenda be debated, neither is the report realized nor is there a debate.
Almost two months later, on January 11, 2021, three socialist councilors filed a complaint in the corresponding Arona trial court. On the 24th, the mayor and the former secretary will have to testify and the day after three witnesses, councilors Elena Cabello, Pura Martín and Yurena Esther García Álvarez.
With the passage of time, José Julián Mena, by judgment of the Litigation, maintained his militancy in the PSOE, due to formal defects in the expulsion procedure, continuing as a socialist mayor in the Arona City Council, where he governs together with six other councillors, while six other socialist mayors are still at odds with him and one more, the plaintiff Luis García, was expelled from the party and appears as unassigned mayor.
