The autonomous secretary of Citizens in the Canary Islands and vice-president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Enrique Arriaga, yesterday presented a initiative to “listen to the concerns, ideas and needs of the island’s inhabitants”. It’s called Tenerife on the Move. In order to present this proposal, Arriaga met with 200 people from Tenerife at the Casa del Vino de El Sauzal.
Present at the event were the president of the Cabildo de Tenerife and insular secretary of the PSOE, Pedro Martín, the secretary of organization of Ciudadanos, Carlos Pérez-Nievas, a good part of the elected officials of the orange formation in Tenerife and other political personalities such as the vice president of Canary Islands Government and president of Nueva Canarias, Roman Rodriguezas well as representatives of the civil and business society of Tenerife.
During the act, Arriaga explained that “after more than three years and three months in the Cabildo government, I have been able to verify that if we want to get Tenerife out of immobility, we all need to unite for the benefit of the Island, and that is why this Project”. He assured that this platform “will serve as a work space to reconnect with citizens, echo their needs and end funding imbalances.” “In addition, we also want to equalize investments and budgets in the islands so that the people of Tenerife receive equally, without being more than anyone, but not less either, as it has been until now,” he stressed.
Review of the figures
The leader of the orange formation in the Canary Islands presented the figures of the municipal register, in relation to the investments of both the Government of the Canary Islands and the different Cabildos to show the comparative grievance suffered by Tenerife in terms of investment by public administrations. “This inequality has its origin in an anti-democratic electoral system that rewards more votes on some islands than on others, which makes the vote of one Herreño worth the same as that of 17 Tenerife residents, or that of a Gomeran equivalent to the vote of 14 people from Tenerife”, explained Arriaga, who added that “the favorable treatment of the smaller islands is due to the fact that it is more profitable electorally”.
However, he highlighted that “In Tenerife en Marcha we defend equitable treatment for our Island, and that once and for all we Tenerife people stop being second-class citizens in this archipelago. For that, we ask for something as revolutionary as recovering a basic principle of democracy that is not fulfilled in the Canary Islands: one person, one vote. Among the commitments assumed with this new platform, which according to Arriaga “recovers the leadership of Tenerife”, are “the planning of a sustainable mobility model, the promotion of necessary infrastructures such as ports and hospitals, the promotion of economic diversification based on innovation or access to decent housing. In addition, Arriaga showed his support for young people, the elderly and the different groups, and expressed his concern for the environment, culture and sport “as necessary edges to build an island of solidarity, which responds to everyone in all scopes”.
A “new future” for the Island
Arriaga concluded by assuring that “a new future is born for Tenerife, in which the people of Tenerife take the reins of our island.” “Tenerife en Marcha was born to respond to the demands of the people of Tenerife and will be in constant construction, leaving no one behind,” concluded the vice president of the Tenerife Council.
