The mayor of La Laguna, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, affirmed yesterday that the “dignity” with which the former Councilor for Finance and Economic Affairs and Citizen Security, Alejandro Marrero, presented his resignation, “puts in value that things in La Laguna have radically changed.”
This was pronounced after informing the City Council in a statement, last Monday, that the mayor had resigned “for personal reasons”, after learning that he had allegedly been involved, at dawn last Saturday, in a traffic accident with an official car and that he had abandoned the vehicle. Inside there was documentation from the Department of Citizen Security, as well as a baby seat anchored in the back.
The mayor stressed that “we have requested that what happened on that Saturday morning be investigated to the end, because we understand that making assumptions about the facts in question does not go anywhere, quite the opposite.”
In this sense, he pointed out that the Local Police of La Laguna, Tacoronte and the Civil Guard are still collecting the data, for which he emphasized that “it is impossible to know today all that information that has been released to the media because not even the reports themselves have been carried out”.
Luis Yeray Gutiérrez also wanted to clarify that “when I had the information it was at the moment I set foot in Spain, I did not hold meetings and to this day I have not been able to hold a conversation with the councilor who has resigned, but I respect that vital space and when he is ready he will transfer me what he deems ”.
In this regard, he explained that, last Monday, he was flying from Cuba, where a meeting of Heritage Cities had taken place, and upon arrival in Madrid “is when I begin to receive the information through my chief of staff of the press.
On that trip I was accompanied by my mayor’s chief of staff and we both realized what had been made public. From then on I had to wait until eight in the evening to catch a new flight to Tenerife, where I arrived around ten thirty at night, and it is materially impossible for meetings to be held, not just physically, but in a telematic way in an airplane”.
Therefore, he emphasized that the decision of councilor Alejandro Marrero to resign was “personal, which he has valued and put on the table.”
Resignation that became effective yesterday, when he appeared in the City Council registry, and that the mayor accepted. “I think it is important that it is known that the forms in this City Council have changed, if we make a comparison not too far away we see how not only the councilor has submitted his resignation, but we have also requested that we be rigorously informed of what what happened,” he insisted.
Regarding the involvement of an official vehicle in the events, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez explained that the use of this type of car “is intended exclusively for use in service of the councils, that is, in the event that they work during working hours ”, and pointed out that he has no knowledge “nor did he frame the guideline for the use of cars, that is in accordance with the management of the areas themselves”.
“Now, obviously we know that the car did not appear in the municipality, but we cannot make a public mockery, there will be an explanation and whoever has made this use will have to give it,” added the mayor.
United we can and Avante
For his part, the spokesman for Unidas se puede, a member of the local government group, and Councilor for Social Welfare and Sustainable Mobility, Rubens Ascanio, appreciated that Alejandro Marrero “has made the right decision in submitting his resignation, and that it was quick and appropriate”, and as for what happened “that night and the use of the municipal vehicle outside the municipal area, are questions that we have asked for clarification and I understand that they will be answered.”
Even so, Rubens Ascanio emphasized that “there is a substantial difference with respect to what happened in other historical moments in La Laguna, in which there have been scenarios that may be familiar to us, although I understand that here the context is different, but the decisions are They have taken it differently, and I think that also speaks of the government that currently exists ”.
Along these lines, the spokesperson for Avante, also a member of the local government, and Councilor for Territorial Planning, Santiago Pérez, indicated that “the resignation of this comrade honors him, his attitude, and also indicates that La Laguna, under the in the wake of the mayor, is experiencing a new political stage of transparency, respect for the citizenry and democratic forms”.
“A valuable colleague whose attitude at this moment honors him so as not to serve as a pretext for those of CC to do their own thing,” added Santiago Pérez, while recalling that “the comparison is inevitable, in the case of former councilor Blanca Pérez (CC), who not only did not resign but also Clavijo changed his area and later on he was given responsibility for security in the Government of the Canary Islands”.
