On Thursday, the plenary session of the Tenerife Cabildo rejected a motion put forward by the PSOE to censure president Rosa Dávila (Canary Coalition). This decision, supported by CC, PP, and Vox, was in response to her advocacy for Italy’s immigration model, which she claimed “functions more effectively” than the Canary model, as well as her intention to resignify the monument to Franco in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Pedro Martín, the leader of the Socialist Group, asserted that the Franco monument cannot be resignified as it serves as a memorial to the coup d’état, and he believes that its continued presence is inappropriate in a democratic society.
In relation to Dávila’s comments defending Italy’s approach to illegal immigration, he condemned her for attempting to “shield” the island and for describing the archipelago as a “concentration camp.”
He pointed out that Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands, has already dismissed her stance and expressed confusion over why Dávila has not “engaged” with the PP to facilitate changes in immigration legislation. “That is the way forward,” he commented.
The Socialist leader is baffled that Dávila has yet to express remorse for her “inappropriate” remarks, which he believes are unfit for any president of the institution.
Ana Salazar, the spokesperson for Vox, accused the PSOE of merely seeking a “leader” and creating “positions to fail.” She suggested, for instance, the disapproval of the Minister for Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, after listening to audio recordings from the UCO that connect him to former advisor Koldo García from the Ministry of Transportation.
Lope Afonso (PP), the vice president of the Cabildo, has claimed that the PSOE is leaning towards “populism” with their motion. He highlighted the numerous resignifications of Francoist monuments across Spain, citing the Valley of the Fallen, which had its name altered by initiatives from a socialist government. Concerning immigration, he questioned whether the socialists would admonish the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, for promoting Arguineguín wharf as a reception area for immigrants.
José Miguel Ruano, spokesperson for the Nationalist Group, labelled the motion as a “gross” and a “libel”. He defended the president’s right to express his opinion and highlighted his own political commitment to democracy while critiquing the socialists’ “grotesque” perspective on the immigration issue.
