A political row has unfolded after a proposal to name Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez persona non grata on Lanzarote before his summer holidays on the island.
Sánchez is one of Lanzarote’s greatest fans, regularly spending summer breaks with his wife and two daughters at Las Maretas, the “King’s House” near Costa Teguise.
However, this year Sánchez arrives at a delicate time. Recently, Santos Cerdán, his right-hand man and ex-secretary of the Socialist Party, has been imprisoned on suspicion of corruption charges, while two more party bigwigs also face investigation. Then, in midJuly, Sánchez’s close colleague, Francisco Salazar was accused of sexual harassment and creating a toxic workplace for women.
The opposition Partido Popular (PP) have called for new elections, having seen their chance to topple Sánchez’s fragile majority government in the same way he defeated them in 2018, following the PP’s involvement in the immense Gürtel corruption case.
And on Lanzarote, the local PP, led by Astrid Pérez, joined the clamour. Pérez told the Canarian parliament that Sánchez was “not welcome” on Lanzarote, while PP councillors on Lanzarote’s Cabildo proposed a motion to name him persona non grata.
Such a motion would not have any real force, but would simply act as a symbolic statement by the island government. However, to pass the motion the PP would require the support of the CC, their partners in the ruling group.
It’s the first time such a proposal has been made in response to a visit by a political leader, and the Socialist Party responded furiously, calling the motion “ridiculous” and accusing the PP of “being all over the place.”
In Haría, the socialist-led council extended a greeting to Sánchez, saying it would be “an honour” for him to come back to the town where he was photographed visiting the pretty Saturday market last year. Tías, also ruled by the Socialists, repeated the invitation.
PEDRO’S HIDEAWAY
The palace at Las Maretas was designed by César Manrique and his architect friend Fernando Higueras. Known widely as “The King’s House”, it was originally built for King Hussein of Jordan before he presented it to Juan Carlos I of Spain in 1989.
Over the years, the palace has hosted Spanish PMs Aznar and Zapatero as well as world leaders such as Helmut Köhl, Vaclav Havel and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!