The political controversy that is shaking Galicia in relation to the migration crisis due to the massive arrival of boats to the Canary Islands has raised the tone. After a week of reproaches and accusations where the Council of Galicia and the mayors of the municipalities to which the immigrants are being transferred criticize the “obscurantist” management of the central government, the controversy has exploded with the decision to refer the immigrants to a PP town council that a socialist one rejected.
The initial intention was to house 40 immigrants in the A Coruña town of Leftover of the Monksbut the socialist mayor, Lisandro Santos, he refused. “It’s not the best for my neighbors,” she said. The change of plans was immediate and yesterday, the same day that their transfer to that municipality was scheduled, they arrived at The Porriñoa town of less than 20,000 inhabitants in the south of Pontevedra.
Mayor, Alejandro Lorenzo, found out about his arrival through the media. The Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, confirmed this transfer to the press mid-morning, when the immigrants had already begun to arrive, and, however, he did not speak by phone with the councilor until hours later, late in the morning. “We are a supportive people, but what is clear is that we cannot find out the same day that they are already here,” he criticizes in conversation with THE WORLD.
“You are the mayor, people are asking questions, it appears in all the media and you don’t know anything,” laments this councilor, who returned to the Town Hall after a meeting and found television cameras asking him about a situation that directly affected his municipality without him knowing anything.
The Government delegate visited a local company without warning, but this institutional discourtesy is not what bothers the mayor, who understands it as part of the political game that they belong to different parties. What causes “discomfort” is the “total misinformation.” Alejandro Lorenzo is willing to collaborate with the care of newcomers, but demands greater collaboration between institutions: “There must be information, communication, respect and coordination.”