Friday, March 29

Meri Pita denies being a defector from Podemos: “The minutes are not from the parties, they are from the citizens who vote for us”


“The minutes are not from the parties, they are from the citizens who vote for us based on the contract we have, which is called a program.” This was defended this Monday by the turncoat deputy Meri Pita, who announced her departure from the Podemos parliamentary group last Thursday, but she will not deliver her minutes and will go to the Mixed group. In a press conference accompanied by the eleven people who supported her in the letter, among which positions such as the Councilor for Urban Planning of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Javier Doreste or the Councilor for Housing of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Conchi Monzón, stand out. She denied being a turncoat and argued that her decision had been well thought out. As he defended, his discrepancies are with the state organization, since he believes “its organizational sclerosis” has turned it into a “witch hunt” where “any dissent is persecuted” and insists that the focus should be on this and not on accusations. personal, as you think has happened this week. “They could be made to look at why the two deputies from the Canary Islands have left Podemos and not start with accusations of a personal nature”, she insisted during her intervention, where she was emotionally affected. “It is the hardest and most disappointing moment of my political career,” she said after recalling that she has been in social movements for many years.

Podemos Canarias wants the vacant seat of Alberto Rodríguez to be occupied

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The public officials of Podemos in the Canary Islands who support it and who maintain government pacts did not clarify whether they will leave the party: “We are going to continue in the struggle of the popular movements” and with “the contract we have with the citizens.” “Whether we are going to continue or not, we will see”, remarked the councilor of the Gran Canaria municipality of Ingenio Pilar Arbelo. “We are going to be in movements that generate changes” and we will continue “being consistent with the project with which we presented ourselves to the elections.” The organization secretary of Podemos Canarias, Cesar Merino, stated last Friday to the Efe agency that he is contacting these people to find out if they reaffirm their decision and added that Meri Pita has been suspended from militancy, for the time being.

The deputy, for her part, assured that this week was the first time that the formation in the Archipelago had communicated with her in three years and it was precisely to announce this decision. The other participants in the press conference stated that they had not been informed of any decision these days either. For its part, Podemos Canarias, had recalled this week that it has some 40 public officials and that the signatories are eleven and that many of them “were warned of expulsion from the party for breach of the code of ethics, specifically in what refers to the salary limitation and economic contributions to training”.



Regarding the possible participation of some of the signatories of the letter in the political project registered by Carmen Valido, a former deputy of Podemos who was expelled from the formation (after withdrawing from the electoral list of Podemos to the Parliament of the Canary Islands just one day after until the end of the term) and who was always in tune with Meri Pita and many of the people present, Doreste pointed out that there is no problem in expelled people starting a new political project. “We believe that this is not the debate now, the debate is why more than half of the founders of Podemos are out”, “we want to return to our origins, speak and build that common space”. And along the way he points out that “we are going to talk to everyone.” The councilor also stressed when asked if Podemos should leave the Government of the Canary Islands that we must “debate”, “be accountable” and see to what extent it “benefits”.

Disagreements with Podemos

The Minister of Housing of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria remarked that what has been referred to at all times is a situation that has occurred in Congress, where Meri Pita has been withdrawn from her responsibilities and “the straw that broke the camel’s back ” is that it was recently a deputy for Asturias who intervened in a matter of the Canary Islands. With these aspects, she believes that she is agreeing with Nueva Canarias or the Canarian Coalition when they say that they are the only voice in Madrid. “I have missed the fact that more people in the Canary Islands supported the partner,” she said, referring to Pita, who she believes has been neglected and points out that if it had happened to her, she would have expected more support.

Monzón encouraged those who “talk about turncoating” to reflect “what is the action when the political party does not allow a deputy to do her job when she tries to make initiatives and they are stopped within the Congress group?” and he remarked that “there is no one left over here” but a deep reflection is required since “the panorama that comes to us now is tremendously uncertain” and there is “a far right growing like never before.”

Pita assured that little by little, Podemos have been removing spokespersons from the people who have shown their disagreements and regretted that in a motion on the trains of the Canary Islands a yes vote was voted, when he had transferred all the documentation to the party in which it was stated that posture was no. “The straw that has broken the camel’s back is that they haven’t allowed us to spread initiatives from the Canary Islands and they haven’t even consulted us about them,” he insisted. For this reason, he assures that he will continue to defend the electoral program for which he presented himself, even if it is “from four rows above.” He also rejected the immigration policy that has been followed in the Archipelago.

However, he will support the Government on relevant issues due to the threat from the extreme right and because he believes that among those who defend the essential issues of the program “everyone adds up”. “It’s been a long time since we consulted our militancy, our bases and it’s about time we start to reconnect with our ethical principles,” he added.



In addition, he pointed out that although he has not said it until now, he shares Alberto Rodríguez’s reflection when he said that if what happened to him (the obligation to leave his seat) had happened to a Catalan deputy, perhaps he would have acted differently so.

Regarding Yolanda Díaz’s project, Pita stressed that it will mean “the sum” since “unity is not one”, since “Podemos was born to overcome the space of the United Left” and he believes that More Country, Podemos and others should be there. forces of the left. However, only Monzón indicated that when the legislature ends he will go to his job, while the rest did not clarify whether they will be part of a new political project or not.

The spokesman for United We Can in Congress, Pablo Echenique, ruled out this Monday that there will be more departures from the parliamentary group and has considered that the criticism of the formation of the Canarian deputy Meri Pita, is due to an attempt to “justify” her “act of transfugism”. This has also been called by the current Secretary of Organization of the party, Lilith Verstrynge or the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero. Since last Thursday, Podemos Canarios requested Pita to deliver his minutes



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