Canary Coalition quits Antigua City Council over “institutional disloyalty”

Coalition Canaria in Antigua announced on Tuesday that it will no longer be part of the municipal governing coalition led by Mayor Matías Peña (ALxAN) and will resign from the councilor portfolios it has held until now. The party said the decision was taken by its Local Political Council and ratified by the Local Assembly.

“Repeated displays of institutional disloyalty by Mayor Matías Peña”

The statement added that the split is due to “continuous displays of institutional disloyalty, disrespect and public disagreements on fundamental matters of municipal management, creating an unsustainable situation.” No further details were given about the specific disagreements.

The resignation means that the three nationalist councilors will cease managing their respective areas:

• David Alberto Guerra (head of the 2023 list) will relinquish the portfolios of Urbanism, Planning, Management, Execution and Urban Discipline.
• Lucila Ruiz will give up Health and Beaches.
• Victoria Cerdeña will step down from Employment, Local Development and the Justice of the Peace.

Once the resignations are formalised, the delegated areas will revert to the president of the corporation – the mayor, Matías Peña. From the opposition, the nationalists pledged to keep “working, overseeing and defending every day the interests of our people, with the same enthusiasm, responsibility and closeness as always.”

Recent Notable Discrepancies in Antigua’s Governing Pact

The departure follows a series of public and pronounced frictions between Coalition Canaria (and also the Contigo party) and the mayor on various management issues.

• Social Employment Plan 2025‑2026: On 2 February the council announced the completion of the hiring process for 22 unemployed individuals, with a total investment of €360,877.96. The mayor praised the work of local development councilor Victoria Cerdeña (CC).
• Plan Suspension: Two weeks later the mayor announced the suspension of the plan, citing “various incidents related to the interpretation and application of participation requirements and selection criteria” by the Canary Employment Service. The same notice requested that candidate‑selection procedures be carried out in offices “that are not on the island,” a comment that could be read as an indirect jab at the management of the Local Development area by the CC councilor.

Frictions Over the Land Allocation for the Future Health Centre

Another source of tension has been the process of allocating land for the future health centre in El Castillo (Caleta de Fuste).

• CC’s Urbanism Councilor’s View: David Alberto, the council’s urbanism spokesperson, argued that the municipal health‑land process has been hampered by repeated parcel transfers rejected by the Canary Government’s Health Department because the sites were affected by the acoustic footprint of Fuerteventura Airport.
• Responsibility Claim: Alberto placed the main blame for the project’s stagnation on previous urban decisions made by the council itself and on the Canary Islands Government.
• Council’s Counter‑Narrative: Earlier statements from the council had blamed the Health Department for halting the health centre. In September the council approved the transfer of a new parcel that it claimed met all required urban criteria, a position that later conflicted with Alberto’s stance.

The split underscores a deepening rift within Antigua’s municipal administration, with Coalition Canaria now exiting the governing coalition and returning its delegated responsibilities to the mayor’s office.