Lola García removes Matías Peña as advisor to the Fuerteventura council
The president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, Lola García, announced on Friday morning that she has removed councilor Matías Peña, who heads the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries portfolio, from his delegated duties.
From now on, the responsibilities of the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries area will be taken over by councilor Enrique Pérez Brito, “with the aim of strengthening the management of the primary sector department, ensuring effective coordination and guaranteeing the continuity of ongoing projects.”
García reaffirmed her commitment to government cohesion, responsible public management, and adherence to the political agreements that allow progress for the island and its citizens.
BREAKDOWN OF THE AGREEMENT
The exit of Coalición Canaria (CC) from the governing coalition of the Antigua City Council sparked a political crisis that has now spilled over to the Cabildo of Fuerteventura, where the pact between parties led to Peña’s dismissal.
The rupture was formalised after a decision by the Political Council and the Local Assembly of CC in Antigua. The party justified its departure by citing “repeated displays of institutional disloyalty” and a lack of coordination and planning with the mayor’s office, which, according to the councillors, created a situation that “makes it impossible to continue being part of an increasingly closed and unilateral municipal government.”
Councillors David Alberto Guerra, Lucila Ruiz, and Victoria Cerdeña described, in statements reported by La Voz de Fuerteventura, an internal climate of tension and a management style marked by the absence of meetings and political coordination. They recounted that for two and a half years no pre‑budget or plenary meetings were held, forcing them to work “like heads without a chicken, putting out fires every day.”
“The mayor, Matías Peña, interfered in delegated areas and gave instructions to technicians without following the administrative chain,” they said, adding that his continued presence in the government had become “unsustainable.”
The criticism also extended to the island level, where Peña served as councilor for the Primary Sector of the Cabildo under the legislative political agreement. The councillors questioned his institutional activity, noting that “he hadn’t been to the offices for eight months.” They added that his municipal performance followed a similar pattern: “The mayor arrives at eight, leaves at nine‑thirty, and the town hall is left without a mayor.”
Peña publicly claimed that the CC’s departure was foreseeable.
“I saw it coming. Sooner or later I knew they were going to leave,” the mayor said, attributing the rupture to a political wear‑out strategy in a pre‑campaign context.
The integration of the AM‑CC councillors into Antigua’s government was based on an “oral, not written” agreement reached at the start of the legislative term. The pact envisaged a joint political project for the nationalist space and, in parallel, Peña’s appointment to the Cabildo of Fuerteventura as councilor for the Primary Sector.
This Friday, Cabildo president Lola García communicated the dismissal, citing not only the breakdown of the pact but also “the line of work the councilor had been carrying out at the head of the department.”