Juan Nicolás Cabrera aims to form his own group on the Fuerteventura Island Council and in five town councils

Juan Nicolás Cabrera will lead the Fuerteventura Island Council list for the alliance formed by Asambleas Municipales de Fuerteventura, Nueva Canarias and Juntos por Pájara in the May 2027 elections. The three parties unanimously ratified his selection after Antigua mayor Juan Cabrera withdrew from the race shortly after announcing his intention to lead the list. AMF’s president believes the decision may have been prompted by a lack of support for him among the coalition partners.

Cabrera explained that Juan Cabrera’s selection as the party’s candidate for the Island Council by its internal bodies did not guarantee that the electoral partners would ratify him. He acknowledged that there had been differences of opinion over whether he was the right person to head the list.

He said AMF’s executive committee had shown greater support for his own candidacy, although Juan Cabrera ultimately received more votes in the internal ballot.

However, Nueva Canarias and Juntos por Pájara still had to ratify the proposal, as stipulated in the alliance agreement. That stage was never reached because Cabrera had already withdrawn.

As Antigua’s mayor himself argued, AMF’s president believes the mayor should focus his efforts on the mayoralty in the next elections, although he noted that his municipal candidacy must be ratified by the local party group.

As for the island’s highest governing body, the Island Council, Juan Nicolás Cabrera has said he is ready to take on this new political challenge, citing both his institutional experience and his knowledge of the island.

After almost four decades in politics, he says he remains just as keen to stand for election again. “I don’t think anyone currently hoping to lead the Fuerteventura Island Council list could be more enthusiastic than I am about this project,” he said.

AMF initially backed Sergio Lloret, the former president of the Fuerteventura Island Council, to lead its list to the island’s governing body once again. However, Lloret cited personal reasons for declining to stand, although Cabrera stressed that he would continue to work with the political project.

The alliance’s candidates

Juan Nicolás Cabrera recalled that, under the alliance’s electoral agreement, Asambleas Municipales de Fuerteventura would lead the Island Council list, while Nueva Canarias would lead the list for the Parliament of the Canary Islands, with Natalia Santana as its prospective lead candidate.

The alliance has agreed on different arrangements for the municipalities.

In Puerto del Rosario, AMF will lead the list with Rubén Reyes Gutiérrez, while in La Oliva it will do so with Jero Lozano Santana.

In Antigua, the party hopes Juan Cabrera will be confirmed as lead candidate by the local group.

In Tuineje, Nueva Canarias will lead the list. Juan Nicolás Cabrera named sitting councillor Carmelo Rodríguez as the prospective candidate and said he hoped AMF’s Yurena Vera could take second place, with the final list yet to be decided.

The situation is different in Pájara. Juntos por Pájara has decided to contest the municipal elections alone. AMF and Nueva Canarias are in talks about presenting a joint list, but no agreement has yet been reached.

AMF’s president also revealed that talks are under way with Muévete, a new political party that has emerged in the south, with a view to strengthening the alliance.

The alliance hopes to secure its own group on the Island Council and in these town councils. Betancuria is the exception: it does not plan to field its own list there and hopes to reach an understanding with Unidos por Betancuria.

AMF’s president confirmed that talks are under way with both Marcelino Cerdeña and the municipality’s current mayor. Although there is no formal agreement yet, he is confident they can find a way to work together, as they have done in the past.

Housing, healthcare and tourism growth among priorities

Beyond the candidates, Cabrera criticised how Fuerteventura’s main needs are being addressed, particularly in housing, infrastructure, healthcare and public services.

He believes tourism growth is not being matched by sufficient planning to meet the needs of the resident population. As an example, he pointed to the opening of the new hotel in Corralejo, with capacity for 1,000 tourist beds, and asked where the workers it needs would be able to live.

He also called for better healthcare in the south of the island and raised the need to build a new hospital in Fuerteventura, rather than continue expanding the existing Fuerteventura General Hospital.

Juan Nicolás Cabrera also highlighted his experience in land-use planning. He recalled that he was an Island Council member when the Fuerteventura Island Spatial Plan was approved in 1998. He said the document had the unanimous backing of the political groups represented on the institution and of all the island’s town councils. “The only Island Plan ever approved was the one I approved as a councillor in ’98. I was responsible for land-use planning, the environment, waste and hunting, and the Island Spatial Plan was approved unanimously by all the political groups represented on the Council and with the support of all the island’s town councils,” he recalled.

The primary sector also features prominently in his proposals. Cabrera called for greater support for farmers, livestock farmers and fishers, and said institutional initiatives focused on holding fairs were not enough.

With this programme and an alliance that still has some municipal negotiations under way, Juan Nicolás Cabrera is returning to an island-wide candidacy, convinced that his experience and knowledge of Fuerteventura can contribute to the electoral project he will lead.

Was expelling Coalición Canaria a mistake?

Reflecting on his political experience at the Fuerteventura Island Council, Juan Nicolás Cabrera also discussed AMF’s decision to expel Coalición Canaria during the previous term. The expulsion was followed shortly afterwards by the departure of the Partido Popular group, leaving the Island Council in the unusual position of being governed by two people: Cabrera himself and then-president Sergio Lloret.

Juan Nicolás Cabrera acknowledged that the expulsion may have been the wrong decision and that his party ultimately paid for it at the ballot box. “I say that perhaps we got it wrong at the Island Council; AMF’s group made a mistake with that decision, and we paid for it in the elections,” he said.

He recalled that the move was linked to criticism by Coalición Canaria at the time over the purchase of the Las Casitas estate, whose recovery, he said, “is now defended by those who questioned that operation”.

Despite their past differences, he has not ruled out future agreements with Coalición Canaria, the Partido Popular or the Partido Socialista. The only party he regards as a red line is Vox.

General elections and a left-wing agreement

Finally, Juan Nicolás Cabrera welcomed the agreement reached in the Canary Islands between Nueva Canarias, Podemos, Izquierda Unida and Sumar, saying that bringing left-wing parties together could help them secure greater political representation. “A nationalist left-wing project that defends its land and is led by Nueva Canarias — that makes us even more convinced it will happen.”

With general elections expected in November, he said AMF would discuss its position at an internal meeting next Tuesday, while noting that the party has traditionally allowed its members to vote as they wish.

Personally, he considers the left-wing alliance “very positive” and highlighted the grassroots, assembly-based nature of his party, where different political viewpoints coexist. He said he personally believes the agreement is the right one.