Mayra Marichal leaves AMF but remains a councillor in Puerto del Rosario

Mayra Marichal has announced her voluntary and definitive departure from Asambleas Municipales de Fuerteventura (AMF), citing a loss of confidence in the party leadership and the safeguards governing its internal procedures. Her decision also means leaving the Island Executive Committee and any other organisational role within the party.

Marichal believes Juan Nicolás Cabrera’s actions reflect a way of leading that is incompatible with democratic participation, transparency and respect for dissent.

“My family, my friends, and party members and supporters have also encouraged me to take this step. They have expressed their strong rejection of Juan Nicolás Cabrera’s conduct and asked me to continue defending the interests of our neighbours, as I have always done,” she explains.

Marichal points to her record in the social sphere and argues that AMF should take a clear position on housing and social policies, and defend its proposals for Fuerteventura against Coalición Canaria, PP and PSOE. “While we should be defending our proposals against Coalición Canaria, PP and PSOE, we have spent far too long here caught up in who gets the seat on the Fuerteventura Island Council. That has never been my fight,” she writes.

The councillor thanks her colleagues for “the work and for standing up”, and says her involvement in the internal dispute is over. The letter’s final words are addressed to the party president: “If that is the direction the president wants to take the party in, he can have it. I wish him luck, but he should not count on me.”

The Island Council candidacy: at the heart of the dispute

Among the reasons for her departure, the councillor cites the public disparagement she says she has faced. She rejects remarks reported in the press after the president’s appearance on 4 November, which, she says, implicitly suggested she was seeking to secure the Island Council candidacy “through the back door”, as reported by La Voz de Fuerteventura.

“The president himself had invited me several times to take on that candidacy. I later asked for a process to be opened so that other people could put themselves forward, and was told there was no time. I will not accept my right to take part being publicly questioned afterwards,” she says.

Speaking to La Voz de Fuerteventura, Marichal says the disagreements arose after Sergio Lloret ruled out leading AMF’s candidacy for the Fuerteventura Island Council. The party leadership then chose between two candidacies led by Juan Cabrera and Juan Nicolás Cabrera, without Mayra herself or the other party members knowing about the process.

Marichal wanted to make this point clear, stressing that “I was never given the opportunity to put forward a candidacy”, despite the president’s accusations.

The councillor particularly stresses that she has received no formal response to the five submissions sent to the party president: the appeal concerning support for the Island Council candidacy; her supplementary submission; her request for financial documents and minutes; her request for information about attendance and legal services; and her request concerning the protection of personal data and internal information.

Regarding the public announcement that one of the appeals had been rejected as out of time, she clarifies that her challenge concerned the subsequent endorsement of Juan Nicolás Cabrera’s candidacy after Juan Cabrera Peña resigned.

She says she learned of the new candidacy through the press on 15 October. The president later said in a radio interview that an AMF body had made the decision on the 12th of that month, at a meeting to which she had not been invited.

“My appeal was filed on 22 October and challenged that later decision. That is why I dispute the claim that it was out of time and am calling for a reasoned decision that identifies the agreement and its date. A statement to the media is no substitute for formal notification,” she says.

The councillor also alleges that restrictions were imposed on contributions in the Executive Committee’s WhatsApp channels, and that a new group was created in which only the president could post messages. She believes these measures, together with the lack of documents and the failure of the party president to call further Executive Committee meetings, have hindered debate and internal scrutiny.

“Asking for information, voicing criticism and calling for the statutes to be respected are rights of party members. Anyone leading a party must listen and be accountable,” she says.

Marichal also expresses concern that she is unaware of any internal equality plan or protocol for responding to gender-based violence, and that there are no known, accessible mechanisms for requesting an impartial assessment of the treatment she has received.

Continuing on the Town Council

Leaving AMF does not mean giving up her seat as a councillor. Marichal has informed Puerto del Rosario Town Council that she intends to remain part of the Mixed Group and retain her role as its spokesperson, asking that her position on the council be preserved in accordance with the applicable regulations.

“I have not left the Mixed Group or given up my responsibility to the public. I remain committed to the democratic values for which local residents placed their trust in me: listening, working, acting transparently and defending the public interest,” she says.

The councillor states that leaving the party does not mean she accepts the actions she has challenged, nor does it mean she is giving up any claims or actions that may be available to her.

“My commitment to Puerto del Rosario remains unchanged. I will continue to serve our neighbourhoods and villages, listen to residents and bring their concerns to the Town Council. That is the responsibility I took on, and I will continue to fulfil it,” she concludes.