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Pedro Martín - Mayor of Guía de Isora.Pedro Martin has been the mayor of Guia de Isora for nearly ten years. He represents the Socialist party and when he entered office he was the youngest mayor in the history of politics in Tenerife.
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 | | Pedro Martín - The mayor of Guía de Isora |
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Guía de Isora - 29.03.2005 - He is very much a hands on mayor and admits that his job is his life; he’s in touch with the residents of his municipality and on call for what must seem like 24 hours a day. He works during the week, tries to attend all the fiestas and openings of new initiatives and is often away on official business. He is married and has three children and his family is very important to him and though he spends all the time he can with them he seems to accept that, for now at least, his time is not his own. He says “wherever I am, be it taking the kids to school, in the local supermarket or out with friends there is always someone that wants to talk to me about something and I see it as my duty to always be there for them, it comes with the job”
Martín was born in Guía de Isora and has spent most of his life there though at 18 he moved to Barcelona for five years where he studied psychology. His interest in politics comes from his family, who always followed political affairs avidly. He was encouraged to read newspapers, magazines and books and was always included in the constant discussions in his family home.
He is still an avid reader today, though he insists that, despite the incredible influence that his upbringing must have had, he didn’t grow up wanting to go into politics, though he was active in student politics in Barcelona and worked for social services in Adeje for four years. The opportunity to become mayor was one that was offered him rather than one he looked for.
The municipality of Guía de Isora is going through enormous changes at the moment, its main economic activity until relatively recently has been agriculture and the area has often been seen as ‘that farming land and desolate coastal area sandwiched between the more developed Santiago del Teide and Adeje’. Times, however, have changed and Guia now boasts over 20,000 residents based in 16 different neighbourhoods, an amazing assortment of over 60 different nationalities living within its boundaries and five new five star tourist developments that will certainly put Guía de Isora on the map. One of the new developments is the Abama resort, which is nearing completion, and as well as providing quality accommodation and a golf course it will also feature a spa, tennis club and convention centre. A hotel is also under construction on the outskirts of Alcalá and this project will include a residential area. Plans by the Olsen family for an ambitious holiday resort that will include exact copies of 19th century architecture and which will be the base for scientific studies of flora and fauna have been put on hold until the end of the building moratorium but this project will certainly bring something a little different to the area.
With all this development it is, perhaps, a blessing that the next section to the island ring road runs right through Guía de Isora, from Adeje to Santiago del Teide. It’s a massive project and will include an extension from Vera de Erques to Fonsalia (situated between Playa San Juan and Alcalá) which is the site for the proposed sea port that will take over from Los Cristianos for the base for the inter island ferries. The final plans for the motorway should be approved soon and the project put out to tender this year, though the Fonsalia port is a project for the future as there are not any plans to initiate the scheme until the motorway and the extension are finished.
Martín feels that projects like the finishing of the ring road and the new runway planned for Reina Sofía airport will certainly benefit tourism on the island and welcomes any development that will help the south reach its potential, he is, in fact, very positive about the changes that are happening in the south and in Guía de Isora in particular, but accepts that it is very important that Tenerife and the rest of the islands don’t become even more dependent on tourism than they already are. He believes that tourism must be developed responsibly and with an eye on the future, not in the haphazard way of the last years.
He has seen the municipality go through enormous changes in his lifetime, from having cochineal -a red dye that is made from collecting the cochineal insect from cacti- and almonds as the principal industry of the area through the birth of tourism to the fashionable area that it is fast becoming. He’s proud of the developments and is happy to be working at a local level, he feels in touch with the people and hasn’t any desire to climb the political ladder.
He appears to genuinely care about the residents of the area and an issue that concerns him at the moment is the situation that has developed in one of the coastal towns, Playa San Juan. This traditional fishing village has grown tremendously in the last five to ten years and the number of foreign residents is now greater than the number of Canarians that live there. This change has brought about unrest amongst the population and crime has risen dramatically in the area. The council has provided extra police presence which has controlled the problem to a degree, and the new Guardia Civil station is due to open in the town very soon, but Martín knows that this is a problem of education and not control. He says “the main problem in the town stems from a number of Canarian youths that have dropped out of school, don’t have jobs and who feel that there are no other options open to them. We have embarked on a number of education courses with the help of psychologists and are helping them to find employment; this is a social issue and must be handled carefully”.
San Juan is one of the main up and coming areas in the municipality and there are plans to continue improvements to the beach area but, he admits, these plans are much more complicated than would they would appear; the existing harbour mouth has created eddies and currents that would simply carry away any sand that was placed on the beaches, the proposed port at Fonsalia has always got to be taken into consideration as any changes in San Juan may affect sea currents there and every decision has to be passed by environmental groups and a hoard of other official bodies. However, despite the difficulties, the project continues and the day after the interview Martín was due to fly to Madrid and one of his jobs there was the approval of the rock that will make up the sea wall that will be constructed in an attempt to ensure that ay improvements are not just simply washed away.
Martín admits to having to make incredibly difficult decisions at times, a particular example is the gas turbines that Unelco plan to install in the village of Chio The local council fought against this decision, made by the island council, for a long time but has, unfortunately, had to concede for the sake of the residents of the area in general. He says, with a note of regret in his voice “the number of power cuts that the area experiences has been having a negative effect on everyone and businesses in particular, I couldn’t stand by any longer and ignore the frequent tales of super markets, butchers and shop owners losing vast amounts of their stock over and over again” The two turbines will be installed but are being seen as a temporary measure while other solutions are studied.
One issue that affects everyone in the area is the new hospital planned for the south. The original plan was for a health centre and other services have progressively been added to the proposal but Martín and many others fear that the hospital will not be able to deal with the demands of the population and that the lack of essential services such as a gynaecology department means that residents in the south will still have to endure long waits and horrific journeys to the north of the island. One of Martín’s major concerns at the moment is Tenerife council’s decision to move the autopsy department from the south to the north. The south deals with considerably more autopsies than the north and he feels that it’s just another example of how the island council concentrates on Santa Cruz and the north of the island, imposing their decisions on the south and neglecting the real needs of the people who live there.
He admits that developments in the capital like the Recinto Ferial (the Trade Fair) and the new auditorium undoubtedly benefit the island as a whole in the long run but that the enormous amounts of money that is invested in them could possibly be put to better use providing public services that are still sadly lacking in some areas.
The mayors of the southern municipalities have joined together on a number of projects recently and Martín believes that this is something that has worked very well. “Despite our different political alliances all of us accept that we can accomplish so much more working together, it suits us all to forget our differences and concentrate on achieving our goals”
To be mayor seems to involve a number of personal sacrifices though Martín is quick to point out he doesn’t see it that way, he enjoys his work and admits that he thinks he will find it hard to adjust when he’s no longer mayor. All mayors of the islands must consider their personal future sometimes, not only what to do with the rest of their lives when their time in politics is over, but how to go about facilitating the changeover – amazingly mayors aren’t eligible for unemployment benefit so when they’re out, they’re out and it’s thank you very much and see you later.
Martín seems to take this philosophically and, for the moment his eyes are only on the future of Guía de Isora. He would like to see the south develop more independence and, he adds “we would like the opportunity to make our own decisions and allocate their own resources”.
Interview by Xena Fox
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