The Minister of Industry of the Gran Canaria Cabildo, Minerva Alonso, has announced her departure from Nueva Canarias, in a new blow to the party. Her exit leaves the Telde group affected and highlights the exodus of leaders to Primero Canarias.
The Minister of Industry of the Gran Canaria Cabildo, Minerva Alonso, announced this Thursday her departure from Nueva Canarias (NC) in an interview with a local media outlet. The news has come as a cold shower to the ranks of the party, not only due to her institutional weight but also because of the symbolism her figure represents. Alonso, who was also a councillor in the Telde City Council under the NC banner, belongs to a family lineage with deep historical ties to the roots of the movement, dating back to the early days of the Canary Nationalist Assembly.
Her departure leaves the Telde group in a state of profound political orphanhood, losing one of its most powerful and respected electoral assets. True to institutional prudence, during her speech, Minerva Alonso did not reveal any details about her political future nor confirmed whether she would join Primero Canarias, the platform promoted by influential mayors like Óscar Hernández (Agüimes) or Teo Sosa (Gáldar). However, the mere movement confirms that the exodus of technical staff and frontline leaders to the reformist current is already an unstoppable trickle.
Minerva Alonso's departure severely undermines the morale of continuity fiercely defended by Carmelo Ramírez and Román Rodríguez, highlighting a leadership fatigue that transcends the insular sphere. To make matters worse within the tumultuous current events of NC, on the same day, the local group in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has closed the door to any hint of renewal. In a move that has only heated the atmosphere among the capital's base, the party has reinstated Pedro Quevedo at the helm of the organization and, presumably, as the electoral banner for the city.
This resistance to change by the traditional leadership starkly contrasts with the exodus of key figures in other municipalities and within the insular Cabildo itself, marking an increasingly difficult gap to stitch. In the city of Telde, Alonso's resignation leaves a bleak and completely restructured landscape for the local membership. Reactions and containment movements within the hard core of NC are expected to unfold in the coming days to try to halt this constant exodus of leaders.
However, with each slammed door, the thesis of generational change and the reconfiguration of Canary nationalism gains strength that the historical leadership will find it hard to continue ignoring. In the case of Telde, it happened that from the very moment of the foundation of Municipalistas Primero Canarias, the incorporation of Ciudadanos para el Cambio (CIUCA) took place, with its president and councillor in the Gran Canaria Cabildo, Daniel Reyes, as well as the mayor of Telde, Juan Antonio Peña. Thus, the effect has been even more striking, as NC's electoral debacle was particularly supported by the massive backing of voters for a young mayor in direct and constant connection with the citizenry.
This new style of mayors, whose main models have been Teo Sosa in Gáldar and Óscar Hernández in Agüimes, has resonated in Telde, and public opinion projects that Primero Canarias alongside CIUCA will receive extraordinary popular support for both Teo Sosa and Juan Antonio Peña. In this dilemma, NC voters and supporters find it very difficult to maintain their loyalty to a party anchored in the gerontocracy of its leadership and in the most recalcitrant immobility.
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