Ronda mayoress "in the dock"

La alcaldesa de Ronda, Maria de la Paz Fernandez Lobato (PP), has been indicted on five criminal charges and faces a prison sentence and a huge fine.

 La Alcaldesa de Ronda faces the Press last Friday [SUR]

The news broke this weekend that the mayoress has been charged with prevaricacion, malversacion, fraude and falsedad documental (prevarication, embezzlement, fraud and falsification of documents) in connection with the town's cleaning and rubbish collection company, SOLIARSA.

Fiscalia (the Public Prosecutor's office) has demanded a prison sentence of five years, an eight-year ban on holding public office and a fine of 42,000 euros for both Fernandez and her pre-decessor as council leader, the PSOE (socialist) councillor Maria Teresa Valdenebro. 

A Soliarsa refuse lorry [Diario Ronda] 

Reaction in Ronda

Fernandez has vigorously denied the charges and has vowed to defend herself. The mother of three children has significant health problems.

The births of her three children have all been complicated.

Maripaz and me

I have known Maripaz Fernandez for 20 years. I like her as a person, but our politics do not coincide.

If she is found guilty, she must pay the price.

Whether Maripaz is found guilty or not, I would still question many of her recent decisions. She prefers vanity projects over more fundamental issues.

The mayoress poses on the Puente Nuevo in Ronda [Diario Ronda] 

There is a long list of questionable decisions taken by Ronda Council under her leadership:

• The construction of a new open-air swimming pool that only opens for three months a year!

     "White elephant" swimming pool [Photo: Ronda Today]

• The creation of a concrete park on Avenida de Malaga with no shade and no grass!

Concrete park [Diario Ronda] 

• The construction of a a massive car park on a burial site to the south of the city.
• The building of a new road through virgin countryside to the west of Ronda.
• New "coloured pavements" in the Poligono Industrial.

I could go on …..

My opinion

Fernandez' time is up and so is that of the Partido Popular (PP). The People's Party is right of centre and, like the Tories in the UK, is only interested in looking after the better-off in society.

Ronda is a wealthy town, yet it has areas of deprivation and the policies of the PP do nothing to improve the lot of the people living in these parts of the Ciudad del Tajo.

Building on fire in Ronda [101TV]    

© Pablo de Ronda

Acknowledgements (Photos):

101TV, Diario Ronda, Diario Sur, Ronda Today