Mayor Andrés Martínez faces angry ICOR residents demanding road repairs after years of neglect.
1. Mirando al Sur on Onda Tenerife interviews Andrés Martínez, current mayor of Arico, about municipal infrastructure, coastal investment, and waste management.
2. Andrés Martínez (mayor of Arico) is interviewed by Javier, with Carlota also present; the session is unscripted and includes live listener messages.
3. The episode examines three linked themes: road-repair delays in Icor and Chajaña, the Cabildo's Tenerife y el Mar coastal programme, and the long-awaited waste recycling point for Arico.
4. The mayor opens by acknowledging that residents of Icor and Chajaña have legitimate grievances about the deteriorated road, comparing the road's potholes unfavourably to images of wartime destruction—a comparison raised by the host.
5. He explains that the road through Chajaña and Icor has suffered compounding neglect: previous small patch repairs have only worsened the underlying structure, and Storm Terés further damaged retaining walls and drainage.
6. A listener's live WhatsApp message during the interview reads 'I'm sorry, but I think yours are just words; we've been hearing this for months and years and nothing changes,' which the mayor addresses directly on air.
7. Martínez says that since Storm Terés the council has been securing retaining walls on roads including Luis Delgado and managing drainage until a full technical assessment was complete, and now confirms retaining-wall work with authorised contractors will start 'in the coming days.'
8. He draws a distinction between the imminent emergency repairs and a larger full-road resurfacing contract—which requires a longer procurement process—but commits to substantially better road conditions before any full contract is awarded.
9. Former regional president Román Luis briefly joins the interview by phone, calling on the mayor to lobby Cabildo and Canarian government colleagues more aggressively, then has to leave for a meeting.
10. On the Tenerife y el Mar 2026-2030 coastal programme, Martínez says Arico will receive the most extensive investment of any municipality in the programme, owing to its nearly 20-kilometre coastline—the longest on the island.
11. Named coastal locations in scope include Las Heras, Porís de Abona, La Punta, Tajao, Las Arenas, La Caleta, Las Maretas, and Abades; specific projects and budget allocations will be defined after a meeting with vice-president López Afonso, expected at the same day's party executive session.
12. The waste recycling point has been formally awarded and will be built inside the PIRS compound within four months, ending the anomaly of Arico hosting the island's primary waste management facility without a local recycling drop-off.
13. Martínez estimates the council spends thousands of euros per year on emergency contracts with authorised waste firms to remove illegal dumping of rubble, tyres, and miscellaneous waste from unurbanised land.
14. He says the recycling point, combined with civic awareness campaigns, should reduce but not eliminate the illegal-dumping problem, which he attributes primarily to behaviour rather than lack of facilities.
15. A brief tangent addresses the €500,000 being allocated island-wide for a forthcoming papal visit; Martínez says he supports the celebration but argues such funds should not be taken from essential service budgets—though he has no evidence they are.
16. The mayor describes Arico as carrying disproportionate island burden—hosting PIRS, generating renewable energy infrastructure, managing large areas of dispersed rural settlement—while historically receiving below-average service investment.
17. The interview's format is conversational and slightly unstructured, with Javier prompting on specific neighbourhood concerns and Martínez responding with a combination of candour and bureaucratic qualification.
18. Martínez repeatedly emphasises personal accessibility—attending to individual residents, never refusing interview questions—contrasting himself with other politicians the host has encountered who refuse to answer difficult questions.
19. Residents of Arico, particularly those in Icor, Chajaña, Las Heras, and coastal nuclei, will find this episode most directly relevant to their neighbourhood concerns.
20. Listeners outside Tenerife or those unfamiliar with Canarian municipal governance will have limited context for the institutional players and geographic references.
