Mayor of a Cuenca Town Arrested for Marijuana Plantation Announces Resignation

César Saiz, the mayor of Villar del Humo (Cuenca), who was arrested this week by the Civil Guard for having a marijuana plantation at his home, announced his resignation on Thursday but clarified that he will not relinquish his council seat as requested by his party, the PP.

Saiz was arrested as a suspected perpetrator of a crime against public health after 215 marijuana plants and buds ready for sale were found at his home as part of a larger anti-drug operation. The mayor of this village of 176 inhabitants, who won the last municipal elections by an absolute majority running under the PP banner, a party he is not a member of, issued a statement on Thursday indicating that he will remain in the Villar del Humo Town Hall as an unaffiliated councillor.

Saiz also called for respect for the investigations surrounding his arrest and "for myself and my family, who have been harassed for days and whose daily life is being seriously affected." He also stated that members of the municipal corporation are being "harassed and pressured" despite having "nothing to do with what happened."

The now-former mayor of this small municipality in the Serranía Baja of Cuenca emphasized in his public statement that "at no time, neither now nor in previous years, have I economically harmed the Town Hall of Villar del Humo nor, of course, its residents."