The gypsy flag waves at the entrance of the Cabildo as is traditional every April 8. The commemoration of the Nazi Holocaust of the Romani people – some 500,000 victims in World War II – joins a plea for the integration of the community that resides in Tenerife. The fight against discrimination is the focus of the International Day of the Roma People. The CEO of Citizen Participation and Diversity, Nauzet Gugliotta, highlights the creation of the Insular Committee of the Roma People and the implementation of specific subsidies aimed at promoting associations. Gugliotta recalls the work done to achieve the full integration of the group on the Island. He believes that “we have a commitment to the Roma people, to work together to achieve their inclusion.” He adds: «We give voice to the groups so that they can start their projects, as protagonists and connoisseurs of their reality». Former Minister emphasizes: “It is good to commemorate days like this April 8 but the fight against discrimination against Roma has to go further, become facts.”
The speakers from the island-gypsy community are José Carmona, from the E Rroma Va Sociocultural Federation; Carolina de Diego Heredia, from the Romi Entrepreneurs Association, who reads a manifesto in which she expresses her “pride” for belonging to the gypsy people and Josefa Santiago, from Romi Kamela Nakerar, who breaks a spear for the equality of women, who suffer “a double discrimination: being gypsies and women”.
