The former motorcycle driver Carlos Checa has caused outrage on social networks after sharing some photos in the vicinity of the Chinyero volcano, in Tenerife. The reason is that in the images he is seen with a mountain bike circulating through an area that belongs to the Chinyero Protected Nature Reserve, an area in which the regulations expressly prohibit the use of bicycles off the slopes.
VIDEO | Tenerife opens a sanction file on a sports brand for a controversial video on the Chinyero volcano
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In the photos shared by Checa, he is seen with other people and with a bike on the badlands, directly on the lava, posing with Teide behind. Along with the images, the ex-pilot commented: “Visiting in Tenerife for the presentation of the Motor Circuit project promoted by the Cabildo. I will be with Carlos Sainz, but before that, I couldn’t resist pedaling around the island!!”.
In the regulations of the Nature Reserve, which is available on-lineis expressly prohibited in its article 27 Prohibited uses and activities, point 12, “the circulation by bicycle or transit of mounted animals outside the tracks of the Reserve”.
Visiting Tenerife for the presentation of the Motor Circuit project promoted by the Cabildo. I’ll be with @Carlossainz55 but before, I couldn’t resist pedaling around the island!!#circuitotenerife @CabildoTenerife @motogp @WorldSBK @DAZN_ES @alpinestars pic.twitter.com/g0b3XXkcMU
– Carlos Czech Race (@CarlosCheca7) July 19, 2022
The responses of different users on Twitter have not been long in coming, and they have criticized the ex-pilot for carrying out the activity in an area prohibited for her. Some others have blamed it on the fact that he is “badly advised” and others have pointed out that the Councilor for Sports of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Concepción Rivero, has given a like to the publication despite the apparent non-compliance with the rules of protection of a unique space on the island.
If you think that you can break the roped lavas of Tenerife in protected natural spaces, you are very wrong. If we have something left over, they are destroyers of the environment like you.
— Dan (@Than80901153) July 19, 2022
That he is in a national park pedaling a bicycle where it comes out of his eggs? And that? To the counselor of @CabildoTenerife he loves it And it sucks that it’s a national park.
That’s how it goes.– They cross the mountain (@Orotupelo) July 19, 2022
Dear rider, I think you were very poorly advised on your bike tour through the PROTECTED natural spaces of Tenerife, these tours are only for pedestrians.
– PateaTusMontes (@PateaTusMontes) July 19, 2022
A clothing brand also defaulted in Chinyero
Recently, the Cabildo de Tenerife opened a sanction file against a sportswear brand precisely for failing to comply with the regulations in force in the Chinyero Special Reserve. In this case, the brand had authorization to make several promotional videos on the island, but in one of them they did not comply with the regulations by running down the slope of the volcano, the last one to erupt in Tenerife, off the track. The video of the brand was removed from social networks.
In this case, it was also the complaints on Twitter that alerted the Cabildo, which said it was unaware of the incident until then.
Support for the controversial circuit
Both Checa, Sainz and the specialized motor journalist Antonio Lobato are the visible faces of the event organized by the Cabildo de Tenerife to present the Tenerife Motor Circuit this Tuesday, a project that has not seen the light of day for years, among other reasons, because of its high cost (more than 50 million euros) and because of the rejection it has generated among the population. In fact, coinciding with the event, which is being held at the Tenerife Auditorium on Tuesday afternoon, a protest has been called by different civic and environmental groups, who consider what they consider to be an expensive, unnecessary infrastructure that is far from sustainability goals. of the island.
On the other hand, construction and southern Tenerife businessmen, as well as the Cabildo, support this project that dates back to the Canary Coalition stage at the head of the island corporation and that now receives a new impetus from the hand of the Minister of Highways , Enrique Arriaga (Citizens) and the island president himself, Pedro Martín (PSOE). However, it has the rejection of Sí Podemos Canarias, which considers it an improper waste of current times in which the price of fuel, inflation and the climate crisis make other issues on the island a priority.
Also this Monday the project went on public display, revealing that the initial cost amounts to more than 50 million euros, with works for five years and more than one million square meters of land necessary for its construction. Coinciding with that publication, the environmental organization ATAN Amigos de la Naturaleza denounced that the report of Environmental Impact of the project is expiredsince it dates from 2011 and was valid for five years.
