The six activists have been on a hunger strike for 12 days to demand the halt of two real estate projects in the south of Tenerife and the approval of a tourist moratorium for the entire Archipelago reiterated on Monday, April 22, their desire to meet with the president of Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, after the “historic” demonstrations last Saturday.
This was stated during a press conference held in Plaza de la Concepción in La Laguna, where since April 10, the collective ‘Canarias se Agota’ (Canaries are running out) set up an improvised camp to give visibility to their demands and support this protest action.
“Our health deteriorates every day and is becoming more concerning, but our spirits are still hopeful. Fernando Clavijo, we want to clarify that we are not here without reason. We are not pushing our bodies to the limit and risking lifelong physical consequences on a whim,” stated the hunger strikers, who, despite showing their faces, prefer not to disclose their names.
Last Saturday, they continued, “hundreds of thousands of people” in the Canary Islands and Europe “have made it clear that enough of destructive policies”, turning it into not “a demand of six individuals” but “a popular outcry demanding a change”.
For this reason, they have tried unsuccessfully to communicate with the regional president through his official email and the media.
“What more do we have to do? Why don’t you listen to us (Fernando Clavijo)? What are you hiding? Who are you governing for? Do you not care if we die?” they rhetorically questioned.
They also expressed their pride in the Canarian people for the response to the call for demonstrations on all eight islands and in cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin, or London against the “current mass tourism model”, clarifying that these protests are just “the beginning”, as “Canarias can’t take it anymore and urgently needs a change”.
When asked about their health and if they will continue the hunger strike, the activists replied that their situation is “quite complicated”, with very low sugar levels and different physical and psychological conditions in each, but they are determined to “continue” even if it means “putting their bodies at even greater risk” because they feel “desperate”.
“The Canarian people have awoken, and we will not allow the Archipelago to continue to be destroyed. We say enough. Clavijo, you have the opportunity in your hands to change the history of the islands, listen to your people, be the president who knew how to rectify and started the change that Canary Islands have needed. If you don’t, the people will not forgive you,” concluded the hunger strike activists.