A group of environmental and social collectives from Tenerife is filing a criminal complaint this Thursday against the mayor of Adeje, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga (PSOE), and the business promoters of the “destructive Cuna del Alma project”. They believe it is an urban initiative “devastating and rife with irregularities and deceptions”. They will do this at the Arona Investigative Court and in their statement, they demand the “immediate opening of a judicial investigation into possible serious crimes committed in the context of this development, such as against the environment and natural heritage, urban crimes, corruption, and administrative prevarication, destruction of cultural and archaeological heritage, as well as scandalous connivance or inaction from supramunicipal administrations, such as the Cabildo of Tenerife or the Government of the Canary Islands, which could point to a systemic urban corruption scheme of significant proportions”.
The collectives, including the newly established Tagoror Permanente del Puertito de Adeje, warn that “Cuna del Alma is being built on land of high ecological, geological and archaeological value, despite the existence of technical reports, previous complaints, precautionary measures, warnings from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Spanish Government, and even a partial plan continuously ignored by the responsible authorities”. Therefore, they condemn “a scandalous institutional permissiveness that starts with the Adeje City Council, completely absent from the oversight functions required by law, leading to highly questionable urban planning decisions by the developer, to say the least”. “What is happening in Adeje,” they assert, “is not a mere urban conflict: it is a direct attack on the territory, on legality and on the public good. A unique ecosystem is being devastated with total impunity. We demand accountability now, both politically and criminally.”
In addition to the aforementioned Tagoror, Rebelión Científica, Acampada Reivindicativa por una Vivienda Digna Lolo Dorta, the Asociación de Taxistas Asalariados de Costas Adeje (ATACA), and various individuals opposed to the Cuna del Alma mega-project are also joining the complaint, as emphasised by the spokesperson for the first collective, Víctor Martín.
“Destruction of heritage and nature for villas, swimming pools and private beaches”
The complaint also emphasises “the ongoing deceit of the population which involves almost a decade of promotion and official documents from the City Council assuring and promising environmental projects, respecting the urban core and enhancing the locale’s features, solely to gain public approval and administrative authorisations to ultimately demolish the village, expropriating historic buildings, destroying Guanche remains, endemic flora and valuable geological rocks to replace them with luxury villas with pools, private beaches and bars and shops for tourists”.
The promoters of this criminal complaint, however, remind us that this is “just one more in the long list of complaints accumulated by this project, to the extent that it has generated profound public rejection both within and outside the Islands. Despite this, the works have continued under a ‘fait accompli’ strategy, with absolute disregard for legality and the public interest. Hence, the urgency and necessity to act, not only with this new complaint and any crimes that may arise but also by requesting the immediate suspension of the project, warning of the risk of irreversible damage to the ecosystem and to historical heritage if action is not taken urgently”.
With this legal action, the collectives believe they are reinforcing “the social fight against a speculative and tourism model that threatens to turn the Canary Islands into a destroyed paradise”. Furthermore, in statements to Canarias Ahora, they announce that there will be “more actions from different areas, more complaints, and more battles against this devilish entente formed by businessmen and politicians on this side of the world”.
