The tourism and urbanization macroproject Cradle of the Soulwhich provides for the construction of a hotel and 420 luxury villas (among other things) in the Port of Adejean almost virgin area in the south of Tenerifehas been proposed to be sanctioned with the payment of 600,000 euros for having “intentionally” destroyed archaeological remains of great value, according to the report of the General Directorate of Heritage of the Government of the Canary Islands. In the extensive report on the destruction, it is also highlighted that incomplete reports were presented, that certain protected plant species were not included in the impact reports and that the works began without the supervision of an archaeologist, among other issues. It was a complaint filed by an amateur archeology association (Tegüico Heritage Association) which triggered the inspections, first by the Cabildo and then by the Government, which have ended up leading the general director of Canarian Heritage, Nona Perera, to request that the works be stopped.
Penalty file against the promoter of the last tourism macro-project in Tenerife for destroying a site
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At first, the Cabildo de Tenerife defended that the project documentation was “in order”. Not in vain, in May, when the laying of the first stone was staged (in reality the work had already begun), in addition to the investors (Sofie Vandermarliere and David Van Biervliet), the property developer (Filip Hoste), the director creative (Remo Masala), and politicians: specifically, the mayor of Adeje, José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, and the vice president of the Cabildo, Berta Pérez.
But after the inspections motivated by the complaint, the Cabildo itself had to change its position regarding the project and its Heritage technicians made an extensive report, which they then sent to the Government of the Canary Islands, which confirmed the “irreparable” destruction of an archaeological site of great value given its uniqueness. Now, part of the project is stopped and for more than a month a group of environmentalists and activists have camped next to the works to prevent the destruction of flora and debris from continuing.
The director of the project, more than 20 years in the Cabildo and defender of the trains in Tenerife
But who is behind this project? Two multimillionaire families from Belgium put up the money, and a man from Tenerife, Andrés Muñoz, directs his creation. He is the same person who from 2001 to 2021 was the manager of Metropolitano de Tenerife, the company that built and manages the tram on the island, and which reports directly to the Cabildo de Tenerife.
Muñoz, an industrial engineer, came to this public company in 2001, with Ricardo Melchior (Canarian Coalition) as island president. Muñoz left that position in July 2021, already with the PSOE at the head of the Cabildo. Upon his departure, he was supported by the person who presided over the Cabildo from 2013 to 2019, Carlos Alonso (CC), who highlighted him as an “essential figure” since the creation of the company “and for the start-up of lines 1 and 2 of the tram”.
In fact, most of Muñoz’s professional experience, with at least one award received, focuses on the railway sector. In Tenerife, Muñoz has been one of the main defenders of the railway projects in the north and south of the island. In a forum on mobility on the island held last October, was pessimistic about traffic problems on the island and defended the trains as part of the solution. According to him, he said, if they were not done it was due to “the lack of political consensus” and he insisted that they were “perfectly justifiable” despite their cost, greater than 2,000 million euros.
After 20 years at Metropolitano, he undertook a new challenge: Cuna del Alma, a tourism-real estate project that has nothing to do with rail transport and which he defends complies with the law.
After the enormous social protest that this project has provoked, and which materialized in a massive demonstration in the streets of Santa Cruz de Tenerife rejecting not only Cuna del Alma, but also any predatory project in the territory, Muñoz stated in the media that this had all the licenses and permits. On the contrary, the conclusions of the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands affirm, among other things, that there were two unfavorable reports (from 2014 and 2017) because there were no guarantees that “the adequate protection measures regarding to the patrimonial assets”, that the promoter company did not deliver to the Cabildo the archaeological study that it commissioned and that had to be obtained “unofficially”, that it did not take measures to protect the deposits despite knowing that they existed and that it started the work without an archaeologist on site.
In the last pronouncement of the Canarian Government in this regard (the report of the General Director of Heritage) it is literally stated that the project “does not have a technical report from this Service”, although the company told this newspaper last July that it had been.
Now the environmental impact reports are also being reviewed, after learning that at least one protected plant species was not included in it.
The period of allegations to the proposed sanction of 600,000 euros ends in just one week. If the fine is finally applied, the company behind Cuna del Alma, Segunda Casa Adeje SL, will have to pay that amount and, in addition, repair the damage caused and bear the costs of the actions that must be carried out.
This company was created in 2013, it has five administrators and a single employee. Those administrators are three people (Andreas Hoste, Caroline Vandermarliere and Maurice Vesmet) and two companies: GT CO BVBA and Fivanco NV. The first is dedicated to the trade of tobacco and other products. In addition, two other companies appear financially linked to Cuna del Alma: Puertito Beach Residencias SL and Puertito Hill Residencias SL, both also with Andreas Hoste and Caroline Vandermarliere as administrators and with the same registered office as Segunda Casa Adeje SL.
