Around a hundred people, 75 adults and 24 minors, are being evicted from the 28 homes they occupied in the tourist town of Playa Blanca in Yaiza. Specifically, it is the housing development that was abandoned on Cyca Street and has been occupied for years by these families.
"Leaving us without housing is also violating the family," read one of the signs that the residents of this housing development displayed at 10:00 a.m. this Tuesday, the time their eviction was scheduled after three previous attempts.
Most of the residents had already begun to remove their belongings from the homes before the official launch time. They have had to leave behind many memories of their lives, as they do not have a place to leave some things, one of those affected told La Voz.
Dozens of people gathered around these houses to receive the Civil Guard, which had set up a police cordon around the homes, preventing the press from approaching and forcing journalists to operate through a wall.
The lawyer for several of the families, Ayose Hernández, stated to the press that, "against all odds and abusing the law, a launch of vulnerable people took place today. It is a case of social alarm."
In this line, the lawyer has highlighted that "it seems that the risk of collapse arises and we are concerned about the risk that these people suffer when an international investment company is in charge of trying to buy this property and invest in it." Thus, he added that the lawyers are in "a situation of absolute defenselessness because it has been acted totally against the law."
On the other hand, the neighbors have shown their "desperation" and "unease." "We see the images and it makes our stomachs clench, there are many families who at this moment do not have a place to go," one of them revealed to the media.
On the other hand, the residents have assured that they tried to reach an agreement with the construction company to pay for their stay in the homes, but received a refusal. "Our lawyer proposed that they rent," he confessed. Although this launch has been carried out, the inhabitants of these 28 homes do not cease in their struggle to find a place to live: "We ask and have always asked to be able to have a place to live."
The different defenses of these affected presented appeals to the Court of Instruction number 4 of Arrecife, which is held by Ricardo Fiestras, which were rejected. For this, the Court relied on a technical report from the Yaiza City Council, which warns that the property is at risk of ruin or collapse.
An abortion three days before being evicted
One of the neighbors evicted this Tuesday is distressed by the state of health of her daughter, who suffered an abortion three days ago and for which she was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital. "My daughter had an abortion, she had a three-month ectopic pregnancy and they had to operate on her," the woman stressed.
Her daughter is in the recovery phase and was lying in bed at the time she was evicted, as she was distressed by the stress and nerves of the eviction. "She is bleeding and cannot move," the mother revealed in tears to La Voz.
In addition, the affected person herself has related how she is at the moment. "I can't sit or get up alone, I need help from my family," she said. For her healing, she has a portable team that they have installed in the house. Despite this, she was evicted.