PHOTOS: Sergio Betancort
The J55 Jolateros Club and the Jolateros Recreational Cultural Association, based in Puerto Naos, are facing a possible eviction after being sued by the owner of the premises they currently occupy. Faced with this, its president, Antonio Rodríguez, is asking the institutions for help to continue with their activity.
Residencial Puerto Naos is the owner of the property in which, for six years, the Jolateros J55 Club and the Jolateros Recreational Association have been developing their activity, a small abandoned house on the Los Castillo de Arrecife road. Last June, the owner filed an eviction lawsuit against Antonio, which is pending trial, for "invading" this property "without any consideration, without consent and without just title to protect it." Faced with the possible eviction, the defendant is asking for help to maintain the tradition of the jolateros.
Specifically, Antonio Rodríguez is asking the Cabildo or Arrecife City Council to give them a place to continue building and repairing these boats and with the workshops they teach to hundreds of schoolchildren every year. A claim for which the president of the J55 Jolateros Club and the Jolateros Recreational Cultural Association says he has been "fighting for many years." However, he assures that he has continually encountered the refusal of the institutions and "little help" to develop his activity. "I have presented projects in all the town halls and it is as if there is a black hand," he says.
Antonio acknowledges that one year he received subsidies from the Arrecife City Council, but considers that they were minimal. "One year they gave us 1,700 euros and another 700, but then we were paying 500 in rent," says the president of the Jolateros J55 Club and the Jolateros Recreational Cultural Association, recalling that before being located in Puertos Naos they were in a place in the Charco de San Ginés where they paid that rent. "In the end we decided to go free with outside help, because in addition, for the help, they demanded that we go from here to there, they used us as if we were puppets," he adds.
The president of the Jolateros J55 Club and the Jolateros Recreational Cultural Association affirms that if they have managed to stay and celebrate 10 years of life it is because of the help they receive from companies, for the workshops they teach in hotels and for the orders of jolateros and models that they make, especially from foreigners. However, he believes that it is time for the institutions to get involved and give them a place, even if they have to pay a small fee, so as not to lose this tradition.
