The deputy for Lanzarote and La Graciosa and insular president of Nueva Canarias–Bloque Canarista (NC-bc), Yoné Caraballo, visited, along with the local party spokesperson in Yaiza, Luis Miguel Valiente, the house popularly known as "Canillúo's" house, on El Afre beach, in Playa Blanca. This is the last traditional house remaining in the area, with more than a hundred years of history, duly registered and up to date with property tax payments.
NC-bc representatives attended to address the "complaint and desperation" of its owner, Toño, who claims to feel "cornered" by the expansion works of the Papagayo Arena Hotel, which have progressed to practically surround his home, located 200 meters from the coast.
Caraballo stated that **"the fear of the owners**, lifelong neighbors, is more than justified." As he explained, the works have reached a point just five meters from the house, "generating a suffocating situation, with a monstrosity of this nature practically at the window of the home."The deputy questioned the "impunity" with which, in his opinion, the tourist complex acts, "which has not only degraded the territorial and environmental surroundings, but continues to occupy territory despite a final ruling declaring it unlegalizable."
Furthermore, he denounced that "a walkway is being built right behind the house, destroying the cliff to connect the road with the beach," an intervention he described as "another blunder at the expense of the last affordable housing unit resisting in El Afre." Caraballo announced that he will request explanations from the Government of the Canary Islands, as well as from insular and municipal authorities, "to defend the Canillúo house and the dignity of the people."For their part, the NC-bc spokesperson in Yaiza, Luis Miguel Valiente, insisted on the need to "finally put a stop to the limitless development that Playa Blanca has suffered and continues to suffer, which is stripping us of our identity and history"."Playa Blanca does not need more hotels, nor for existing ones to continue occupying territory," he stated. "What it needs is to stop, regulate, and design a tourism model that respects Lanzarote's environmental values, the identity of its people, and, above all, the lives of its residents." Valiente also urged the Yaiza governing group to "defend the interests of the people" in this situation.