Less than 10 meters from El Charco de San Ginés. Less than 20 meters from the hedgehog figure that aims to revitalize this central place of Arrecife. Less than 100 meters from the Saturday market, which is attended by dozens of tourists who are entertained with folkloric performances. A few meters from all these activities designed for visitors is the other side of El Charco. Located in one of the most visited places in Arrecife is a vacant lot, on Cienfuegos Street, which has become a refuge and home for drug addicts. "The sale and purchase of drugs and prostitution", according to neighbors, have settled in this part of El Charco. "It's a disgrace," they say.
Fear has taken hold of the citizens who live on Cienfuegos Street or its surroundings. Many want to denounce this situation but fear reprisals. No one wants to give La Voz their name, because they prefer to remain anonymous. "I have been told that if I snitch, they will kill me," says an elderly woman, who has no choice but to pass through this vacant lot to get to her house.
And the scandals and fights are common in this space next to El Charco, in which a group of drug addicts has begun to build several shacks of cement and wood since "two or three months" ago. In this vacant lot, which is now practically a sinkhole full of water, plastic bottles and garbage bags, the company Hormiconsa was going to build houses, but had to stop the works because the building was affected by the Asset of Cultural Interest of El Charco de San Ginés. "The project was stopped by the Heritage Department of the Cabildo," says the councilor of Arrecife, Vicente Dorta.
Now, the only thing left of those Hormiconsa works is "a crane, stuck in the middle of the swamp". "It gives us a terrible fear. When there is wind, it is impressive how it sounds and moves. And on top of that, they have built a wooden hut at the base of the crane. That is very unstable. Any tragedy can happen. It is fear what we feel, please, remove it from there. It has been there for more than three years," demands a neighbor.
The neighbors are amazed at the hustle and bustle of people entering and leaving this vacant lot throughout the day. "They enter as if they own the place. The other day from my roof terrace I saw that there were 18 people inside. At the end of the day, I don't even know how many people can enter there," says this citizen, who explains that previously these people with drug addiction problems "got into the house on the corner, the one that overlooks El Charco de San Ginés".
The death of a drug addict on February 2 forced the Arrecife City Council to wall up the house. "That was a horror, they set fire all the time," say from a furniture store, located just five meters from this vacant lot.
Fights and threats
Although they can no longer enter that house, these people access the vacant lot by sneaking through a hole in one of the fences, covered by a cloth that partially disguises the landfill that is hidden inside. If during the day it is already "a suffering" for the neighbors, at night "everything is much worse".
"They are continuous fights. You get into bed and hear: 'faggot, I'm going to kill you, I'm going to cut you'. Because before there were more calm people, who asked you for money and that's it. But for a few months now, new ones have arrived, very defiant, who want nothing more than brawls, who take bottles and break them in the middle of the night," says another neighbor, whose daughter is "scared to death".
According to several neighbors, not only "drug addicts, who are very bad" arrive to this area, but at night you can also see "well-dressed couples who go to buy drugs". "The other day my girl told me: 'Look mom, what a beautiful girl is going in there'", she says.
The neighbors, even, fear that prostitution is practiced in this vacant lot full of dirt. "We have seen several days an old man, about 70 years old, who enters there and comes out fastening his fly and behind him comes a young girl. It is clear what they do there. It's impressive. It's horrible to see it," says another woman, who cannot understand how it is possible that the Local Police of Arrecife "enter there, inspect and leave without doing anything".
The same opinion is shared by two young boys, who although they do not live in the area, pass "every day through here for work". "We are amazed. Everyone knows what is inside, the drug that moves. You just have to stay in a corner for half an hour and observe," they say indignantly.
And, precisely, this terrible image must be endured every day by the children who attend a nearby school. "They pass by there, where there are syringes and blood from fights. Garbage that already reaches the sidewalks and mattresses thrown away. This situation is absurd and a real shame," says a woman, while watching a young woman looking for food in a garbage container.
Image for tourists
"Don't they want to give life to El Charco? Well, fix this now! I want to cut the green cloth that covers that vacant lot so that tourists can see what's inside," says a neighbor, who says that she pays her taxes and, therefore, has "some rights".
"I would like these people to live in a vacant lot next to the houses of those who have an armchair in the City Council. Let's see, then, what the politicians would do," they say from a nearby store, from where they assure that "everyone knows what happens inside".
"I feel like going with a banner to the cruise ship dock and telling tourists: come, I'm going to show you what Arrecife is," says another neighbor, who demands that the whole area be cleaned. "What cannot be is that they go and kick them out of La Rocar and they get into the center of Arrecife," laments this citizen.
Unfortunately, this is not the only area where drug addicts seek refuge. A few meters from the island hospital, in another half-abandoned vacant lot, two houses have also been built, which are already half-destroyed. Precisely, this Monday a man was leaving one of these shacks, whose condition made it practically impossible for him to speak. Outside a woman and a small girl, about three years old, were waiting for him.
And, near this place, also in Arrecife, in front of the Labor Inspectorate, two other people were hollowing out a mattress to lie down to sleep in a building under construction. "That's how they take care of the center of Arrecife," laments a citizen.
