A year and two months. This is the time that has elapsed since the Agency for the Protection of the Urban and Natural Environment (APMUN) sealed off the mountain of El Chupadero, located in La Geria. This measure was adopted due to the existence of eight files for the extraction of rofe that was being carried out in that place, as confirmed at the time by the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Planning of the Government of the Canary Islands. Now, 14 months after the sealing, work continues on that farm with backhoes and trucks.
La Voz has tried to contact both the Yaiza City Council, as well as the Cabildo, the Government of the Canary Islands, the Seprona and the APMUN. However, silence prevails on this matter and on this sealing and no institution has reported on the current state of that farm, nor on the file that was opened in its day.
From the southern Consistory they refer to the Cabildo, in this institution they assure that the Environment technician is on vacation and, therefore, they cannot inform, while in the Government of the Canary Islands all the press officers have not yet been appointed, after the elections, so information is scarce. The same thing happens with the APMUN, where a general director has not been assigned. Seprona sources did point out that "they were aware that the farm had all the permits" from the General Directorate of Mines of the Government of the Canary Islands, where they have not provided information to this media outlet either.
In fact, at the time El Chupadero was sealed, no concrete explanations were given about the reason for the closure of the mountain, nor about who had ordered it to be sealed. At present, nothing is known about this sealing. The only thing that is evident is that work continues and works are being carried out in this place, which did have a territorial qualification for the "improvement of an abandoned agricultural farm", but not for the extraction of rofe. The only thing that had been authorized by the Cabildo was "the extraction of the surplus sand material", which had occurred as a "consequence of the restructuring" of the farm. And this had some requirements, such as that "all of the material should be dedicated to agricultural activity".
At this time, important excavations can be seen on the mountain. On July 11, an excavator was working in this place, where there are parts where you can no longer see the rofe, but the earth. It is true that holes have been built in the last year, but these are located on the side of the mountain, which makes it very difficult to cultivate in them. In addition, there are very few vines planted in the area.
"A mine"
The El Guincho association denounced some years ago the supposedly illegal extraction of picón in this protected natural space of La Geria. The group stated before the media that "they were taking the sand from the side of the mountain" and indicated that not only was the surplus picón from the works on the farm being used, as had been authorized by the Cabildo, but that they were doing "extractions of rofe for sale".
"The owners are doing what they want with the excuse that they are carrying out a renovation of the vineyard, but they are extracting sand from the El Chupadero mountain as if it were a mine", denounced at the time Bernabé García, member of the El Guincho environmental association. These statements cost him a lawsuit from the owners of the farm.
The owners defend themselves
A year and two months ago, when La Voz de Lanzarote echoed the sealing of this mountain, one of the owners of the farm, Lorenzo Viñoly, assured that this measure "came in the name of another person". "It does not correspond to our name, nor to our file number. It has nothing to do with our plot", he defended, while denying the existence of eight files for the extraction of rofe on his land. "Everything has been an act of bad faith by an Environment technician from the Cabildo", Viñoly pointed out.
"We have all the permits, our farm is not sealed because the sealing does not conform to reality", indicated at the time this owner, who assured that El Chupadero "was not a quarry", but that "the surplus sand" was taken from there. According to Viñoly, no picón has been extracted from the farm, but rather "vines and fig trees have been restored and planted". "It was a mess", he alleged. And it is that, Viñoly defended at all times that the business of his company does not reside in selling sand, but that in the future it will be profitable due to the benefit given by the products that he has planted there.
The only thing that this owner acknowledged to La Voz a year ago was that he sold a batch of "surplus" rofe for a value of 120,000 euros, which served as "help". That picón did not go to any construction company but, according to Viñoly, "Tragsa took it, which depends on the central government" and used it to repair the farms that had been affected by the 2005 delta.
