That the capital, Arrecife, is not up to the island it represents is a fact. Discouragement, neglect, dirt and disorder have taken over the city and we are heading for the seafood.
The dynamic of immobility in which we find ourselves is very dangerous, as it could drag us into a spiral or loop in which everything is repeated without finding practical solutions.
At this point in the film, we all know that the city is not going to take its own path, and in the absence of an urgent and efficient plan to restore its dignity, I wonder if it would not be more beneficial for our island to return the capital to the Villa. Teguise is possibly the oldest town in the Canary Islands, a historic enclave from which the founders of San Antonio de Texas left in 1730, a beautiful, clean town that lives up to this island. A place that does not disappoint and to which you always want to return.
Or why not, San Bartolomé, another example that could be a worthy representative and hold the title of capital. Located in the center of the island, it has the advantage of the airport, a large organized and legalized industrial area, as well as a good commercial area that works.
Both cases could represent the capital of Lanzarote with greater dignity -today-. Better than the current Arrecife, an unmarked labyrinth where tourists get lost, encountering plots full of garbage, walls about to collapse, cables hanging dangerously... and from which it is sometimes very difficult to get out. It is impossible not to compare the two very different realities that Lanzarote presents.
And I wonder, with the potential that Arrecife has -and we have been able to see this in a recent video published by its City Council- how is it possible that there is still no strategic action plan capable of turning the city around? And I only find one answer: perhaps we need to move the capital to get out of this loop in which we are trapped.
Note: the author sends this video along with his article
José Torres Fuentes, president of the Lanzarote Chamber of Commerce