The truth is a crack that opens a path to the abyss
(Jesús Jiménez Domínguez)
At this point, I imagine that very few people are unaware of what is happening at the gates of the towns of Tías and San Bartolomé, specifically in a place that has been named “Las Grietas” (LZ-35 road). It is a spectacular geological formation, canyons created by the action of water, which enters the side of the Montaña Blanca Volcano. On this occasion, it will be enough to appeal to common sense without delving too deeply into the causes of the problem, so that they understand my position.
For work reasons I must routinely travel through this area with the risk that this implies... Let me explain better. Every day a large number of vehicles (rent a car) improvise the occupation of an informal parking lot (unpaved, without signs) that is located on the side of the road (in front of the cracks). In order to access this parking lot, all these nature lovers carry out reckless maneuvers without shame, exhibiting a distinguished repertoire of irresponsible behaviors, that is, unexpected turns, untimely braking, changes of direction and kamikaze road crossings have become essential in these visits to the cracks. And all this without any type of supervision... For now, nothing of relevance has happened, but things cannot continue like this!
If the impunity shown by these curious people of the cracks is strange, the passivity of the local administrations seems even stranger. Don't play hide-and-seek under the shelter of competences, avoid hiding behind the insensitive bureaucracy or a supposed rigidity of current regulations. Analyze the situation carefully and with interest to be able to act effectively. Simply start by explaining to us what is happening to show so much “apparent calm” in the face of such nonsense.
However, not only is citizen security compromised, but the degradation of a vulnerable area that requires protection and care is also omitted. Our public managers do not seem to care much about the large number of people who daily look at the cracks to admire what nature sculpted with care and precision. Many of these people show little empathy for the minimum care of the cracks. In fact, they actively contribute to their devastation. They care more about obtaining a good handful of photographs to share on the networks than respecting, enjoying healthily or trying to understand the meaning of these natural formations.
I cannot conceive that they talk to us about tourist saturation, about firmly addressing the conservation of the environments, about fighting against climate change, about highlighting the importance of the primary sector in the landscapes of the island, etc., with the purpose of strengthening and legitimizing an order of things that represses without making noise imbalances that clash with interests that emerge from community cracks. Enough of so much dangerous neglect!
Lanzarote is and will continue to be the island of cracks... For a long time it has suffered an acute socioeconomic and political fracture, a painful pilgrimage towards nothing. Deeply fatigued cracks that we are widening every day with our accommodation, our permanent silence, our capricious blindness that does not want to yield to its age-old lament. When the cracks disappear, will there be anything more than an overwhelming silence...?
