SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Saturday January 30 2010 Click here for photos SOME 13,000 Santa Cruz residents joined the latest mass protest against the council's Plan General de Ordenación. by JAMES TWEEDIE The second march to the regional capital's town hall in three weeks showed that anger over the by-law had not diminished. Between 10,000 and 15,000 people joined a similar demonstration on January 9. The PGO is ostensibly intended to regulate the city's population density by limiting the height of buildings. But in November last year residents were horrified to discover some 30,000 properties – many blocks of flats with multiple owners – were declared outside of the new planning regulations. Angry home-owners argue that this out-of-planning status greatly reduces the sale and inheritance value of their property. The protest was organised by a number of neighbourhood platforms and the Assembly for Tenerife coalition of political parties and campaigns. They accuse t...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Wednesday January 27 2010 Los Rebeldes child Murga group performing on Wednesday THE 2010 CARNIVAL queen and youth Murga competitions began in the regional capital Santa Cruz this week. by JAMES TWEEDIE The 42 candidates who will participate in the three Queen of the Carnival galas were presented to the public at the Círculo de Amistad XII de Enero south of the capital on Tuesday. Some 12 contestants entered the adult contest, 26 the children's class and just four in the 'tercera edad' or old-age pageant. On Wednesday, as Santa Cruz celebrated 188 years as the capital of the Canaries, the first round of the children's Murga competition was held at city's Recinto Ferial. Murgas are a form of short (8 – 10 minute) musical theatre performed by a chorus of costumed singers accompanied by drums and trumpets – or in fact trumpet-shaped kazoos. The theme is usually satirical, sung to popular pop and stage musical tunes. M...

LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA, Wednesday January 27 2010 GREEN campaigners demanded that authorities justify plans for a third runway at Las Palmas airport on Wednesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The regional group Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Acción cahallenged the Cabildo government of Gran Canaria, the regional Canarian government, the national government and Spanish civil aviation authority and airport operator AENA to produce figures to prove that airport was overloaded with traffic. Ben Magec pointed out that AENA's figures for 2009 showed a 10.3 per cent drop in passengers using the airport – formerly known as Gando – from 2008's number of 10,212,106, and a 16.2 per cent drop in flights. Freight traffic fell by 22.9 per cent over the same period, prompting the group to question plans for a new 2.5 million square metre industrial estate at the airport, which would require the diversion of the GC-1 motorway. The ecologists also cited AENA's 2001 plan for the airpor...

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Tuesday January 21 2010 SANTA CRUZ council declared its continued solidarity with the earthquake-stricken Caribbean island of Haiti on Tuesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Santa Cruz councillor for emigration, immigration and citizenship Ángela Mena expressed her satisfaction after the council unanimously adopted a motion in solidarity with the earthquake victims in Haiti. Ms Mena, who is also responsible for cooperation in international development, highlighted the numerous grants the regional capital has made to the Caribbean nation in recent years. She said that the grants were not limited to disaster management, but that the council was working with women and children, the most disadvantaged sections of Haitian society – already one of the poorest in the world. Ms Mena will meet the NGO Movimiento por la Autogestión y la Educación (MAYE) next week. MAYE – described as a group of professionals, educationalists and experts in development cooperation – supports th...

ARONA, Monday January 25 2010 ARONA council published 2009 tourism figures for the south Tenerife tourist resort on Monday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Arona councillor in charge of tourism Ángel David Herrera said that almost 106,000 people had visited tourist offices in the municipality last year. Mr Herrera said: "Despite the global crisis and the closure for refurbishment of some of the tourist service units, a statistical evaluation in the office is still positive." Some 83 per cent were visitors from overseas, the remainder being Spanish nationals. British holidaymakers remained the most numerous, making up 44 per cent of tourists in Arona. Some 15 per cent were from Germany and almost 6 per cent from the four Scandinavian nations. On the basis of of visitors to tourist offices, Arona's most popular attraction appeared to be Playa de Las Vistas (pictured). But Mr Hererra pointed out that currently there were only two tourist offices in operation - P...

Madrid, Friday January 22 2010 Mr Bermúdez (right)  mee ting Viajes El Corte Ingles CEO Jesús Nuño TENERIFE Cabildo vice-president José Manuel Bermúdez on Friday cautiously predicted good prospects for the tourism industry next season. by JAMES TWEEDIE Speaking at the International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, he said: "The forecast of the biggest tour operators and airlines make us moderately optimistic and give us hope and confidence that the current tourism situation can begin its recovery during this year.” Tenerife's delegation to FITUR – led by Mr Bermúdez and Cabildo president Ricardo Melchior – had sought to maintain airline links to the island. Mr Bermúdez said that major airlines and tour operators "plan to not only maintain but to increase their capacity for this summer, by around 20 per cent in some cases." He stressed: "We have to have guaranteed flights if tourists want to come. “We have the best access by air, so that...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Thursday January 21 2010 THE SOCIALIST Party urged the Canarian government to suspend Santa Cruz council's controversial Plan General de Ordenación on Thursday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The PSOE's parliamentary group registered a Non-Legislative Proposal (PNL) calling on regional planning and environment commission COTMAC to suspend the implementation of the by-law. Residents raised objections to the PGO in November – one month after the close of the council's consultation period – when they discovered that some 30,000 existing properties had been declared as fuera de ordenación – outside of planning permission – under the new law. The PSOE warned that the PGO would increase the value of some properties at the expense of thousands of others. Their proposal also called for regional legislation to be amended to lift the limit on urban density in existing towns and to restrict the placing of properties outside the law. PSOE parliamentary s...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Thursday January 21 2010 ENVIRONMENTALISTS and anti-Grenadilla port campaigners added their voices to condemnation of plans to alter the archipelago's Catalogue of Endangered Species on Thursday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Ben Magec – Ecologists in Action and the Platform for Defence of the Port of Santa Cruz echoed the objections raised by Canarian Federation of Animal and Plant Protection Associations (FECAPAP) on Monday to legislation before the regional parliament. Opponents of the new law point out that it will remove 226 species from the current endangered list of 450 and relegate 94 more to a lesser conservation status, leaving 131 species fully protected. Ben Magec – named for the indigenous Guanche sun god – expressed its “regret” that the ruling Canarian Coalition (CC) parliamentary group had ignored its invitation to a “round table” discussion on the proposed legislation. Some 100 people attended the meeting to hear Viera y Clavijo Botan...

Translated from the Bolivarian News Agency, Thursday January 21 2010 VENEZUELA sent more personnel and food aid to the earthquake-stricken Caribbean nation of Haiti on Thursday. A contingent of 48 aid workers, including the the 51st Simón Bolívar medical battalion, firefighters and civil defence and disaster management personnel departed from Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía north of the capital Caracas. They relieved fellow Venezuelan humanitarian workers who had been aiding survivors for 12 days. The mission was accompanied by 12 tons of food and other material aid. Deputy foreign minister for Latin America and the Caribbean Francisco Arias Cárdenas was at the airport to see the team off. He said that the aid workers would mainly be deployed in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, which had been worst affected by the disaster. Mr Arias added that Venezuela's existing literacy campaign in Haiti would continue as part of the continuing “efforts o...

The US Federal Bureau of Investigations has egg on its face after wrongly identifying a Spanish politician as Osama bin Laden. NOT BIN LADEN: United Left MP Gaspar Llamazares By JAMES TWEEDIE Hapless G-men (or women) circulated a photo of United Left (IU) MP and former leader Gaspar Llamazares, claiming it to be an up-to-date likeness of Saudi Arabian Al Qaeda chief bin Laden. The FBI withdrew the picture after Spanish newspaper El Mundo pointed out the Glaring error. The bureau initially claimed that the image was the result of "sophisticated digital profiling technology." But they later admitted that they had taken an image of Mr Llamazares from the internet and doctored it to resemble the elusive terrorist guru. Mr Llamazares, who is also a senior member of IU coalition member the Communist Party of Spain, said: "In the last few days I have seen the security services involved in some very strange things, some major failures, but I would never have b...

Madrid, Wednesday January 20 2010 AIRLINE Air Europa announced on Wednesday that it will increase flights to Tenerife by 19 per cent this summer. The increase will allow direct flights from 18 Spanish cities to the island.

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Wednesday January 20 2010 From left: Tacoronte mayor Hermógenes Pérez, Güímar mayor Rafael Yanes, Tenerife Cabildo minister for the environment Wladimiro Rodríguez, Los Realejos mayor Oswaldo Amaro and Unit of Environmental Education chief Sonia Rodríguez. TENERIFE'S provincial government launched its second 'green homes' campaign in the capital on Wednesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The initiative by the Island's Cabildo government will educate families in “environmentally responsible habits” among participating households in their energy, water and transport use and in their “shopping basket.” It will involve just 75 families – 25 each from the municipalities of Güímar on the south-east coast and Los Realejos and Tacoronte in the north. But this is an increase on the 2009 campaign, which reached only 12 homes each in La Orotava, Santa Ursula, Candelaria and Adeje. The programme was officially launched at the Cabildo in the...

Arona, Tenerife, Tuesday January 19 2010 ARONA council will unveil new Braille tourist maps and tactile information boards for the blind at the FITUR tourism conference in Madrid this week. by JAMES TWEEDIE The council, in conjunction with the tourist board, will exhibit promotional maps of the municipality printed in the Braille textured writing system at the International Tourism Trade Fair in the Spanish Capital. The maps are intended to make tourism accessible to visually disabled people. Arona mayor José Alberto González Reverón and councillor for tourism Ángel David Herrera González said that Arona was “continuing its commitment to the importance of accessibility and its contribution to the value of the tourism business.”

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tuesday January 19 2010 CONSERVATIONISTS demanded on Monday that the Canarian Parliament throw out a proposal to alter the archipelago's endangered species list. by JAMES TWEEDIE The Canarian Federation of Animal and Plant Protection Associations (FECAPAP) delivered a letter to the regional parliament in the capital Santa Cruz stating their rejection of the new Canarian Catalogue of Endangered Species, due to be voted on in February. The federation called an extraordinary assembly on January 8, which unanimously passed a motion condemning the proposed removal of several species from the catalogue. An accompanying press statement said that the federation “does not understand why, at the point where we find ourselves, with such worrying loss of biodiversity and environmental deterioration that we are suffering, they [the parliament] adopt measures that deepen the evils that we must halt.” It continued: “We want to make clear our total disagr...

Tenerife, Tuesday January 19 2010 RENEWABLE energy company ITER will build three new wind farms on Tenerife, the island's government announced on Tuesday. by JAMES TWEEDIE The Technological Institute of Renewable Energies (ITER), which was founded and is 85 per cent owned by the Cabildo Insular de Tenerife , won the Cabildo's tender to build three wind farms to generate electricity for the island's power grid. Some 129 projects competed for the tender, of which 11 were chosen including the three ITER wind farms. The company now holds 97 per cent of the island's electricity generation contracts. All three installations will be be located on the south coast, with the 18.4 Megawatt (MW) Parque Eólico del Complejo Medioambiental de Arico in Arico; and the 18.4 MW Parque Eólico de Areté , and the 16.8 MW Parque Eólico La Roca , both in Granadilla. The company claimed that the combine 53.6 MW output would provide electricity for 7,660 households and redu...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Monday January 18 2010 THE SOCIALIST Party on Monday accused the Canarian president Paulino Rivero of misspending money intended for local government. by JAMES TWEEDIE PSOE regional parliamentary group spokesman Santiago Pérez said that regional president Paulino Rivero had “unilaterally” decided to use a €70 million payment from the national government to encourage firms to take on new employees by paying for their social security contributions. He pointed out that the money was compensation for the abolition of the regional companies tax intended for local government. His comments at a press conference in Santa Cruz were timed to coincide with a meeting the same day between the Canarian Coalition (CC) – Popular Party (PP) government and representatives of the autonomous community's island Cabildos and town councils the same day. Mr Rivero has claimed that the scheme will create 80,000 new jobs. But Mr Pérez quoted Gran Canaria Construct...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Friday January 15 2010 From left: cabildo vice-president Carlos Alonso,  cabildo president Ricardo Melchior,   INECO president Fernado Palao and cabildo secretary general of infrastructure Antonio Monfort TENERIFE'S Cabildo government sought to reassure voters that the long-promised railway scheme was still on track on Friday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Speaking at a press conference in the regional capital Santa Cruz, Cabildo president Ricardo Melchior said that the island's government had given approval for the plans and was working “hand in hand” with engineering contractor INECO to bring the scheme to fruition. He was joined by Cabildo vice-president and minister for economy and competitiveness Carlos Alonso, secretary general of infrastructure Antonio Monfort and INECO president Fernado Palao. Despite numerous delays in the project, Mr Palao insisted that “there is no fundamental problem.” He added that his firm would sub-contract basic construction ...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Monday January 11 2010 PSOE Canarian parliamentary spokesman Santiago Pérez SOCIALIST Party (PSOE) regional parliamentary spokesman Santiago Pérez launched a four-pronged attack on the ruling Canarian Coalition party on Monday. by JAMES TWEEDIE Speaking at a press conference at the Canarian Parliament in the regional capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Mr Pérez began by accusing the regional government of failing to distribute €150 million earmarked to ease credit to small and medium enterprises to its intended beneficiaries. He said that “about zero” of the money had gone to SMEs, while the “same old rich businessmen” had enjoyed the lions' share. Mr Pérez' second line of attack was over Santa Cruz council's controversial Plan General de Ordenación (PGO), which has left some 30 per cent of the city's homes outside of planning permission. He called the PGO a “new type of tax” and an attack on the property values and inheritance of thousands of fam...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Saturday January 9 2010 UP TO 15,000 residents marched through the regional capital on Saturday against the council's Plan General de Ordenación (PGO). by JAMES TWEEDIE Furious chicharreros  – Santa Cruz residents – blew whistles and horns and shouted slogans against the planning by-law, which had put some 30 per cent of the city's buildings out of planning permission. The demonstration dwarfed that outside the preceeding Monday's stormy town hall meeting where the ruling Canarian Coalicion (CC) – Popular Party (PP) alliance and the Canarian Nationalist Centre (CCN) passed the PGO against belated opposition form the Socialist Party (PSOE). Protest leaders accused councillors of lying, corruption and theft, arguing that the PGO only served the interests of local property speculators. The campaigners named businessmen Antonio Plascencia, Manuel Hermoso, former Tenerife cabildo president Adam Martín and Ignacio González Martí...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tuesday January 5 2010 THREE KINGS PLUS ONE: Ben Magec spokesman for Tenerife Fran Castro (right) and fellow activists outside the Canarian Parliament ENVIRONMENTALIST campaigners Ben Magec demonstrated outside the Canarian Parliament in Santa Cruz on Tuesday – dressed as the Three Kings of Orient. by JAMES TWEEDIE The group was protesting on the eve of Reyes, the traditional Spanish Christmas gift-giving celebration associated with the arrival of the three kings in Bethlehem, against regional government policies. These included the planned completion of the Anillo Insular motorway ring and the Anillo Ferruvial railway for Tenerife and the removal of several native species from the endangered list. The group, led by Tenerife spokesman Fran Castro, also called for new farming policies to make the import-dependant archipelago self-sufficient in terms of food production. The group carried a letter containing their demands and a collection of h...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Monday January 4 2010 Protesters in front of Santa Cruz town hall SANTA Cruz council's ruling conservative-nationalist coalition approved a new planning by-law on Monday in the face of mass opposition. by JAMES TWEEDIE in Santa Cruz Thousands of the regional capital's residents demonstrated noisily outside the town hall throughout the heated five-hour public meeting, during which each side accused the other of lies, misinformation and “violence” against democracy. The protesters accused councillors of corruption and serving the interests of property speculators, and demanded a two-month delay in implementing the law to allow for appeals against the process. The council passed the Plan General de Ordenación 2009 (PGO) unanimously with the support of all parties last year. It was ostensibly intended to regulate the height of buildings in the capital after decades of planning free-for-all. But residents became angry when it emerged ...