New mayor in Valle Gran Rey

The new mayor of Valle Gran Rey, Cristopher Marrero (image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey's new local administration has now been formed and Cristopher Marrero of the PSOE is the new mayor, even though his party holds only two of the eleven seats on the council. His election was facilitated with the help of the two councillors of the Si Se Puede grouping and the two of the Nueva Canarias party, leaving La Gomera's strongest party ASG in opposition with five seats. See all La Gomera local election 2019 results...

Local election results La Gomera 2019

Casimiro Curbelo

The independent La Gomera socialist ASG party of the island's president Casimiro Curbelo (image on top) was the clear winner in the recent local elections, followed by the socialist PSOE. The graphics below (source: gomeraverde.es) first show the results for the election to La Gomera's cabildo (island government) followed by the results in all five municipal areas of La Gomera, where in some it is not clear yet who will form the new local government ('escaños' = seats). Left environmental group SSP (Si Se Puede) won two seats for the first time in Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso as well as one in San Sebastian de La Gomera, plus two seats in the cabildo.

                                                                             CABILDO:

MUNICIPAL AREAS:

General Election Results 2015

How La Gomera and the Canary Islands voted:

La Gomera:

Please note that the above does not include parties that won less than 3% of the vote.
La Gomera itself has no voice in the Spanish parliament, but in the Spanish Senate La Gomera had one seat to fill and this was won yesterday by the new ASG party of the island's president C. Curbelo (see: Local elections 2015).

Dec. 20th 2015 election results in the Canary Islands, 

which have 15 seats in the Spanish parliament :

Note: Only parties that have won seats are shown above

The new municipal mayors of La Gomera

Angel Piñero of  Valle Gran Rey (Image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey: 

Angel Piñero has been elected mayor of this municipal area on La Gomera last Saturday. His Coalicion Canaria party came out strongest in the recent local elections, winning four of the eleven seats on the local council but unable to gain a majority. However, his candidature was supported by all but the two Si Se Puede councillors and it now appears he will form a minority local government with the support of most elected councillors.

The other 5 municipal mayors on La Gomera were elected as follows:

San Sebastian de La Gomera: 

Now ruled by the new socialist party ASG (6 seats)  in coalition with Antonio Luis Arteaga of Nueva Canarias (1 seat) with Adasat Reyes  of the ASG as mayor. 

Vallehermoso: 

Emiliano Coello of the ASG elected mayor with absolute majority held by the ASG.

Agulo: 

Rosa Chinea (ASG) is new mayor, also with absolute majority of the seats held by her party.

Hermigua: 

Pedro Negrín of CC (2 seats) elected mayor, forming local government in coalition with ASG (2 seats) and PSOE (1seat). Former mayor Solveida Clemente's party is now in opposition with four seats.

Alajeró: 

Manuel Ramón Plasencia of the Spanish Labour Party PSOE managed to go against the trend on La Gomera, now being the only mayor to be re-elected with his party gaining an absolute majority of the seats.

Local election results for Valle Gran Rey 2015

All votes for the local government of Valle Gran Rey have now been counted and as you can see from the results below there was a major shift in voting patterns, but none of the elected parties will have a majority and forming a new local government will not be easy. 

More election results soon !

Votes in VALLE GRAN REY

Votes counted:	100 %
Total of Councillors elected:	11
Turnout:	2140	68.39 %
Abstentions:	989	31.61 %
Spoiled votes:	44	2.06 %
Blank votes:	14	0.67 %

VOTes per party iN VALLE GRAN REY

Party	Councillors	Votes           %
CCa-PNC (Can. Moderate Nationalist Pact)	4	609	29.06 %
ASG (New Party of former PSOE member and Gomera President C. Curbelo)	3	484	23.09 %
PSOE (Span. Labour Party)	2	404	19.27 %
SSP (New party literally 'Yes We Can')	2	341	16.27 %
PP (Party of present Spanish Government/Rajoy, Won 4 seats in last Local elections)	0	141	6.73 %
NC-ADGomera ('New Canaries')	0	103	4.91 %

Above adapted from El Pais original in Spanish

Local elections 2015

Today voters are asked to cast their votes in the local and council elections in Spain and the Canary Islands. Politics in mainland Spain have changed a lot and politics in the Canary Islands even more so. However,  the political upheaval on La Gomera in recent times was   an especially thorny issue full of surprises and it couldn't have been more complicated.

The 'political landscape' has changed completely on the island and this blog was at times lost for words and at other times wise enough to shut up. The times in between we filled with issues that avoided the party-political debate and the biased news, just to stay sane and independent.

Local politics are all too complicated on La Gomera to explain even in a 300-page book and by the time this would be published it would be ages out of date - such is the rate of political turmoil on the island. Suffice to say that there are several new and 'ex-old' political entities and sub-parties standing for election, changes of affiliation, new formations, parties that don't see themselves as parties, local political veterans re-inventing themselves and others not wanting to run for office again. Add to that all the fantastic promises and the exposure of newly-found, long existing problems - mostly denounced without proposing a solution. Just gimme your vote now !

Today those who have any opinion at all - and that includes a lot of people from abroad who are resident and have registered their vote - can and should have their say and influence in what promises to be a landmark election with a greater variety of contenders than ever before in Spanish local and colonial history. 

Count me out, as I'm not a permanent resident anymore !

However, I'm keeping a close eye on the results on La Gomera and will post the outcome in detail here once reliably available...

President's candidature rejected by own party

La Gomera's long-serving president has hit the headlines once again. I'll give you the IslandConnections.eu report of Wednesday's surprise news: 

Curbelo election snub likely to lead to new party

La Gomera is at the centre of local politics in the Canaries today following the news that the island's veteran president has been snubbed by his party for the May elections and may well carry out his threat to create his own party to stay in charge 

La Gomera - 19.02.2015 - Despite a string of corruption allegations down the years, including accusations that he has amassed a personal fortune through his political influence, Cabildo president Casimiro Curbelo is a hugely popular figure on the small island, which he has "ruled" since 1991 and represented it in the Spanish Senate  for nearly two decades. Scandals in recent years, particularly his "you don't know who you are dealing with" outburst when he was arrested during a drunken fracas at a Madrid lap-dancing club, have led his PSOE party to distance itself from him of late, including forcing him to resign from the Senate, and the split was confirmed last night when it was announced that he would not be chosen to run again in May. The news has been welcomed in some quarters, who feel Curbelo's time is over and La Gomera can no longer be run on a political favours basis or - in keeping with a PSOE election promise - by someone with charges hanging over him. However, many others have pledged support for the controversial figure and are prepared to back him if he sets up his own party to remain in charge at the Cabildo. A populist Curbelo party is predicted to have serious chances of gaining control of several town halls in La Gomera also.

Dramatic video showing Spanish navy brutally attacking peaceful Greenpeace protest against oil exploration in Canarian waters. Activist seriously hurt

NBC News reported:

''Spain's navy rammed into a Greenpeace dinghy during a protest in the Atlantic Ocean against oil exploration near the Canary Islands on Saturday, injuring four of its activists, one of them seriously, the environmental organization said.

However, the navy disputed that account. The navy said it dispatched two boats from one of its ships in the area to prevent Greenpeace from boarding a large oil drilling ship and that one of its activists was seriously injured when she fell out of her dinghy and was hit by its propellers.Speaking by radio-telephone from Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in the area, Capt. Joel Stewart identified the woman as a 23-year-old Italian activist and said the other three injuries were minor. The navy said it rushed the activist to a Spanish hospital in a helicopter. 

Last month, at the Spanish government's request, the Constitutional Court blocked a proposal by the Canary Islands regional government to hold a referendum on oil exploration in waters off the popular tourist archipelago off northwestern Africa. The government licensed the Spanish energy company Repsol YPF S.A. to begin oil exploration there, and it is doing that now from a large oil drilling ship with a platform.''

Update 1:

The president of the government of the Canary Islands Paulino Rivero meanwhile has visited the injured female Greenpeace activist in hospital on Gran Canaria and pledged his and his government's support for all present and future protests against oil drilling in the vicinity of the Canaries. He called the navy's actions ''disproportionate, abusive and erroneous''. He stressed that he is not blaming the navy ''whom Canary citizens help to finance'', but he is blaming the central Spanish government for having caused the incident by giving orders to the armed forces ''to attack a peaceful action in an exaggerated fashion''. He is demanding an explanation from the Spanish prime minister Rajoy of the navy's attack in which four protesters were injured, one of them seriously.

The distant Spanish state has vehemently opposed the will of the Canarian people to hold a referendum and keeps treating the Canary Islands as its last colony, brutally conquered about 500 years ago, in an exploitative and domineering way.

Update 2:
The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise has arrived in port at Lanzarote to the applause of a large crowd which had gathered in support of the protest:

Oil drilling protests reported in The Guardian

A few days ago in The Guardian reported:

© The Guardian

''Angry Canary Islanders brace for an unwanted guest - the oil industry

Madrid and Repsol have pushed through deepwater drilling and fracking licences to recover a hoped-for 2.2bn barrels of oil despite massive local opposition

Nearly 200,000 people - one in 10 of the population - protested against plans to extract oil from in and around the Canary Islands. Photograph: Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images

In most places the news that you’ve struck oil would be cause to crack open the champagne. But not in the Canary Islands where Spain’s biggest oil company Repsol is due to begin drilling off Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

“Our wealth is in our climate, our sky, our sea and the archipelago’s extraordinary biodiversity and landscape,” the Canary Islands president, Paulino Rivero, said. “Its value is that it’s natural and this is what attracts tourism. Oil is incompatible with tourism and a sustainable economy.”

Rivero, a former primary school teacher, is on a crusade against oil and he is not alone. Protest marches have drawn as many as 200,000 of the islands’ 2 million inhabitants on to the streets. The regional government planned to consolidate public opinion with a referendum on 23 November. Voters were to be asked: “Do you believe the Canaries should exchange its environmental and tourism model for oil and gas exploration?”

As with the weekend’s scheduled referendum on Catalan independence, the Madrid government contrived to have the plebiscite banned as unconstitutional and Rivero has now commissioned a private poll he hopes will demonstrate the strength of public opinion.

“The banning of the referendum reveals a huge weakness in the system,” said Rivero. “You have to listen to the people. There’s a serious discrepancy between what people here want and what the Spanish government wants. You are allowed to hold consultations under the Spanish constitution and what we wanted to do was completely legal. The problem we have is that some government departments have too close a relationship with Repsol.”

Repsol is flush with cash after settling a long dispute with Argentina and is keen to develop what may be the country’s biggest oilfield after winning permission to drill in August. 

The company believes the fields may contain as much as 2.2bn barrels of oil and is investing €7.5bn to explore two sites about 40 miles (60km) east of Fuerteventura.

If its estimates are correct, the wells could produce around 110,000 barrels a day for 10 years, equivalent to 10% of Spain’s oil needs. Spain, which has never had a wealth of natural resources, currently imports 99% of its oil at a cost of around €40bn a year.

Drilling in the area has been held up for more than a decade by environmental challenges and delays by successive governments, but Repsol has said it expects to begin work before the end of the year.

The company claims it has offered every guarantee that the work will be carried out safely and with respect for the environment and has set up an €80m contingency fund for compensation in the event of accidents.

Rivero is not convinced. “When we look at the development of Argentina or Mexico or Nigeria we see that the local people don’t benefit much from oil,” he says. “Furthermore, the oil here is in very deep water which hugely increases the risks, as we saw with the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.”

The Spanish government says it cannot pass up on the possibility of finding oil and has issued licences for conventional exploration as well as fracking.

José Manuel Soria, the minister for industry, energy and tourism, said last month that “Spain cannot afford the luxury of not finding out whether we have hydrocarbons.”

Speaking at a conference under the slogan “Reindustrialise to win”, Soria said that “we spend €100m a day on gas and oil that our industry needs. We all want our industry to be more competitive and for that to happen we need cheaper energy.”

Rivero concedes that there is a conflict between what the Canaries want and the Spanish national interest. “As president of the Canaries, my first responsibility is to protect the Canaries’ interests,” he says. “There’s no benefit for us. It presents risks to tourism, the environment, fishing, agriculture and to the desalination of seawater. When we weigh up what we have to gain and what we stand to lose, we don’t gain anything. Repsol is the one who profits from this.”

Rivero’s principal argument is that, the risk of oil spills aside, the oil will in due course be exhausted whereas tourism gives the islands a sustainable economic base. The tourist industry, which attracts 12m people to the islands, is worth €13bn a year, 32% of GDP.

The islands, where 40% of land is protected, boast three Unesco world heritage sites and are a major ecotourist destination. As well as hiking amid unspoilt landscape, visitors can opt for the Loro Parque on Tenerife, the rainforest of La Gomera, or volcano treks on Lanzarote, among other attractions.

Another issue is unemployment, currently running at 33% in the Canaries, nearly 10% above the Spanish national average. Rivero remains unconvinced that the oil business will make much of a dent on the jobless total.

“Repsol says it may create 3,000 jobs but in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura alone more than 50,000 people work in tourism and in the Canaries it’s more than 400,000,” he says. “The oil industry will not complement what we already have. In fact, it will impede it.”

Despite the setback in the high court and the determination of the central government to explore all energy opportunities, Rivero remains unbowed.

“We in the Canaries do not accept being treated like a colony, like something from another century when the Europeans pillaged Africa’s resources,” he said.

“Repsol thinks everything has a price but they’re not going to buy the Canaries. We won’t bow down. We may lose a battle but we’ll win the war.” ''

One photo for the Canary Islands

I've received the email below a couple of days ago and I'm posting it here. You can download and print the small poster, write your comment on it if you like, then display it in your town or city no matter where you live, take a picture of it with a landmark in the background and then send the photo to photos@savecanarias.org. to support the protest:

Dear friends,

Click to get poster

Last saturday 18th October more than 100.000 people in 8 Canary Islands and 50 cities worldwide came together to say No to oil drillling in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

With the drilling activities round the corner we need to keep up the social pressure to stop Repsol, that´s why we are asking everybody to show solidarity with the Canary Islands by taking a picture with this poster in a recognizable place of a city.

We´d be very thankful if you could join the action ONE PHOTO for CANARIAS and send us a picture of your support to Canarias, including name of your city and a personal message for the Canary Islands to photos@savecanarias.org.

Thanks again for your support!

With determination and clean energy!

Follow latest news on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Canarias/501504143260625 (SPANISH)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Canarias-UK/870098149670445 (ENGLISH)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-Canarias-Deutschland/700441849993684 (GERMAN)

Oil controversy continues. Greepeace ship arrives

phys.org reports:

Spain defends Canaries oil drilling plan

People protest against oil and gas exploration by Spanish group REPSOL off the coast of the Canary Islands, on the Spanish Canary island of Gran Canaria on August 23, 2014

Spain on Friday launched a legal challenge to defend plans to explore for oil and gas off the Canary Islands, a popular tourist destination. Authorities in the Canaries oppose the government-backed plan by oil giant Repsol to prospect under the seabed near the Spanish Atlantic archipelago and have said they will let locals vote on the plan on November 23.

The conservative government in Madrid decided Friday to appeal to the Constitutional Court against that referendum, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.

"This appeal motion has already been signed" by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, she told a news conference after Friday's weekly cabinet meeting.

She said the government would challenge the vote on the same legal grounds it has used to get a planned referendum on independence for the Catalonia region suspended.

In both cases, the government says the regional governments are not authorised to hold referendum-style votes.

"We are talking about matters that are in the power of the state, not of the Canary Islands government," Saenz said.

Madrid outraged the Canaries' regional government, residents and environmental groups in August by giving Repsol the all-clear to explore near the islands' coasts.

The company has been authorised to spend three years probing below the sea bed about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura.

Residents of the archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa fear Repsol's explorations will harm the environment and disrupt the tourism industry on which their economy relies.

Under the terms of the licence, Repsol must provide a deposit of 20 million euros ($25 million) "to cover its environmental responsibilities".

Those safeguards have not convinced the islands' government or residents, however. Protesters demonstrated across the eight inhabited islands of the archipelago on October 18.

Greenpeace said its campaign boat Arctic Sunrise was heading to the island of Lanzarote on Friday evening and would also visit two other ports in the Canaries over the coming 10 days to support the protests.

 Explore further: Spain's Canary Islands fume over oil exploration

© 2014 AFP 

Click to sign petition

Oil find only 200 kms away from Canaries

Opposition against oil exploration remains strong in the Canary islands despite the latest discovery of oil off Morocco. Island Connections reports:

Moroccan oil find 'changes nothing' in Canaries, says government

News of the discovery of oil off Morocco in no way changes the opposition of the Canarian people to drilling in the waters off the islands, says the regional government. 

Image: Archive Lagomera1.blogspot.com

Canary Islands - 22.10.2014 

- Details emerged yesterday of what appears to be a major find by Genel Energy off Morocco and the news has, unsurprisingly, triggered conflicting views in the Canaries. While supporters of the drilling planned for waters off Lanzarote and Fuerteventura later this year say the find, which still has to be confirmed with further testing of the well, makes the explorations here of even greater interest, opponents say it changes nothing. "This is not the first time we have heard this type of news, which is often put out for stock market interests. The risks involved in the drilling there are not as serious as in the Canaries, which is why we will continue to oppose the plans" said regional president Paulino Rivero, who insisted that the stance taken by the government was "a matter of convictions" and not opportunism. Rivero called on Morocco to take the "strictest measures" to ensure the extraction of any oil found is carried out with full environmental guarantees. 

News update summer 2014

So now the kids have gone back to school and with the arrival of September the summer is slowly ending. I'm still in Ireland and enjoying an unusually excellent summer. Yesterday I  enjoyed myself on a huge golden beach and the temperature was a balmy 23 degrees in perfect weather conditions. 

While away I was in constant contact with La Gomera and followed all the news from there. So what has happened on La Gomera during my absence ?

Not all that much, really, and this summer was as quiet if not more quiet than previous years and I didn't miss much, I think.

News summary:

The good news is that there were no major fires during the past two months. There were a few minor fires that were put out by the emergency services very quickly. The latest and largest fire was fought successfully in Alajero last Sunday, but 18 hectares of scrub and some palms fell victim to the flames. The Air Tractor hydro-plane which was stationed on La Gomera's small airport in early July helped to extinguish the fires and it will remain on stand-by until the end of October.

The annual highest tides of August coupled with a strong Atlantic swell brought some very big waves which forced the closure of the promenade along the beach of Playa de Santiago for a time.

Vueltas, the harbour village of Valle Gran Grey is yet another step closer to the beginning of the eight month of works that will pedestrianise and improve the shopping streets there as the tenders for the work have been adjudicated now. Vueltas is well-known for its quirky little shops and boutiques and also boasts many restaurants that offer fresh fish from its harbour and much more.

Two councillors in Valle Gran Rey have resigned their posts in the local government due to 'differences with the mayor'.

Mobile phones in most parts of Valle Gran Rey seem to be working again after the main mast was sabotaged during bonfire night. A provisional mast was erected near the bus station by the Movistar phone operator until a permanent solution can be found.

The one-night rock festival in San Sebastian was a great success.

The access road to Valle Gran Rey's black-sand beach Playa del Ingles is to get street lights powered by photovoltaics.

Finally the improvement works in the harbour of San Sebastian are making good progress and the extension of the pier will be ready to welcome even larger cruise ships when the season begins in late autumn.

IF anything exciting or important happens on La Gomera, I promise to report it here on this blog immediately... but, as they say: NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS !

Teneriffe's Mount Teide seen from La Gomera (Photo taken in June 2014)

First oil explorations to last 100 days

The 'Rowan Renaissance' as seen by opponents (click)

The first two oil explorations in waters near the Canary Islands in an exploration area just about 40 miles east of the popular holiday resorts of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura have been allowed by the Madrid government for a duration of 45 days each and the rest of the time of a maximum total of 100 days will be needed for repositioning the rig. These facts came to light when the obligatory enviromental impact study was published a couple of weeks ago. This also revealed that depending on the outcome of the initial sampling further exploratory drilling will be allowed at another site nearby for 180 days as this will be in very deep waters. The vessel to be hired by Spanish oil giant REPSOL to carry out the drilling is called 'Rowan Renaissance'', an exploration vessel which recently had to abandon drilling off Namibia due to problems with ship's the blow-out preventer. 

There is strong opposition to oil drilling in the Canary Islands and 72% of the population are opposed to exploration leading to many thousands taking to the streets in protest recently. About 200.000 have already signed the main petition against oil, which is sponsored by nearly 50 organisations. Many individual celebrities, politicians, entire councils and the Canarian government are also opposed to oil drilling here and all are calling for a referendum on the issue, which the Madrid government insists they're not entitled to hold. The debate is heating up daily...

Anti-oil demonstrations on all Canary Islands tonight

Click to enlarge

Many organisations, trade unions, political parties, local authorities, artists and public figures have called on the public to support the demonstrations against planned oil exploration near the eastern islands and to demand a referendum on the issue. The peaceful demonstrations will take place on all islands including tiny La Graciosa tonight, Saturday June 7th, at 6pm. The demonstrations will call for a referendum on the issue and also for more support for tapping sustainable, renewable clean energy which the islands have in abundance. The mottos of the demonstrations tonight will be 'one single voice against prospecting' and 'Canaries Say No'. Recent opinion polls have shown that more than 70% of the Canarian population are opposed to oil exploration in the vicinity of these islands.
UPDATE Sunday June 8th, 2014:
There was a massive turnout last night and tens of thousands of people took to the streets. Members of the Canarian government such as the president and the vice president joined the protesters.There were secondary demonstrations in mainland Spain and as far away as New York and Berlin in support of the Canarian demand for a referendum on oil exploration. On small La Gomera it is estimated that up to 800 people took part. 

Shock news from Madrid on Canarian holiday

While the Canary Islands were celebrating and enjoying the bank holiday weekend of yesterday's Dia de Canarias, the Canarian show of national/regional pride within  a  Spanish state which 'conquista-ed' the archipelago about 500 years ago, there was the shock announcement of the Madrid Ministry for the Environment that they'll have no objections to dangerous oil exploration by the Spanish multi-national company REPSOL. This oil company is one of the very largest in the world and wants to drill for oil just less than 60 kms east off the Canary islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. 

Yesterday's protest 'Canaries Say No' (Source: gomeratoday,com)

There has been massive protest by the Canarian people and their government against such oil drilling and prospecting which the Spanish Ministry for the Environment  now has supported - down to depths of  between 800 and 5.000 metres. Some of the area affected is just 40 miles east of the popular holiday islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. There is massive opposition all over the Canaries against the now possible oil exploration. Further, Morrocco is exploring for oil just east of the area and has been warned-off by Canarian officials. The latest news of a 'carte-blanche' from the  Madrid ministry for the environment for a Spanish multinational oil company on the eve of the  Canaries' national' holiday has met with consternation and anger in the Canarian archipelago. The Canarian people fear that oil drilling will affect tourism, the environment could even further stifle investment in property. There were protests yesterday at the main festive act of the Dia de Canarias adressed the Canarian president and clashes with police  The Canary Islands keep stating that they have endless renewable energy to be developed yet, and neighbouring El Hierro will very soon be the  first island to be totally self-sufficient with 100% renewable energy.

Click  image to go to petition !

Yesterday's protests well attended

The protests against oil exploration between the Canary islands and Morocco were well attended on all the islands yesterday. The largest protest was on Gran Canaria with over 5.000 people forming a chain. Here on La Gomera about 150 people joined hands against oil drilling and for renewable energies, first along the beach of the island's capital San Sebastian. Later on a huge circle was formed around the town's historic Torre del Conde, a symbol of the Spanish conquest of the Canaries:

Yesterday's human chain circle in protest against oil exploration (Image: gomeranoticias.com)

Human chains against oil prospecting today

All over the Canary Islands human chains will be formed to protest against oil prospecting today. On La Gomera the event will take place at the town's beach from 12 noon today. The initiative will also stress the abundance of alternative energy available here and will demand a new sustainable clean energy model for the Canaries.