Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife
Franco? Nope, Never Heard of Him
The fate of the statue dedicated to Franco in Santa Cruz, Ãngel de la Victoria by Juan de Avalos, has come under threat following the removal of the last statue of Generalissimo Franco in the Spanish city of Melilla in North Africa. The political movement “˜Si se puede Tenerife’ says that its presence isn’t in compliance with the Ley 52/2007 de la Memoria Histórica. This law basically recognises the rights of those who suffered persecution during the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. Part of the law involves the right to withdraw monuments which commemorate Franco.
“˜Si se puede’ argues that it isn’t appropriate that this icon of Franco’s dictatorship welcomes visitors to Santa Cruz. They suggest that it should be put in the Military Museum and replaced with something more suitable.
The trouble with sweeping unpleasant aspects of history under the carpet is that there is always a danger that they may be forgotten. Franco’s statues may be a constant reminder of a dark period of Spanish history, but isn’t that an argument for keeping them?
Paying the Price for Devotion
Every year the authorities on Tenerife prohibit people from walking along the TF1 motorway during the annual pilgrimage to Candelaria to honour the Black Madonna”¦and every year pilgrims ignore it. Nearly 100,000 people made the pilgrimage this year, most sticking to the official routes. However, 14 of those who defied the prohibition found themselves facing Guardia Civil officers and an eighty euro fine. It might seem a hefty amount for simply wanting to demonstrate devotion, but after walking on the TF1 they should think themselves lucky that the price they had to pay wasn’t something much, much higher.
2009 – A Good Year for Wine
It might not have been a good year for tourism on Tenerife, but it looks like 2009 was an excellent year for wine in the Ycoden Daute Isora region in the north west of Tenerife. The white wines of the area especially have been given the thumbs up for taste and quality and 390,000 litres have been bottled ready for our pleasure. Of course they’re going to tell us that their wine is excellent, so in the name of research and performing a valuable public service, Tenerife Magazine promises to try a few bottles”¦just to make sure that it’s as good as they claim.
Is this the End of Arico Cheese?
It’s good news, bad news time. The tragic news is that from later this month the factory that produces the delicious Arico cheese, winner of the best cheese in the world title at the World Cheese Awards in 2008, will close.
The good news for cheese lovers, if not for the employees at the factory in Arico, is that the delicious award winning cheese will continue to be produced in Benijos in La Orotava. Wallace & Gromit can breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The Images on My TV are Garbled
At least a thousand people in the El Tanque area are still unable to receive a decent TDT signal. Residents in Erjos, San José de los Llanos, Tierra del Trigo and Ruigómez have complained that they’ve only been able to view garbled images since the switch from analogue television earlier this year. After hearing about this it was rumoured that thousands of people called out engineers, also complaining of garbled images and programmes disappearing suddenly from their screens ““ to be told by “˜the signal’s fine, you’re receiving Spanish TV perfectly.’
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… the organisers of the Romantic Bolero Nights Festival in Los Cristianos
Supposed to be an invitation to hear music under the moonlight, the festival turned out to be a catalogue of disastrous and misguided organisation, exhibiting some of the most frustrating aspects of trying to positively promote Tenerife. On the Friday night of the festival, the power went off for at least twenty minutes during the set; the band Clave de Son who were supposed to heat up Saturday afternoon with Cuban vibes at 3.30pm didn’t perform till 5pm; on Saturday night the music still hadn’t started 45 minutes after it was supposed to and then security bizarrely stopped official press from taking photographs. More unromantic bols-up than romantic bolero and a perfect example of how not to run a music festival.
