García urges no political games with the El Charco plant

She laments that the Popular Party reacts now and calls for no politicisation, a historic demand of the neighbourhood

The president of the Fuerteventura Island Council, Lola García, expressed regret that the Popular Party (PP) has taken so long to acknowledge that the time to relocate the El Charco power plant is now – a measure that “the citizens of Puerto del Rosario, and especially the Charco neighbourhood, have been demanding for decades.”

“We must not politicise such a serious issue, which affects not only Fuerteventura’s energy and environmental future but also the quality of life of the capital’s residents,” García said, recalling that “local administrations, the Island Council and the municipalities have done the work to move toward a real, sustainable solution.”

García highlighted that it was precisely the Island Council and the municipalities that filed objections to the Ministry’s energy tender, aiming to prevent the El Charco area from continuing to be listed as a “preferred zone for new energy capacity.”

She also noted that, despite having Canary‑Island ministers from the PP heading the Ministry of Industry, and that today energy planning falls under the Canary Islands Government’s Department of Ecological Transition—also controlled by the PP—neither the national nor the regional authorities have pushed a genuine solution for Fuerteventura.

“For the first time, a mayor and the Island Council president have sat down with the Ministry to unblock this situation and advance a viable technical and urban planning proposal,” García said, lamenting that a struggle that has been the fight of an entire community for decades is now being turned into a political game.

The president reminded that the “Zurita option” is permitted in the General Plan of Puerto del Rosario, and that the city council has gone further by making land available for the company that wins the new tender and will take over the island’s energy supply.

Finally, García praised “the role of the Charco neighbourhood, whose persistence and commitment have been essential to keep this demand alive for so many years.”

“What Fuerteventura needs now are not headlines but coordination and joint work among administrations to finally remove the plant from El Charco and move toward a modern, sustainable, and citizen‑friendly energy model,” she concluded.