Majorera Assembly Demands Protection of Its Territory on 50th Anniversary
Proclamations Focus on Rejecting Rare‑Earth Mining, Naval Maneuvers, and the Pájara Shooting Range
Asamblea Majorera highlighted the need to safeguard Fuerteventura’s fragile environment with a walk that gathered militants, local officials and citizens. The route ran from Ajuy to Playa del Jurado in the municipality of Pájara, emphasizing the island’s vulnerability and the urgency of preserving its natural values.
The event, part of the party’s pre‑anniversary activities, concluded with the reading of a manifesto at the Ajuy Cultural Center by local resident Guiomar Avero.
During the guided tour led by Omar Reyes, participants learned about the natural and geological significance of Ajuy’s coastline—the oldest in the Canary Islands—and voiced opposition to several threats to the island’s environment, including:
- Military maneuvers
- The Pájara shooting range
- Prospection for rare‑earth minerals
“We advocate for the creation of a National Park of Arid Zones, sustainable growth, control of population pressure, and the implementation of a tourist eco‑tax as a resource for conserving natural spaces—facing all those issues that try to undermine the fragility of our territory.”
Since its founding in 1977, Asamblea Majorera has maintained a strong anti‑militarist stance, rooted in the numerous abuses suffered by the Majorero community after the Spanish Legion’s arrival in 1976. The party cites the illegitimate expropriation of land in Pájara for the Amanay shooting range in 1979, carried out “without any minimal consultation to the Majorero people or the corresponding island and municipal authorities.”
Fuerteventura also endured NATO naval exercises that caused a massive beaked‑whale stranding in 2002, killing up to 11 individuals. Asamblea Majorera campaigned to ban such activities, leading to a 2004 anti‑sonar moratorium across the archipelago; since then, large‑scale strandings have ceased and cetacean mortality has dropped by 25 %.
In 2012, plans for oil prospecting off the island’s coast were announced. Massive demonstrations and proclamations organized by Asamblea Majorera and the Majorero populace successfully halted the project, preventing irreversible environmental damage.
More recently, the party has opposed rare‑earth mining proposals—critical raw material extractions that threaten the island’s ecosystems. Their activism has helped block these prospecting efforts during the current legislative term.
“The preservation of the territory and the defense of natural resources are unavoidable claims of our formation, linked to years of political commitment and social mobilization that represent an essential value of our own identity, guarantor of rootedness and sense of belonging.”
These statements underscore Asamblea Majorera’s long‑standing dedication to defending Fuerteventura’s land, resources and fragile ecosystems. Facing numerous challenges ahead, the current leadership embraces half a century of history to continue the fight for the island’s protection.