Spain Declares Former Tefía Agricultural Prison a Democratic Memory Site on Friday

The Government of Spain will declare this Friday, February 27, the former Agricultural Prison Colony of Tefía in Fuerteventura a Democratic Memory Site. The designation will make the site the first Democratic Memory Site in the Canary Islands, according to the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.

During the dictatorship, the Tefía Colony housed a forced‑labour camp for homosexual people. According to the information note, around 100 detainees passed through the camp, enduring inhuman conditions.

To mark the declaration, the Ministry will organize an institutional tribute to the victims and a recognition of the struggle of the LGTBI+ community, one of the groups most persecuted by the regime. The event will be held on the grounds of the Colony itself, with the participation of the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres.

The ceremony will take place at 11:00 a.m. Canary time — 12:00 p.m. on the Peninsula — and will be broadcast live on ‘La 2’ and the ‘24 Hours’ channel of RTVE. During the ceremony, ten Recognition and Reparation statements will be presented, addressed both to victims of the centre and to prominent figures of the LGTBI+ movement.

The event will be hosted by journalists Lluis Guilera and Fátima Hernández, and will include a debate panel, as well as musical performances by Julia Rodríguez and Pasión Vega.

With this declaration, the State takes a step toward marking and dignifying a key site of democratic memory in Fuerteventura, linking it to a public acknowledgment of the repressed individuals and to the defence of rights and freedoms against the persecution suffered during the dictatorship.