Spain's Government Designates Tefía Prison Farm as Canary Islands' First Democratic Memory Site

The Majorero enclave will be officially recognized as a memory space linked to repression during the dictatorship

Fuerteventura, 27 February 2026 – The Government of Spain has declared the former Tefía Agricultural Penal Colony the first Lugar de Memoria Democrática (Democratic Memory Site) in the Canary Islands, officially recognizing the site on Fuerteventura as a place of remembrance and reparations for victims of Francoist repression.

The Tefía Colony operated between 1954 and 1966 as a forced‑labor camp. Its facilities housed individuals sentenced under the Ley de Vagos y Maleantes (Law on Vagrants and Delinquents), a statute that, among other things, persecuted and punished homosexual people during the dictatorship.

The institutional ceremony was attended by Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory Ángel Víctor Torres, President of the Government of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo, President of the Fuerteventura Cabildo Lola García, and Secretary of State for Democratic Memory Fernando Martínez López, among other authorities.

During the event, statements of recognition and reparations were presented to victims and to those linked to the defense of LGBTI+ rights, a gesture aimed at making visible and dignifying those who suffered persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The designation as a Democratic Memory Site entails the protection of the enclave and its promotion as a space for historical dissemination and reflection. The goal is to preserve testimonies and documents related to the events that took place there, fostering public knowledge of the facts and reinforcing the commitment to fundamental rights and freedoms.

With this recognition, Tefía becomes a reference point within the archipelago for democratic memory, establishing a dedicated space to remember a period of rights violations and to ensure that these events are transmitted to future generations.