Pascuala Roger’s family on the house at Cueva de la Negra: “The State intends to seal it up first and demolish it shortly afterwards”

The family of Pascuala Roger Pérez, an 80-year-old woman who lives at Cueva de la Negra in the municipality of Pájara, has issued an open letter calling on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge to investigate the two operations deployed in attempts to carry out work on the house and, where appropriate, establish responsibility.

In the letter, dated 1 October, the family says the operations on 26 August and 21 September involved the Civil Guard, the Local Police, central government officials, TRAGSA/TRAGSATEC staff and medical services. It describes both deployments as “absolutely disproportionate” and asks who ordered them, how much they cost and what, in its view, justified the mobilisation of those public resources.

“Someone ordered them, someone authorised those resources, and someone must explain what happened and accept the responsibilities that follow,” the letter says. The family says it has formally demanded “an investigation and the establishment of responsibility” from the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen.

The family now directs some of its criticism at the new action proposed by the State Attorney’s Office. According to the letter, the State is seeking authorisation to seal up the house as a preliminary step towards its possible demolition.

“Seal it up first. And demolish it shortly afterwards,” the family says. It argues that the Ministry must explain what happened during the two previous attempts before mobilising public resources again.

The family asks whether there will be “a third operation”

The document recalls that the time available to carry out the previous action expired without it being completed and says the State is now seeking more time. The family also questions why the house needs to be sealed up first if the eventual aim is to demolish it.

“More resources. More public spending. A third operation?” the letter asks. It calls for disagreements between public administrations to be resolved through legal channels and says Pascuala Roger and her family must not become “the battleground between administrations”.

The family also contrasts the State’s actions with recent political statements on traditional coastal settlements.

Specifically, it recalls that the Parliament of the Canary Islands unanimously backed the main point of a motion aimed at preserving them, and that the Senate called for a moratorium which included suspending certain actions while an amendment to the Coastal Law is being processed.

Cueva de la Negra is more than just a house

Another central theme of the letter is the historic and heritage value of the site. The family says the house has been linked to the history of Jandía for more than a century and states that Pascuala Roger lived there with her great-grandfather, Lorenzo Pérez Díaz, whom it credits with building the house.

It also calls for protection to extend beyond the building itself, with the house and its surroundings considered as a whole. The family says there is an Indigenous archaeological site in the area.

The letter adds that there are rulings dating from 1980, before the 1988 Coastal Law, which, according to the family, already recorded the existence of the house and the family’s possession of it.

The letter concludes by calling for all the documentation to be examined, an investigation into who ordered the two operations and what they cost, respect for heritage protection measures, and an assessment of the house and its surroundings before any irreversible action is taken.

“Before sealing it up, before demolishing it and before mobilising a third operation against an 80-year-old woman,” the family says, “someone must answer for what has happened so far.”