Janet Anscombe

The Canarian Government has announced a range of measures to replace regional income lost in the cuts made by Madrid in the recent budget. Apart from organizational and personnel changes, some of which include the closure of Canarian Television’s Channel 2 and pay reductions for public employees, there are fiscal changes which will see taxes rise.

Three of those changes which will perhaps have the most direct impact are:

• IGIC (essentially Canarian VAT) is to go up. This is a banded tax, and the changes will see the general 5% rate (that applied to property purchases from developers, for example) increased to 7%. The 2% rate will rise to 3%, and the 9% and 13% rates to 9.5% and 13.5%. Articles which are zero rated, generally those deemed “essentials”, will remain zero rated. IGIC discounts for fixed and mobile telephone lines will be withdrawn: these will now attract the 5% rate instead of being exempt.

• Fuel taxes are also to rise, the first time in the Canaries since 2004. The increases will add an extra 5.5 cents per litre to unleaded 98; an additional 5 cents to unleaded 95; and put diesel up 10 cents. Diesel for commercial purposes will not be affected.

• The 99.9% reduction in the inheritance tax rate for fiscal residents, only recently introduced, has been removed.

Update 6pm: As Phil posted in the comments below, the crash was between a taxi and a bus. Six were injured, five not seriously, but one was gravely hurt. All six were transferred to hospital, three to Hospiten Sur and three to Hospital Costa Adeje.

Original post:  Trafico is reporting in the last half hour (around 1 o’clock) a bad traffic accident at the entrance to Playa de la Arena. Bare reports right now, but a bus seems to have been involved, and there are casualties, some foreigners, being attended to on the ground. Details later as they come.

Update 21 April: Sanidad has given the all clear for water to be consumed in all the municipalities affected by yesterday’s diesel spill in north Tenerife. All the tests have apparently now been completed and Sanidad says that water can now be used for cooking and personal hygiene and, most importantly, for drinking. The municipalities that had been affected were Santa Úrsula, La Victoria de Acentejo, La Matanza de Acentejo, El Sauzal, Tacoronte, La Laguna and Santa Cruz.

Update 9pm: Seprona, the Servicio de Protección de la Naturaleza de la Guardia Civil, has imputed (named as a formal suspect) a 55-year-old man on suspicion of polluting consumer water in north Tenerife with diesel. The Guardia Civil says that the man was trying to repair a vehicle in the Pino Soler area when a pipe broke, releasing an indeterminate number of litres of diesel into the water supply. Three municipalities, Santa Ursula, La Matanza and La Victoria are still under safety restrictions, says Sanidad.

Update 4pm: Teidagua says the water in the municipalities of La Laguna and Tacoronte can now be used without restrictions.

Original post 20 April: An accidental diesel spill in the Santa Cruz Aguamansa canal has resulted in Sanidad issuing water warnings to six municipalities in north Tenerife. The affected areas are  Santa Úrsula, La Victoria, La Matanza, El Sauzal, Tacoronte and La Laguna. Water was shut off to the canal the moment the spill was discovered and it remains closed, said Sanidad. There will have to be considerable cleaning and checking carried out to the installations, particularly in Santa Úrsula, La Matanza and La Victoria de Acentejo, before the all clear can be issued. Please note that this warning is not just for drinking water, but also for cooking, food preparation, and personal hygiene. Santa Cruz, at least at present, is not affected by Sanidad’s safety restriction.

Update 20 April: Finally, after weeks of calm, El Hierro’s eruption alert status has been returned to green. Pevolca and the Canarian Government have now removed the yellow alert, thereby confirming the return to normality … and the island’s survival after months and months of tension with the Las Calmas sea eruption. In the end, there was no new island, no new land mass, but El Hierro is the youngest Canarian island. Who knows what will happen in future weeks, months and years … or even decades. The yellow alert has, for the moment, been kept for the sea area around the volcanic cone.

Plan provided by Capitanía Marítima de Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Update 9 March: Capitanía Marítima de Santa Cruz de Tenerife has reduced the maritime exclusion zone to a radius of just half a mile around the volcano emission point south of La Restinga. The sector is defined as a circle drawn with its centre at latitude 27-37.18 N and longitude 017-59.58W – as per the map above. The decision was taken in the wake of Pevolca’s reduction of the alert level. In the newly reduced exclusion zone, all fishing and water sports, including diving, are banned. Any navigation within the zone must be with prior authorization from the Capitanía Marítima.

Update 6 March: The red alert for the Las Calmas sea area of the eruption has been reduced to yellow. The rest of the island remains on yellow alert. The restrictions on Arenas Blancas, Tacorón and Playa de Los Mozos will be relaxed as soon as a new document is released giving details of a reduced exclusion area. At the moment, the 4 mile maritime exclusion remains. Recommendations against swimming, fishing or scuba-diving remain in place until samples from the area’s water are analysed by Public Health services.

Update 5 March: The science committee says that the volcano, which started erupting on 10 October, has died. The decision to make the announcement was agreed unanimously by the experts. In what must have meaning for the scientists, if not for the public, they say that the “eruptive process continues” and that scientific vigilance will be maintained.

The volcano is now just 88 metres from the surface of the sea, well within the limits for a Surtseyan eruption which, it now appears, will not happen after all.

In the next few hours Pevolca will meet to decide what measures need to be left in place for public protection.

Update 29 February: There was an earthquake just after 5am yesterday morning with its epicenter east of La Restinga, i.e. between El Hierro and Tenerife. There is now a stain in the area, as shown in the map below, which suggests there might be another vent in this area.

Update 28 February: The main cone has been growing over recent weeks: as we saw on 14 February it was at a depth of 120 metres. The latest scans from the Ramon Margalef show that it is now at a depth of 100m. Since this is the point at which Surtseyan activity could take place, we could see some real action any time now if the eruption continues.

Update 23 February:  Over the past week and a half, the harmonic tremor and surface activity have both been at very low levels, leading some to argue that the eruption is slowing down to an effective halt. At the same time, however, the number of earth tremors has been very high – there were 23 on Monday alone – and some have been strong or shallow enough to be felt by the public. Today, the activity is clear, with 7 tremors, and visible bubbling on the Las Calmas sea surface, and a heat haze above it, which vulcanologists say is caused by superheated steam warming the water column above the vent.  Meanwhile, the science ship Ramon Margalef is carrying out further bathymetric scans to contribute to creating a detailed image of the sea bed.

Update 14 February: The Canarian Government has issued a statement that the eruption is still active, and constant vigilance is being maintained. Pevolca say that there are two cones: the first main one is at a depth of 120 metres and the second at a depth of 200 metres. The harmonic tremor is currently registering minor activity. The Tacaron coast which has been closed is now reopened.   ... Read more...

Update 20 April: The publicity is really gearing up for the Los Cristianos public march on Saturday, with the above poster appearing all over the area to drum up support. As said earlier, and shown on the poster above, the march starts from the Los Cristianos auditorium at 4pm.

Update 19 April: To coincide with the general protests taking place about the paralysis of works to the southern hospital, and of course the public march in Los Cristianos this Saturday, one woman is taking her own personal protest to the hospital itself. Diario de Avisos HERE reports on Consuelo Alayón, 66 year old activist and Las Galletas businesswoman, who is sleeping for a week as from last Sunday in her car outside the building site that should have been a functioning hospital many years ago.

Original post 15 March: There will be a public march in Los Cristianos on 21 April to protest against the continued delays and unfulfilled promises over many years concerning the southern hospital. “Hospital público ya” (public hospital now) have organized the march for Saturday 21 April, and call on everyone to participate who is interested in the completion of the hospital in the south for treatment in our own region, without forcing patients and visitors to travel to the north.

If you want to take part and add to the numbers please do join in. It starts at 4pm from the Auditorio Infanta Leonor in the centre of town near the cultural centre, and will end at Avenida de Suecia and the harbour.

Further protests are planned throughout the whole of south Tenerife, and will take place at 7pm every Friday starting from tomorrow, 16 March, in the plaza Cesar Manrique de La Postura in Adeje. This will be followed on 23 March at the plaza de Playa San Juan, Guía de Isora; 1 April at the plaza de El Médano, Granadilla; 8 April in the plaza de San Pedro in Vilaflor; and 15 April in the plaza de la Pescadora in Los Cristianos and simultaneously in the plaza de Valle San Lorenzo.

Update 20 April: I’ve been unable to reply to one enquirer (email reply failed for some reason) who asked what the certificate needed is. As said, it is the Certificado de Empadronamiento, available from a local Ayuntamiento. They are issued, in the first place, when one registers “on the padron” – i.e. registers with the Ayuntamiento as living at a given address. They are valid for only a few months, so in the case of the enquirer who travels frequently, will need to be renewed as needed.

Update 17 April: Transport minister Carmen Librero says that the requirement for residence to be accredited by a Certificado de Empadronamiento for travel discount applies from now. The Agencia Estatal de Seguridad Aérea is already co-ordinating this, she said.

Update 4 April: Although up to now residents have just had to produce a Certificado de Registro to demonstrate their residence in the Canaries (as well as photographic ID such as a passport or a Spanish driving licence) in order to get a resident travel discount, Madrid is reintroducing the requirement for a Certificado de Empadronamiento. The requirement applies to both flights and ferry transport, the ministra de Fomento, Ana Pastor, has announced.

Update 30 March 10pm: However they’re going to finance this, the ministro de Industria, Comercio y Turismo, the Canarian José Manuel Soría, has just confirmed this evening that it will not affect resident discount, and that Canarian residents will retain their 50% reduction in air tickets. That means, of course, cuts elsewhere ….

Original post 30 March:  The Spanish budget was presented in Parliament today, and one of the most important issues for the Canaries was the announcement that the transport subsidy for residents in the Canaries (and the Balearics) has been reduced by 65 million Euros. The level of interest in the measure is indicated by the fact that this has become a global “trending topic” on Twitter – number 4 in the top ten items being discussed worldwide. It’s number one in Spain itself this afternoon. What this means in specific terms for “resident discounts” on travel to and from the Canaries is yet to be clarified.

Mootoo Model Management have made a Casting Call for a Stock Photography shoot in Tenerife in the first week of May. The agency is looking for models of all ages:

• Boys and Girls 3 months – 17 years old
• Men and Women 18 – 70 years old – they are especially short of models in the 45-70 year old category
- No previous modelling experience necessary

If you would like to take part in this casting please send an email to booker@mootoo.eu and include your name, height, age and telephone number … and a recent photo. Mootoo will do a pre-selection from emails received.

The Villa Cortés hotel in Playa de Las Américas is celebrating today the victory of two of its chefs in the VIII Canarian Chef Championship in Santa Cruz. Contestants came from all over the Canaries, but finally, Adrián Bosch won the first prize, with his assistant, Alfredo Hernández, being awarded the prize for best assistant (sous chef). Neither man could conceal his delight at the recognition of their work, with Adrián Bosch, just 23 years old, weeping with joy. Second prize for best chef went to Antonio Cavanillas, of a restaurant in Vegueta, Gran Canaria, and third was Jorge Peñate, again from Tenerife.  The competition was sponsored by the Tenerife Cabildo as part of its Plan de Gastronomía.

As part of the austerity drive, Madrid has announced changes to the Spanish healthcare system to be approved on Friday in Parliament. The proposals will see residents paying more for medicines, and what they pay will be earnings related.

Currently, the employed pay 40% of the cost, and the retired pay nothing. Now, pensioners will pay 10% up to a monthly maximum of €10-20, while the employed will have their contribution increased from 40% to 50% or even 60%, the upper limit which will apply to those with an annual income of more than €100,000.

This will almost certainly means changes in the tarjeta sanitaria, which will presumably need to have a built-in microchip containing information about income from the tax office. Various exemptions are envisaged for the unemployed and those suffering from some chronic illnesses. More details when the measures are approved on Friday.

It’s 30 years since the Falklands war and so it’s a fitting subject for a Help for Heroes Day theme. There’s a “yomp” from Palm Mar  to Playa de las Américas starting at 11am, and afternoon events and evening entertainment in Vivo (ex-Pleasure Island). See the poster above for further details. It should be a good day and, of course, in a very good cause.