Sport
In many years, a demonstration like this had not been seen in the capital, because to remember something similar, one would have to go back to those that took place against the transfer of the Ebro. From the Plaza de la Glorieta Sasera to the Plaza del Pilar, a great flood of people marched past, despite the fact that two days before the promoting institutions of join the ski resorts of Astún and Formigal tried to demobilize with confused messages, in which they implied that rust channel It was already saved from their aggressive projects against the natural environment, since they were going to renounce the allocation of economic funds that come from Europe.
The great protagonists of this festive demonstration were the many participants who walked peacefully through the streets, shows a high citizen commitment and civic level. Once in the Plaza del Pilar in Zaragoza, there were also messages transmitted by well-known characters such as the mountaineer Sebastian Alvaro (former director of the television program The Edge of the impossible), Juan Aguirre y Eva Amaral (from the music group Amaral) who came expressly from Galicia at a time of a lot of work,
Isabel Santolaria –mountaineer and tourism entrepreneur in the Pyrenees- or Louis de Infantawho exposed the even problem of the conservation of the Castanesa valley, where a large new access road to the Cerler ski resort is going to be built with funds also “Next Generation” granted by Europe for the recovery of the economies after the covid crisis.
You have to remember that you alreadyLast year the slopes in this area of the Alto Aragonese region of Ribagorza were only open for twenty days due to lack of snow. Three weeks is the “business” for which an intact valley is destroyed with public money.
The two members of the musical group Amaral gave an emotional speech explaining that the mountains have always been sacred places for tribes, cultures, religions… and they asked to maintain that care, that respect, which we also owe to the mountains of the world and of Aragon:
“We Aragonese have another great reference point in the central part of the Pyrenees: specifically in Monte Perdido, in Aneto and, of course, in the Anayet massif, an old extinct volcano where the snow partridge still lives, the bearded vulture, as well as large herds of chamois that run freely along its grassy or snowy slopes”.
While Sebastián Álvaro spoke that nothing is impossible if you make an effort, and among other ideas he said (you have the full text here):
“It is for our grandchildren, for my grandchildren, Luca and Gael, who are out there mixed with all of you. I want them to also be able to feel that sensation of discovery, of wonder and wonder. That they have the chance, if they want, to venture into the unknown and also feel like Conquerors of the Useless. But sometimes the useless, as the recent Princess of Asturias award winner, Nuccio Ordine, reminds us, is precisely what is priceless, because as Machado said: only the fool confuses value and price. Furthermore, it is a moral obligation; our ethical behavior tells us that one day we will have to answer the question: What did you do to preserve the Natural Heritage of all…? We were here, standing, when we were called upon.”
At the end of the demonstration there were concerts, music by singers and other groups of artists who have even made their own songs expressly supporting the protection of Canal Roya, among them Maria Jose Hernandez or the new rap that has been composed to denounce all this environmental aberration that Aramón, Ibercaja, the Diputación de Huesca and the Government of Aragón promote in the face of opinion and the rejection of a large part of the territory:
The popular mobilization has meant that Canal Roya is saved, but only for the moment, although not definitively Well, many politicians and parties continue to say that it is an inalienable project, as if it really were something strategic for Aragon, which it is not.
Neither the Diputación de Huesca nor the Government of Aragon have apologized, nor have they retracted or given up continuing with this union of ski resorts in the future with other money, always public, from everyone.
That is why the main motto of the massive demonstration on the 6th was the demand to declare the Anayet-Partacua Natural Park, which began 10 years ago, but that has been deliberately parked by the Government of Aragon itself that started it. Well, that would be a truly sustainable tourism strategic project for the area, and one that would have to be supported institutionally and publicly.
Finally, it must be said that what does seem definitively clear is that the 34 million public money -most of which came from Europe, about 27- will no longer be used in order to unite the ski resorts on the terrain of the wild valley from Canal Roya, between Canfranc and Sallent de Gállego. And it is that it is practically impossible for any private company to invest money in a ski resort, a ruinous business if it is not linked to requalification of land and the construction or sale of homes as Astún has just announced, which aspires to build 800 new apartments in this area of the Pyrenees.
In short: what those who intended to unite the stations destroying the Canal Roya valley have backed down thanks to citizen pressure, but that the Canal Roya and the Anayet will not be really saved until all this beauty is not protected with the figure of a long-awaited Natural Park.
For this reason, although the demonstration was a success, the Platform in Defense of the Mountains of Aragon and all the voices of emblematic organizations and personalities that up to now have risen up to condemn this project continue to fight, without lowering their guard. Until the Natural Park is a reality.
