It is an eruption, which registered over 22,000 tremors in one week! She is also unperturbed by the unfolding environmental disaster, including the fact that the eruption and lava would change the geographic shape of La Palma and its environs. Although a member of the Spanish Socialist Party, she is blind to the loss and sorrow of the victims of the volcano who are her fellow Spaniards. What rules the being of the Spanish minister is the lots of money that can be made in selling the unfolding disaster as a perfect tourist package. The indifferent behaviour and money-centred reaction of the Spanish minister is a reminder that the Western ideology can be cold, infernal and interested primarily in exploitation and profit. Their main objective was the extermination of the local male populace, while using the local females for interbreeding. The Spanish began their conquest of the Canaries in the early 1400s and systematically began to wipe out the local populace. We can also make the most of this as an attraction so that a lot of tourists who want to enjoy what nature has brought to La Palma can do so in the coming weeks and months.” That information will let tourists know that the island is open and also whether their hotel has been affected so they can stay elsewhere and enjoy their holidays. We’re providing information so that tourists can travel to the island and witness something undoubtedly unprecedented for themselves. Rather, to the economist: “The most important thing right now is reassuring tourists who have been affected, and also those who may be travelling to the island today or during the course of the week.
To Maroto, the issue is not the evacuation of residents, the protection of lives or the general danger, including to the environment and climate, which the eruption poses. The morning after the eruptions began, with people fleeing their homes and some residents being evacuated, Spain’s Industry, Trade and Tourism Minister, Maria Reyes Maroto Illera, sent a message to tourists and potential tourists that the island is safe for tourists, especially to watch the eruption live. The Spanish government also had little empathy it saw the tragedy as a good opportunity for making money. The tourists had no empathy for the dejected residents. They were excited by the fountains of lava sprouting into the sky and returning to earth before flowing in at least three directions, destroying all in their paths.
In the early days of the eruption, even as residents sat dejected, bemoaning their loss and wondering how they could start picking up the pieces of their lives, excited tourists were pouring in, taking photographs and selfies, which were being posted in the social media. It was a hapless populace that watched the volcanic eruptions, to which many lost all they had, as many houses were destroyed, and over 268 hectares of farmland laden with bananas, grapes and avocado, became taken over by the lava. The lava flowed like a river from the Cumbre Vieja volcano and got to the sea within ten days. That afternoon, the lava sprouted into the air, triggering off volcanic eruptions, which are still raging.
But beneath the earth of La Palma on the islands, rocks had been pulverised and turned into molten. Sunday, September 19, like past Sundays in the Canary Islands, promised to be a quiet, restful day. As humans, we must empathise with the residents of the Canary Islands in this their time of grief, but that is not to say we should forget that these islands, even if owned by Spain, are African. There may be no hope of Africa taking back her territories, especially when the local populace have been wiped out, but our memories must not be wiped clean.