Braced for a new round of property demolitions in November, the communities of Culatra island have been blasted out of their homes today by explosions coming from naval ‘exercises’ a mile offshore.
The irony of a government that censures homes for being centimetres over an invisible ‘danger line’ but sanctions the firing of munitions that sporadically wash-up onshore and require removal has not been lost on campaigners, who denounce today’s activities as “shameful”.
“We leave a question for the minister” (of the environment), writes SOS Ria Formosa, the group that has been battling for the recognition of all Culatra’s communities (not simply Culatra, but Hangares and Farol as well).
“Isn’t the environment altered when it receives a shell on top of it? No wonder these explosives wash up on our coast, sometimes even needing to be deactivated.
“This has happened on numerous occasions, the last of which was November 2015”.
The authorities “always say there haven’t been explosions for years”, said the group. “But here they are again, and we can all hear them”.
The issue of explosions reared its head last year when naval chiefs took part in Hangares’ 100-year celebrations (click here).
Admiral Silva Ribeiro declared, with what appeared at the time to be pride, that Hangares was about to be transformed into a base “like no other in the country” for ““operations of great complexity, sophistication and description”, including the deactivating of explosives and naval and marine training.
Local surprise quickly developed into outrage, and Ribeiro’s words were swept under the first available naval carrier.
Press spokesman Pedro Coelho Dias rushed to the fore to declare that “all Navy ops will go ahead with profound respect for the quality of life of citizens and for the natural vocation of Culatra island for fishing activities and sustainable eco-tourism” (click here).
SOS Ria Formosa will no doubt be mulling over all this today, as may environmentalists who threatened to complain to the European Commission.
Meantime, time has been called on over 20 properties on the island – spread over Hangares and Farol – deemed unsafe by government agency Polis Litoral due to their proximity to the shoreline which has shrunk as a result of dredging work.
None of the houses are primary residences, but islanders are saddened nonetheless. They feel there remains a campaign to try and push them out of the communities they have been nurturing for generations for all the wrong reasons (click here).
