The leader of Portugal’s Left Bloc took the time to visit the Ria Formosa island of Culatra this Sunday on a fact finding mission and to talk to residents threatened by eviction and the destruction of their property by the State.
Catarina Martins concluded that it is imperative to call a halt the State’s possession and demolition of a further 60 island properties, due to happen next Wednesday, February 22nd.
The strident left-wing politician, accompanied by local Left Bloc MP, João Vasconcelos, visited the villages of Hangares and Farol and spoke at length to locals and island association heads.
Catarina Martins believes that the criteria used by the Minister for the Environment, and by the Polis Litoral Ria Formosa company that is controlled by this ministry, is all wrong and that the demolition programme is based on “real estate speculation” and has nothing at all to do with environmental protection.
The Left Bloc calls on the government to re-examine the latest demolition orders as Martins noted that many of the properties due to flattened next week are the only housing for dozens of families, one of which have been contacted or consulted.
Environment Minister, João Pedro Fernandes, had pledged to consult each and every property owner on a one-by-one basis but then authorised Polis to send out a further 60 demolition notices which showed him to be a duplicitous, insincere and vindictive politician, as intent as his predecessor to clear the islands of the inconvenient poor who have scant resources with which to challenge this onslaught by the government.
See: 'SOS Ria Formosa' on Facebook
