The Falcón State government presented a project to encompass under a legal framework everything that surrounds tourism and to develop a plan to encourage this sector in the next 20 years. The regional government representatives mentioned the creation of a regional fire department, the respect of the environment and a language school to guarantee sustainable and environmentally responsible development, the of financing infrastructure, energy, education, healthcare and sanitation projects, among others. Also, re-establishing the development of tourism activity, maintaining an orderly, clean, accessible and safe, sustainable development in the territory.
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What they called the Comprehensive Tourism Plan 2024-2044 was presented by the Legislative Council of the State of Falcón (Clef) for the eastern coast of the state and the Paraguaná Peninsula, with the participation of mayors, councilors, service providers, chambers of commerce, businessmen, innkeepers, hoteliers and other entrepreneurs who provide for the tourist and visitors to offer their products and services.
The President of the Clef, Claudio Thielen, asserted that the idea is to go from municipality to municipality detailing the plan, because to achieve this they must include all sectors and work as a single block to position Falcón as the best tourist destination, and thus replace oil as the main source of income.
The plan mentions national parks, coastal areas, vulnerable zones and all the natural attributes of Falcón, but it does not explain how to deal with the serious problems of the region: the more than 40 oil spills that affect the fishing communities and the beaches that are in the Golfete de Coro, an area supposedly protected by Inparques (National parks institute), nor does it mention how or when the Morrocoy National Park, affected by the oil spills from the El Palito refinery in Carabobo State, will be recovered.
Although the public presentations of the plan show how wonderful Falcón is and all its tourist and commercial potential, they omit the many solutions that must be offered in order not to lose the natural attractions and to recover commercial tourism, as is the case of the Paraguaná Free Zone.
A futuristic plan
“It is a part of street ‘parliamentarism’ (sic, street assemblies) to meet with our people, with the business community, with the commercial sector, with entrepreneurs, the network of innkeepers, service providers, it is a plan that calls us to develop it collectively to continue forming and promoting a powerful Falcón,” said Thielen during the press conference in the city of Punto Fijo.
He said that they will listen to the proposals of all sectors so that in the next few days they can design a law plan that will have the requests of the “five axes” of Falcón State (the Sierra, the west, the Coast, the central axis and the Paraguaná Peninsula) to achieve what they call a “futuristic plan” for the next 20 years.
When asked about the actions to be taken to recover the Golfete de Coro and the Morrocoy National Park affected by oil and gas spills, he said that there is already direct attention to the affected fishermen and they have worked in the municipalities that have presented themselves. “We are not working in isolation, we believe that together with the people we will continue to transform and improve all the conditions.”
Meanwhile, the fishermen of the Golfete de Coro sail to ever more remote areas to be able to work, putting their boats and their lives at risk, because their boats are not suitable to be so far away from the shores.
They also use “dollarized” fuel (international market prices), because the allowance they are provided weekly is not enough to carry out their long tasks or in other municipalities, since there are no more fish in their areas.
Likewise, when the President of the Clef was asked about the Free Zone of Paraguaná and its reactivation with competitive prices that help activate shopping tourism, he said that it has already begun, because there is a “different reality” compared to that of two and three years ago.
However, this assertion is not reflected in the Punto Fijo shops, where there are very few brands and types of merchandise, and the prices of white and brown goods are not competitive with the rest of the country, only liquors are cheaper.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the Historic Centre of Coro and La Vela have been on the list of world heritage sites in danger of extinction for several years, and so far no effective measures have been implemented to recover them.
Environmental awareness
According to the Clef deputy, Víctor Jurado, Falcón has great potential to develop tourism, but first the problems and deficits of public services of the region has must be resolved.
He stressed that tourism in the state, specifically in the Paraguaná Peninsula, is deeply affected by the deficiencies that have been accentuated in recent years, and although it is the large sector that does not pollute and that also allows the reactivation of the economy, this will only be possible as long as there is environmental awareness.
“You cannot talk about tourism if public services are in terrible conditions. We have to design, and that is why these working groups are very important and positive for the country, because they have to be intertwined with public services: electrical system and its preventive maintenance, drinking water, sewage and roads in optimal conditions, not only in the matter of the main highways (Troncales), but also in the streets,” he said.
He recalled that Paraguaná was a tourist emporium par excellence. It had a very interesting projection, and this setup can be reactivated. “Beyond the political differences, we continue working with the purpose of seeing this land progress, so that it has tourism, but with quality public services and security.”
Peasants denounce evictions and lack of fuel
Ricardo Espinoza, Coordinator of Judicialization of the National Peasant Block, denounced evictions in Carabobo and Falcón, the murder of peasants in Barinas and Zulia and eviction orders in the Píritu municipality in Falcón.
In addition, he claimed that there are several peasants imprisoned in different parts of the country for defending the right to land. “We are organizing a national mobilization for this month of October towards Caracas to denounce the contract killings, the evictions and demand the freedom of our peasant comrades.”
The producers of Falcón have also denounced the terrible conditions of the agricultural roads that prevent them from taking their products from farms to market. In many cases, they use donkeys because even motorcycles have a hard time on the destroyed roads.
They also do not have ready access to fuel, often resorting to buying black market fuel for the heavy machinery they use in the fields. “We need fuel to be able to work the land and have our products,” said a farmer from the Paraguaná Peninsula, who added that they also struggle with the lack of drinking water and cattle theft.
Without public services there is no tourism
The president of the Chamber of Tourism of the state of Falcón, Richard Zambrano, on behalf of this trade union, requested a permanent technical table for public services and infrastructure; a fuel supply system; a program of incentives for investments in renewable energy; a state observatory for accessible tourism and the provision of photographic equipment for bird watching.
“Although expectations are not the best from the proposed public policies, they hope that this whole context will improve so that service providers can effectively better their productivity,” he said.
When talking to innkeepers in Paraguaná, they stated that they are affected by the poor electrical service that fails daily. In addition, they do not have free access to diesel for their power plants and they also suffer from the lack of potable water through pipes, which in the Paraguaná Peninsula may perhaps be delivered once every month or month and a half. Also, the roads lack signage, are in poor condition and need attention so that tourists can enjoy all the natural beauty of the state of Falcón.
