On 8 April the first news came from Lekaroz: They began the works of the macro-urban project that they want to build in carpentry, and also the opposite mobilizations; we saw concentrations and saw people putting us in front of the excavators stopping the works. A few days later, another message: “Encamped April 16.” And there we have seen people from Baztan and from outside camping on the grounds of Lekaroz, with the intention of resisting day and night from there and with the conviction that the project stops forever.

The fighting model of resistance camping is not new. Those who were made against the Leitzaran motorway in Navarre, or against the TAV, or Frackanpada, or… are many examples. But what characterizes Aroztegi is that it's happening in the coronavirus era, and many have seen it as a spark to reactivate the popular movement that seemed to be looping. In these times too, protest and direct action is feasible and necessary, and the broad response they have received shows that there is hunger and enthusiasm for the struggle.

Macroproject by Baztan Benidorm

More than twenty years ago, the first Aroztegi project was created in 1998. The initial idea was to make a hotel and a school farm, but they never materialized. In 2008, a family of entrepreneurs of Elizondo together with Inmobiliaria Caixa Galicia Palacio De Arozteguia S.L. They created the company, bought the palace and its surroundings and started a project of speculation. Then the urbanization and the golf course came into play: Initially, 252 homes were proposed, currently 228. For a village like Lekaroz, about 300 people, a tremendous impact.

The most comprehensive move on this tour was the recalification of land in 2009. It was time for illegal logging, and in the City Hall of the Noble Valley and the University of Baztan NaBai and UPN unanimously approved recalifying 40 hectares of land, going from unurbanizable to urbanizable. “That was the punch,” the project’s critics say. At the end of 2014, the courts found the project illegal due to a fire on the grounds. At the City Hall, the company no longer had any allies to redefine the project. What to do? Go to another place in search of refuge: He addressed the Government of Navarra and was called PSIS, Sectoral Plan of Supramunicipal Incidence, eliminating the competence of the Baztan City Hall.

Resistance camp: “Or now, or never”

On the ground where the golf course is built, the camp members have made a makeshift volleyball camp and some play. Others playing the txalaparta, chatting, kissing or making posters. There have been moments of tension, but there are also quieter moments to enjoy space and people. Yes, if the chainsaw sounds, everyone immediately warns. “Quiet, because they are from the neighboring dwarf…,” said someone, and they have continued to laugh.

The camp is still standing the moment we wrote this report, and the entrepreneurs have announced that they will be here until the works stop. Just a week later, the construction company TEX has loaded and transported the machines in a truck. “Resistance is bearing fruit, and that is the first small victory,” said the popular initiative Aroztak. Support groups have also been set up in Pamplona and Estella and various actions have been taken. They encourage citizens and agents to approach the camp from the popular initiative and to get in touch with them. On 15 May they also have an important quote in Elizondo: a demonstration is to be held.