Adícora belongs to the coastal axis of the Paraguaná Peninsula in Falcón State. A privileged beach area favored by winds that attract sports tourism to practice windsurfing and kitesurfing. Given these attributes, Adícora became the preferred destination of the Chavista and Madurista nomenklatura.
By La Patilla
Apr 08, 2023
This is where the children and relatives of the red elite have erected their houses, some with North American architecture, where they enjoy a lifestyle typical of the high class, according to what residents of the area told lapatilla.com.
On August 26th, 2022, Nicolás Maduro inaugurated the “Parque del Viento” (Wind Park) in Adícora. In this sector they carried out several improvements, such as the repair of the sewage system, elimination of white water spills, installation of public lighting, embellishment of walls with murals, asphalt for the streets and painting of some houses on the beach.
From this place he broadcast live for Venezuelan television, Maduro explained that these interventions would be carried out along the entire coastal axis of Paraguaná, which includes the beaches of Buchuaco, El Supí, Tiraya, Las Cumaraguas, Playa Cazón, Mata Gorda and other resorts all the way up to Cabo San Román, to turn these spaces into a first-rate tourist destination.
Eight months have passed since Maduro announced the improvements for the Paraguaná Peninsula and so far only Adícora has benefited from the announced improvements. In the coastal axis of North and South Adícora, water arrives five days a week, some electricity failures persist, but in general terms there have been definite advances in public services.
There are even families from Punto Fijo and other towns that have migrated to this area to live because there is greater economic and social stability. Such is the case of Laura Escobar, who moved with her children to a relative’s house, escaping the constant blackouts in Punto Fijo and the lack of drinking water for more than 30 days.
However, this mirage only covers North and South Adícora, because San Pedro de Adícora, located in the same town, has been without piped water for 18 years and its inhabitants pay five dollars to tanker trucks for a 100-liter water barrel . Edisabel Vivas, a resident of the area, begged for something to be done in this sector. “We are forgotten, submerged in misery and neglect. Nobody helps us or cares for us,” she lamented.
A prosperous past
The beaches of this sector of Falcón State have warm waters. It has the salt evaporation pools of Las Cumaraguas, which are a tourist attraction. The area for many years was the preference of locals and tourists who crowded the houses on the shores of beaches. During vacation seasons, this region was visited by families from all the states of Venezuela. Many keep pleasant memories of these sites, where even “miniteca wars” (DJ competitions) could be witnessed by the large number of people who stayed there on holidays and vacations.
Inns, fully furnished houses for rent, liquor stores, fresh fish sales, restaurants that offered seafood dishes, fried fish, soups and a whole host of typical foods on the beach, were some of the delicacies that were enjoyed in the Falcon coastal axis. However, forced migration and the lack of government support destroyed tourism in this area.
The roads from the villages to get to the beaches are full of potholes, without public lighting and without signs. In the “Ánimas de Cüicas” sector, which connects Adícora with the Coro-Punto Fijo highway and which is the road used by visitors when they arrive in Falcón to go to the beaches, everything is dark. The sand dunes invade the entire area and there is no guarantee that the tourist will reach their destination safely.
Added to this is the fact that the houses in Adícora, Buchuaco, El Supí and Tiraya, which were mainly for tourists, were looted by criminals, since their owners never returned. Some are in ruins, some have been demolished and others only have their structures left. There are very few that are operational to offer them to tourists.
Salt water wells
Mariauxi Colina, community leader in Buchuaco, said that many families have come to the area to plunder the houses to sell the roofs, bathroom fixtures, doors and windows, but the community council has opposed this and has warned that whoever wishes to carry out such actions must demolish the house.
“We already have many “ranchos” (shacks) in these conditions and we don’t want more. This is an area that has no electricity, because everything was stolen. It looks like a ghost town, we can’t continue to allow that or no one will come to visit us during the holiday season, because the town is getting uglier,” she said.
Regarding the promises offered by Nicolás Maduro, she stated that only the coastal axis was cleaned with trucks and tractors to open the roads along the beach, which had been blocked by the rains and debris. However, they hope that the situation will improve. As for the water, she affirmed that it arrives once a month and sometimes it takes longer, but it does not reach all sectors of Buchuaco, so some carry water from one house to another.
In the community there is a desalination plant that was installed on October 4th, 2018, thanks to the national agreement with China, but the desalination plant never worked. Currently it is a corroded iron mass from which only the storage tank can be saved, which could be used to carry water to the sectors where it does not reach and thus stop carrying water in jugs.
Although they submitted the request to Hidrofalcón, they have not received any responses. Faced with this problem, they use deep wells that they built in their homes and from there they extract brackish water, which on occasions they have used for human consumption due to the inefficient water supply by the service of Hidrofalcón.
In Buchuaco, many electrical problems also persist: only 8 of a total of 35 transformers that existed in the town are working. Although it is true that there are few inhabitants, the few houses that remain operational cannot be rented either, precisely because constant the electrical service failures.
This energy chaos has meant that more than 60 families are surviving with a single transformer: they cannot turn on all their appliances and many live with just one light bulb, without using refrigerators or air conditioners.
Diógenes Díaz lives in the community and has requested a transformer for the downtown sector on countless occasions. He even dared to ask Maduro himself the day he was in Adicora, but more than 200 days have passed without a response to his request.
No electric power
In El Supí they are not far from this harsh reality. In the Centro sector, a transformer burned out and 12 families have been without electricity for four years. There are complete blocks without electrical service due to lack of transformers.
When Hidrofalcón supplies water, which happens once a month or every two months, the liquid only reaches the first few streets. “Here the majority have their own well, they look for water and with that they wash, clean the houses and even bathe,” said Yuleidy Colina. Water is bought from tanker trucks only for human consumption, because it is very expensive: for 3,000 liters they have paid up to 50 dollars, and the families in the area live mainly from fishing.
The situation is repeated as far as Cabo San Román, where families survive from fishing, without drinking water and without electricity. Fortunately, when there is a holiday season and tourists visit the areas, they sell fish and seafood dishes that help them improve their economy a bit.
The paraguaneros who live in this important coastal axis, from where the lights of the island of Aruba can also be seen and the stations of the Dutch island can be tuned in, hope that the National Government will one day know how to take advantage of the tourism potential that can be promoted in the zone. Simply improving public services would go a long way to have a better quality of life and offer first-rate tourism.
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