Jarcha founder Angel Corp will lead the listing of vacant Spain in Castilla-La Mancha

The Empty Spain movement goes a step further in Castilla-La Mancha and seeks a seat in the regional courts of one of the autonomous communities most affected by the population. They will do so with a candidacy led by a visible face such as singer-songwriter Ángel Corpa, one of the founders of the Jarcha group and a native of Barajas de Melo in Cuenca province, where he will run for election. May 28. Cuenca is currently the only province of Castilla-La Mancha that will have a candidacy under the umbrella of the Union of Parties of Empty Spain, which includes other parties and platforms such as Cuenca Ahora – the one that will represent CORPA-, Teruel Existence, Aragon Existence Soria now! O Jain deserves more. Corpa’s presentation as a candidate will take place this Thursday at 11 am in the Posada San José in the Cuenca capital.

The 70-year-old singer-songwriter has lived since 2009 in the municipality of Barajas de Mello, a town of 987 inhabitants where he was born. Located in Cuenca Alcarria, it is part of one of the most populous regions of Spain, together with the provinces of Soria and Guadalajara. Corpa is known above all for being one of the creators of Jarcha, a group without which it is difficult to understand the Spanish transition musically and which performed such symbolic songs as freedom without anger (1976). Along with 50 years of “uninterrupted activity dedicated to music” – as his website says -, he has also been the composer of other famous songs such as Jain’s Andalusian, the cry of the people, a song, the couplets in my mouth one of two Chain (for which he received a Gold LP).

More than 50% of people born in Cuenca live outside the province.

Corpa Environmental assures EL PAÍS that its first relations with associations were born in its municipality and in the disapproval of a group of neighbors for the establishment of macrofarms. Since then, this association thought of contesting as a group of voters in the municipal elections, but they were unable to collect the required 15 signatures. Finally, they would do it under the umbrella of Cuenca Ahora, a platform that, aware of the singer-songwriter’s potential pull, decided to offer him to lead his candidacy. At first Corpa resists, but they persuade him.

The Empty Spain movement has become stronger in other regions such as Castilla y León – where they have entered the regional courts with three deputies – or in Aragon – with Teruel Exists with one seat in the Congress of Deputies. However, in Castilla-La Mancha he had not yet taken the step of running for election. Platform basin now It is part of the Federation of Parties of Empty Spain and aspires to obtain one of the five seats at stake in the province of Cuenca. He is facing difficulties in a place that has never known a system other than a two-party system.

In the last regional elections, Cuenca was the only constituency where the Ciudadanos – a third party with representation in the Cortes – did not obtain a seat, leaving a distribution with three deputies for the PSOE and two for the PP. The Parliament of Castilla-La Mancha, with 33 seats, is one of the least representative parliaments in Spain, with the same number of seats as La Rioja, despite the fact that the community has just over two million people. There are over 300,000 inhabitants. People living in the Manchego region. The atmosphere at Corpa makes it clear that it takes on the challenge with great enthusiasm, but is also aware that the challenge is complex.

macro-field paralysis

Cuenca has now drawn up a political document, under the banner of Join us for reasons to connect!, analyzes the situation in the province and proposes a series of measures to reduce the population, which is one of the main threats. The diagnosis includes a piece of information: “More than 50% of people born in Cuenca live outside the province.” They also recall that the European Union describes Cuenca, Soria and Teruel as “sparsely populated areas” with a density of less than 12 inhabitants per square kilometer. Castilla-La Mancha has, from May 2021, a law against population decline, which seeks, through tax incentives, to settle residents in rural areas.

In the absence of knowing the electoral program with which they will contest the regional elections in Castilla-La Mancha, España Vaciada has mentioned as concrete demands the stopping of more projects to establish macro-farms in the autonomous community. He opposes the ban announced by socialist Emiliano García-Paige’s government, which he calls “strainer”, and believes that this type of intensive farming should stop. The platform also disagrees with the increased installation of wind or photovoltaic farms – it believes greater regulation is necessary – and advocates for infrastructure improvements.

The new candidature calls for the completion of the Cuenca–Teruel and Cuenca–Albacete highways or the maintenance of traditional bus lines, and rejects the closure of the Madrid–Cuenca–Valencia train line. He also criticized the Villar de Cañas radioactive waste storage project (ATC), promoted by the popular government of María Dolores de Cospedal and shelved by the socialist executive of García-Page. Nor does it support toxic waste dumps in Almonacid del Marquesado, a city where the mayor is Álvaro Martínez Chana, the current president of the Cuenca Provincial Council.