It is a week today since seven women, camped in front of the Canarian Government headquarters in the Spanish town of La Aldea, Gran Canaria, decided to start a hunger strike to demand 7 million Euro in delayed financial aid to the tomato sector.
After one of the women had to be hospitalised as a result of hypoglycaemia, the remaining six have continued to receive visits and support from family members, work colleagues, neighbours and representatives of other tomato companies, amongst which was the president of FEDEX, José Juan Bonny, who already stated that "the sector has already been waiting for years for both the State and the Regional financial aid, with banks having also turned their backs from the sector."
Canarian Unions and Comisiones Obreras have also visited and shown their support to the protesters. Despite the accumulated fatigue, Laura Martín, one of the six women affirms that "with every day that passes, it becomes clearer that this Government has ruined us, but we have something they are certainly lacking: dignity."
Beatriz Sosa was even more direct, stating that "the argument about competitors like Morocco being the enemy no longer holds true; we have our real enemy at home and is worse than a pest; it is the one that breaks promises, destroys us and evicts us."