El Tablado Residents Demand Diocese Return Historic Hermitage Land

A long-standing dispute over the land that once held the first hermitage on the Agache coast has resurfaced. The El Tablado Independent Collective is now calling on the Diocese of Tenerife to return the plot where the original chapel and town square once stood. Residents argue that the space has been neglected since the building was demolished in 2007.

The conflict dates back to the 1950s, when the Reyes-Fuentes Cullen family donated the land for a place of worship. Local residents built the chapel themselves, funding the project and officially transferring the 1,230-square-meter plot to the Diocese in 1968. Tensions remain high because the community feels the decision to demolish the San Carlos hermitage was made without their input, despite their role in creating it.

The situation is further complicated by urban planning changes. In 1989, the land’s zoning was updated from a community and sports facility—a use residents had pushed for since 1981—to a site designated for social work under church ownership. Gerardo de la Rosa, a spokesperson for the collective, argues that the land is currently underused, hosting only a weekly mass. He is calling for "historical justice," urging that the management of the space be returned to the public.

The neighborhood group hopes the Güímar City Council will step in to take ownership of the land, either to rebuild the hermitage or to create a public space. For the residents, this is about preserving their community identity, which has been tied to the site since the arrival of the image of Saint Charles Borromeo in 1957.

So far, the Diocese has not responded to the residents' request for a meeting. The collective remains determined to open a dialogue, aiming to restore the land to the community for the social and public purposes intended when it was first donated over 70 years ago.