The demolition of 59 iconic huts in Cádiz begins so close to the sea that they flood with the tides

The terrace of the Cantina del Titi, in La Casería, when the tide rises in summer. El País

The number 59 spray painted

phosphorite marks the inexorable end of the brick and sheet metal booth of Antonio Guerrero and Domingo Guijo.

The two artisanal fishermen sell the meager catch of the day —barely eight kilos of cuttlefish—, while Guijo's son struggles to dismantle the roof of the building in a hurry.

There is hardly any time left.

The crane has already begun to demolish the rest of the village of almost 60 tool houses on the beach of La Casería de San Fernando, so illegally stationed at the foot of an area of ​​marshes in the Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park that they were flooded with each tide and were dangerously exposed to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

But so iconic that their colorful presence since the mid-20th century had made them part of a landscape immortalized by various photographs,

The run over scene of those fishermen selling the catches between construction fences occurred at noon this past Monday, the first day of the demolitions ordered by the Demarcation of Coasts of Western Andalusia.

With the surprise appearance of the machines escorted by the police —once the official deadline for the eviction had elapsed, the Administration avoided giving exact dates of the action to avoid altercations— culminates an administrative battle of more than a year and a half that the fishermen knew almost lost in advance.

“You had to fight so it wouldn't come off.

We knew it was illegal, but it's already

to listen to it because you see other places where there are constructions on the shore and nothing seems to happen.

I feel desolation, sadness and helplessness”, summarizes Toñi Lebreros, a neighborhood resident who helped those affected for months with the paperwork, until she decided to withdraw from the fight by accepting the inevitable end.

Curious people and neighbors observe and photograph with their mobile phones the demolition of the historic fishermen's huts of La Casería, in San Fernando, Cádiz. "JUAN CARLOS TORO"

Despite the frustration of the 61 affected —that is the number of possession recovery files destined for 59 booths and two beach bars—, the truth is that the Cadiz Coastal Demarcation has been riding a workhorse for decades destined to put an end to old constructions that invade the public domain, decreed in the 1988 Law. The effort of the institution, dependent on the Ministry for Ecological Transition, to clear the coast has been redoubled in recent times as a result of the proven impact that climate change will have in the rising of the seas.

In fact, the administration manages projections that in the area of ​​western Andalusia this flood will be between 60 centimeters and one meter, in the next 100 years.

“The rise is undeniable.

When this week the dismantling of all those plates, planks, iron and even asbestos that made up, patched up, the fishermen's huts is completed, only two beach bars will remain standing:

and

.

The first of them —with a part of the construction raised on the marsh as a stilt house— has even become a famous claim that, at high summer tides, its terrace floods and leaves customers with their feet soaking.

It was not an exclusive singularity of that establishment, many of the fishermen's huts were flooded, especially, in the tides of higher coefficients.

El Titi has been saved from the pickaxe for having an exploitation title extended by the Junta de Andalucía in 2019, despite the contrary report from Costas.

La Corchuela, thanks to the fact that a Cadiz court provisionally paralyzed the demolition in a legal process that has already reached the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia.

“It's just time, I'm sure they're going to throw it at us.

Poullet confirms the suspicion: “The final object is that, to remove it.

Bartolo must relocate out of the water.

That is permissible.

He should never have had it [referring to the Board's permission].

After the demolition of these days and when that second demolition materializes, Costas plans to regenerate the area with a promenade on the inner limit of the seashore, in an area where the remains of an 18th century military battery are erected , that of La Casería de Ossio, which today serves as an improvised foundation for part of the booths.

The question for the two businesses is whether they will have a new place to locate, something that has already happened with the fishermen's stores.

The fisherman Antonio Guerrero, 62, sold his fish this Monday in his booth on the beach of La Casería for the last time before his demolition. "JUAN CARLOS TORO"

The City Council —positioned on behalf of the evicted— finished last week the installation of eight beach modules in a municipal lot about 200 meters away, away from the minimum 100 meters that the Law establishes as a coastal protection easement zone.

The measure is provisional, while a request is processed to place a new line of 13 booths that will be within the easement area, if the Junta de Andalucía and the Demarcation of Coasts give their permission.

It has not yet been decided what the design of these new houses will be like, although they will hardly resemble those constructions patched up throughout their 70 years of life, based on reusing oars, pieces of boats and even sheets of electrical appliances, all painted of striking colors.

(2006) or

(2021), in addition to a multitude of video clips and hundreds of wedding or fashion photo sessions.

With this sort of ethnological heritage now a thing of the past, Antonio Guerrero, 62, ironically doubts if he will ever enjoy that promenade that Costas wants to build: "I won't even see it."

The fisherman was struggling this Monday to sell the cuttlefish caught in the ship that was right next to La Corchuela, while they helped him dismantle the reusable materials from his shed.

With them —just a few prefabricated roof boards and some beams— he intends to build a small tool house in a field that he has to store part of his supplies.

“All this makes me sad, but there is no other.

There is no one who can against the government,” Guerrero snorted resignedly.

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