The groups from Espai Goya are leaving: “the City Council hasn’t lifted a finger to mediate or protect the venue”

ManacorThey are upset with the building's owners and the Manacor City Council, which they say has done nothing to mediate or increase the heritage protection of the cinema, which opened in the 1950s.

"For over a year and a half, various entities, organizations, and individuals have been working around the Go, rehabilitating the space, bringing it back to life, organizing dozens of events, and hosting other organizations from all over Mallorca. We have brought films and documentaries back to the large auditorium of the old Goya cinema and have made it a meeting place for the people of Manacor."

According to the groups, which include Neure, the Anti-Patriarchal Assembly and Xitxeros con Empuje, the building's owner, Margalida Fons, promised them in the fall of 2024"a five-year lease of the building with our commitment to maintain it"...to create an open space and that we would vacate the building if we found a buyer for it." They complain that he suddenly changed his mind "and now considers us an obstacle, because of his public image, his speculative zeal with this building, and our anti-capitalist and internationalist political ideas and positions." The Manacor City Council has remained silent: "We called on them at the previous press conference to get involved, but after that, they didn't lift a finger," they recall, while labeling their silence as inaction. "We have met twice with members of the government, and they made promises they have never kept." In short, the owners are evicting the organizations from Espai Goya, and they are doing so with the inaction of the Manacor City Council,” they denounce.

The doors of the old Goya cinema will close again, as they did in November 2000, “so that it will once again become a forgotten building, a nuisance full of life, as it has been for the last 18 months. But Espai Goya is not giving up, and we are announcing two actions,” they state.

On the one hand, they express their commitment to maintaining the heritage value of the old Goya Cinema “and ensuring that it does not become rubble or a focus of speculation, but rather that it once again becomes a meeting place for the community.” Therefore, the fight to protect the Goya building will continue to be a cornerstone of the work of Espacio Goya as a group of organizations. They also explain that the social, cultural, and community project of Espacio Goya will continue in another location, yet to be determined. "That's why we urge the people of Manacor to support it. At the same time, we demand that the City Council abandon its usual inaction and provide Manacor's organizations with a public space to meet and organize. We bid farewell with a mixture of joy and sadness to this building that we love and to which we will fight to return as soon as possible."