{"id":19957,"date":"2026-09-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.islabonitalovefestival.es\/?p=19957"},"modified":"2026-09-24T14:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T13:31:33","slug":"the-love-festival-social-week-brings-together-testimonies-on-diversity-and-activism-in-la-palma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.islabonitalovefestival.es\/en\/2026\/09\/15\/the-love-festival-social-week-brings-together-testimonies-on-diversity-and-activism-in-la-palma\/","title":{"rendered":"The Love Festival Social Week brings together testimonies on diversity and activism in La Palma"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Isla Bonita Love Festival Social Week opened its programme on Tuesday 15 September in the Plaza de Espa\u00f1a in Los Llanos de Aridane with a day focused on diversity, LGBTIQ+ activism and migration experiences. The agenda included a talk with Boris Izaguirre, the 10th Political and Social Convention, held under the title \u201cLGBTI+ Activisms across Continents\u201d, and the presentation of the book Vampis, m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la noche.<\/p>

The opening event was attended by the Cabildo de La Palma\u2019s councillor for Economic Promotion, Miriam Perestelo, and the mayor of Los Llanos de Aridane, Javier Llamas. Perestelo defended the social dimension of the festival and the right of everyone to live their identity freely. \u201cWe want an island where nobody has to hide who they are,\u201d she said.<\/p>

For his part, Llamas thanked the Cabildo de La Palma and the public company Sodepal for their continued commitment to this programme and to holding it in the municipality.<\/p>

Watch the sessions live on YouTube<\/a><\/p>

From television to activism: Boris Izaguirre\u2019s perspective<\/h4>

The talk with Boris Izaguirre, hosted by journalist Javier Rodr\u00edguez, looked back at the writer and broadcaster\u2019s television career, the visibility of homosexuality and his experience as a Venezuelan migrant in Spain. Izaguirre recalled how he gradually became aware of what his everyday presence on Cr\u00f3nicas Marcianas meant, and highlighted the role of Javier Sard\u00e1 in opening up that television space to him.<\/p>

He also recalled being present in the Spanish Congress of Deputies when same-sex marriage was approved, and described his path into activism as a learning process. \u201cIt\u2019s not an activism I was born with. I\u2019ve grown into it, and I celebrate that,\u201d he said. With a mix of humour and personal memories, he championed coexistence over polarisation and explained that having two countries means, for him, having two cultures.<\/p>

His migration experience served as a bridge to the convention that followed. Izaguirre acknowledged that, unlike other migrants, arriving in Spain with a contract as a scriptwriter made it easier for him to settle in the country, having left Venezuela partly out of a desire to build his love life in freedom.<\/p>

Activisms across continents<\/h4>

After the conversation with Boris Izaguirre, the panel was joined by Djedje Batlle, a gay Ivorian activist, PhD candidate in Anthropology at the Autonomous University of Madrid and researcher on homosexuality, Christianity and the experiences of gay African men; Mahmud Assy, an Egyptian queer activist, refugee in Spain and founder of Eufon\u00eda Diversity; and Alfredo Pazmi\u00f1o, a gay Peruvian activist, migrant in the Canary Islands, anthropologist and expert in international LGBTI+ cooperation with more than fifteen years of experience in the field.<\/p>

Anthropologist Alfredo Pazmi\u00f1o warned that hard-won rights must not be taken for granted and linked the situation facing the community in Peru to the rise of fanaticism and political radicalisation.<\/p>

Drawing on his own experience, Djedje Batlle stressed the diversity of realities across the African continent. Originally from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, he pointed out that the possibility of living openly depends on one\u2019s family environment, resources and social position: \u201cEverything depends on your social situation and your privileges.\u201d He also argued that racism must be tackled as a structural problem, beyond individual behaviour.<\/p>

Mahmud Assy described how homosexual people are persecuted in Egypt through the application of other laws and denounced the police\u2019s use of fake profiles on dating apps. He also spoke about the difficulties of being received in Spain, calling the asylum system \u201cdehumanising\u201d and demanding that it be built around the dignity and participation of migrants themselves.<\/p>

The conversation thus explored how racism, precariousness and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity can build up within a single experience.<\/p>

The convention also featured a video message from Alexandra Andino, a Honduran activist and coordinator of the trans area at Acci\u00f3n Tri\u00e1ngulo. Although she was ultimately unable to attend in person, she spoke about the violence and structural discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people in Honduras and stressed the need to keep denouncing these situations publicly.<\/p>

The day ended with the presentation of Vampis, m\u00e1s all\u00e1 de la noche, by Eusebio Marrero, led by Jos\u00e9 Manuel Placeres Trujillo, owner of the venue that inspired the book. The book recovers the memory of the iconic establishment in Puerto de la Cruz, which became a reference point for the LGBTIQ+ community and a witness to the evolution of its freedom and visibility.<\/p>

Presentation of the book \u2018Vampis\u2019<\/a><\/p>

Acknowledging the lack of women on the panel<\/h4>

During the session, the host of the programme, Javier Rodr\u00edguez, expressly acknowledged, on behalf of the organisers, the mistake of having no women among the in-person participants at the convention. He explained that efforts had been made to include Alexandra Andino and Mar\u00eda Isabel Obono, a bisexual woman from Equatorial Guinea and a refugee in Spain, but that in the end their contributions could not go ahead due to scheduling reasons.<\/p>

Rodr\u00edguez also noted that the illness of Isabel Pantoja, patron of this year\u2019s social programme, had forced the cancellation of the opening event planned for Monday, which also disrupted the start of the programme. In this context, he described the lack of a greater female presence as a failure shared by those responsible for the event.<\/p>

He also recalled that in previous editions the programme had featured broad participation from the community and defended the work carried out over the festival\u2019s ten years, while insisting on the need to acknowledge mistakes when they happen.<\/p>

Along these lines, he stressed that the programme would continue on Wednesday 16 September with the Atlantic Forum on Human Rights, a working meeting bringing together institutions and representatives of the different realities within the LGBTIQ+ community. During the meeting, the contents of the La Palma 2026 Declaration would be defined ahead of its public reading.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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