Public Project
The last miners
In 2012 the 4,000 workers of the coal mines of Asturias and León began an indefinite strike for 65 days. An entire region rose up against Mariano Rajoy's plan, promoted by the European Union, which wanted to drastically reduce state allocations for the sector. For more than two months the unions maintained the conflict and there were numerous lockdowns and clashes with the police.
6 years later, in December 2018, the wells of Santiago, in the council of Aller, and Carrio, in Langreo, were closed, thus fulfilling the Asturian part of the State's plans to liquidate in 2019 all coal mining in Spain dependent on public aid. This culminated at least three decades of reconversion of the mining regions since the entry of Spain into the European Economic Community in 1986.
Asturias became the autonomy with more ageing population in Spain. Its young people left and the families that remained live on mining pensions, turning the region into a place in progressive abandonment.
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