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In Monday’s La Voz, which I have just got around to persuing over a freshly baked croissant and a coffee, page 3 is given over, not to lovely Sally (21) from Essex, but to a somber reflection on “Brits take to the internet their fear of demolitions of illegal homes”.

In an politically charged piece, the paper appears to say that AUAN, the urban abuse pressure group, has issued a false press release relative to the proposed demolition of 98 homes in the Almanzora valley, and says that Brits in the area appear to be scaremongering. It singles out the website typicallyspanish.com as an “anglosaxon” online newspaper which makes politically charged comments on the situation without fact checking. I hope typicallyspanish.com has their paperwork up to date now that they’ve come to the unwanted attention of Those In Power.

According to the reporter, the Mayor of Albox has denied all knowledge of the 98 homes, as has the Junta, and La Voz claims that the whole press release (which they published in full late last week) was based on speculation over a court investigation and has been blown out of proportion.

While acknowledging the importance of dealing with the illegal homes, and admitting that many people are living in fear, the paper warns that the general public should take care to make a critical distinction between official news released from the Junta or courts, versus scaremongering press releases from self interested groups.

Interestingly enough, the article is illustrated by a picture of the ex-municipal secretary of Arboleas on the day the townhall was raided by police investigation allegations of corrupt planning processes in the municipality.

Frankly, I suspect that La Voz got in trouble for printing last weeks AUAN press release, and are now desperatly trying to recoup political favour by backtracking. Could be awhile before the subject is broached again…

Here’s the page (click for a full size image)

Later - interestingly enough, shortly after posting this, I received the following press release from the AUAN:

Junta includes AUAN in working party to find solution to illegal housing problem

In an informal 30 minute meeting with a delegation from AUAN, the Minister for Planning and Housing of the Junta de Andalucia, Rosa Aguilar, announced the creation in September of a working party to find and agree solutions to problems arising from the illegality of homes in the Almanzora Valley.

The working party will include representatives of the regional government, the mayors of the valley and representatives of the affected families, specifically AUAN.

AUAN is satisfied with this new development which represents one of our key demands.  We look forward to actively seeking solutions to the serious problems faced by our members in an open and transparent manner.

We encourage all those affected by this issue to register to vote to help maintain pressure on the working party to deliver results.

The meeting took place on Tuesday 20th July in Albox when the Minister attended the ceremony to mark the opening of the towns’ new bridge.

The cartoonist of La Voz de Almería (he’s not very good) is rather depressed about the state of the AVE, as can be seen in his cartoon:

Una pila de años translates as, roughly, “who knows?”

We all know that newspapers who support the government get “institutional support”. IE, the politicians pay for large useless adverts with taxpayers money in exchange for favourable coverage.

Changing the subject, our local newspaper La Voz de Almería is part of Grupo Prisa, which is a large PSOE orientated media group which includes such treasures as El País newspaper or Cadena 40. I have spoken before of how La Voz is similar to Pravda, in as much as its pretty much a state run mouthpiece which occasionally hints at deeper truths. La Voz usually has large government ads in it.

Anyway, I just love this advert which ran last week on the back page of La Voz.

Yup – the Junta is paying for an advert in a newspaper, telling us to read newspapers (and, I suppose, pay 1€ a day for it).

And the ad, no doubt, will only appear in “friendly” papers. After all, the PSOE needs some media friends to support their daft ideas on the future economy of Spain…..

Best of all, it’s completly legal!

An interesting article, full page (!!) in today’s La Voz, twittering on about the Albox demolitions (page 17). It appears to be the first reference to the issue in our local paper.

It doesn’t actually say anything, it simply repeats what other websites and UK tabloids are saying (the such things as “even the fearsome The Sun has waded into the debate“).

It’s a masterpiece of how to bring the problem to the attention of the public without annoying the politicians, who, no doubt, are trying to keep the lid on the issue.

Just discovered the 23rd Dec edition of La Voz, the day after the El Gordo lottery draw.

Wow.

Apart from the special cover, which ran every winning number, if you open the actual paper, you don’t get to any real news until page….. 30.

That’s right, 29 pages of light news about happy people waving lottery tickets. None of them, I noticed as I tossed my tickets in the bin, from Almería.

Still, look on the bright side – I only bought two. The little b. bought 5. Ha!

Police have carried out one of their normal operations against people who smuggle in female prostitutes from outside the EU and force them to work in brothels.

La Voz de Almería, our friendly newspaper, condems this activity and says that the ring, operating under the name “María del Mar y sus gatitas” advertised their services on the net.

What La Voz has failed to mention, in denouncing these internet ads, is that this ring of brothels, using the same name, usually took up about a quarter of a page in their classified ads every single issue.

Heh ho.

While pouring over this weeks copies of La Voz de Almeria, our local version of Pravda, I noticed with interest, in the middle of an interesting article about how Almeria’s tourism services are the best ranked among all of Andalucia (May 7, page 21), the following phrase:

Desgraciadamente, Ameria no fue una de las provincias andaluzas que mas guiris recibio…

Now, “guiri”, I was always taught, has two meanings:

• A good old fashioned member of the “Englishmen abroad” club, complete with socks and sandals and a kerchief on the head, used in a fond manner (ie, look at that sunburn! Poor old guiris, they need looking after when abroad, not used to the sun!)
• A good old fashioned racist term for anyone who doesn’t speak proper Cristiano.

Not sure how they meant to use it in this article. Never mind.

(Opinion piece)

There is an interesting piece in Wednesdays La Voz de Almeria (remember, I’ve been away for a few days so I spent Sunday catching up) about how in the Seville meeting between the Junta and some of the town halls, Lubrin admitted to having found over a thousand houses built on rustic land, and Oria another 900. This makes 2 out of every 3 houses in Oria illegal!

The Junta has spent some time now quoting the magic “6000” figure in relation to the number of illegal houses in the Almanzora valley. It’s obviously problematic for a politician to stand up and admit that they haven’t a clue, so a nice round figure like 6000 keeps the hecklers quiet. The trouble is, it’s bull plop. Nobody has a clue how many illegal houses there are in the Almanzora valley, for the simple reason that nobody has counted them. That’s the first step in the Juntas new Plan General de Inspeccion de Andalucia – count the damn things.

La Voz, while a nice little paper with lots of interesting yet important local news*, is part of Grupo Prisa, which is Spains largest media corporation that owns among other things El Pais, Cadena Ser, 40 principales, SogeCable…. well, check out www.prisa.com for the full list. It’s staunchly Pro-PSOE, except when it’s owner falls out with Zapatero, and La Voz could be considered to be our own little Pravda. Studying the little details in it is our own little divination, which I call Lavozmancy, and tells of the future as seen by the Junta de Andalucia. Well, it makes more sense than Uromancy!

What this little story tells me is that the Junta is slowly starting to prepare the ground for the truth, ie that the 6000 figure is b.s. In a few months it can point to previous press reports and blame the local town halls for not providing accurate figures, and profess horror at the true scale of the problem. There are also hints that the local town hall inventories may be used to assess the number of illegal builds which will speed up the whole process of the Plan General.

Which, to me, is an encouraging sign. With the current economic crisis in the area, the Junta (and Madrid) knows perfectly well that the local taxes not being paid by the illegal houses are astronomical, and wants to get them in ASAP. So, they are starting to prepare the ground, first by admitting that, yes, there are more illegal builds then previously thought, and that yes, there is a plan to legalise them (the new Plan General de Inspecciones).

But, before we break open the champers…

In many cases, the houses have not paid local municipal building taxes or planning permission taxes. (A bribe to the mayor at the time doesn’t count). What’s the betting that, even if the house is given a clean bill of health (and it looks like all of them, excepting a few in Ramblas or natural parks will) the owner doesn’t get the paperwork until all back taxes are paid?

Start saving!

*I know a couple of the reporters. Lovely fellas. The editor is a nice chap who is genuinely interested in local affairs. It’s the director who’s the toading bastard who fires anyone who doesn’t toe the company line. Allegedly.

later A further “minimum” of 800 illegal houses in Partaloa and a further “minimum” of 900 in Cantoria. Bearing in mind Cantoria claims a large number of its houses are “legal”….