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Issue 776
29 AUG - 4 SEPT 2014
Torrevieja tourists called ‘scum’ THE NEPHEW of Torrevieja APTCe Councillor Domingo Soler branded tourists to Torrevieja and the Orihuela Costa as “scum” this week. by Keith Nicol
Skippy Teasdale with Rebecca Holt
A Royal British Legion sell-out! THE ROYAL British Legion BBQ, held by the Orihuela Costa Branch was a triumph attended by 200, with excellent cuisine and top entertainment by 17-year-old singing sensation Rebecca Holt. Read the full story on page 48.
See page 62
With most towns along the Mediterranean Coast depending on tourism for their livelihood, it seems that Soler’s nephew Alejandro Esteban Soler does not care for them, and suggests that they should return to their hometowns and villages. In a statement from the ruling municipal Partido Popular government who oversee the growth of tourism in the city, they are asking for the removal of Alejandro Esteban Soler from any aspect of political involvement in the region. Soler is an advisor and nephew of the Municipal spokesperson for the Alternative Partido Popular, and called visitors “scum” and “slags” on Social Network Twitter, along with other unsavoury and unprintable language. The PP said: “This advisor to the Popular Alternative, whose salary is funded in part from taxes paid by owners of second homes in the city of Torrevieja, and who he qualifies generally as “scum,” should be immediately removed from his duties by spokesman and president of APTCe, Domingo Soler.” This latest Tweet may go hand in hand with comments from Artur Balaguer, media adviser to the Orihuela Town Hall and husband of the socialist councillor in Torrevieja, Fanny Serrano.
The ‘PG’ version of his rant described tourists as “morons with unruly children.” The PP statement also notes: “This matter also calls to attention the nature of a defamatory joint strategy campaign that the PSOE and APTCe are conducting; cursing tourists through the social media and thereby denoting their discomfort about an extraordinary summer in both visitor numbers and economic activity in the Costa Blanca in general, and in the city of Torrevieja in particular.” Regardless of the family relationship between the adviser and Councillor Soler, the Partido Popular has requested that Alejandro Esteban Soler should be replaced “at the earliest opportunity as advisor to the Municipal Party APTCe in the City of Torrevieja.” Alejandro Esteban Soler also seems to have forgotten that for over 20 years his uncle was one of those most responsible, through his previous role in the PP, for the creation and formation of the tourist product that benefits the city today. Meanwhile in using the equivalents of the ‘F’ word as an adjective to describe ‘morons with their unruly children from Madrid’, both the Secretary General of the PP in the province of Alicante, José Juan Zaplana, and Deputy Provincial Tourism, Joaquín Albaladejo have asked for the resignation or dismissal of Balaguer. Continued on page 8