Olive Press Costa Blanca South and Murcia Issue 103 by Olive Press Newspaper Spain

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Sp pr ai op n’ in er s be En ty st gl mag ish

November 2023

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Property

AN historic building bought by Jacarilla council in 2009 from a real estate entrepreneur may soon be restored to some of its former glory thanks to €1.3 million of grants. The Marquis of Fontalba Palace consists of a mansion, a church, and gardens. It was constructed between 1915 and 1922 at the height of the Art Deco style era with the buildings and landscaped areas stretching over 26,000 m2. WAIT: Nearly over for Sanchez

Key vote

THE moment of truth is approaching for Pedro Sanchez. The investiture debate for the acting Prime Minister is continuing today in Madrid’s Congress to see if he can form a government. Sanchez last week secured a deal with Catalan party Junts and then topped that up with agreements with the Basque BNG party and the single Canary Coalition delegate. In exchange for the votes of the Catalan separatist groups like Junts, Sanchez agreed to a controversial amnesty for those involved in a failed 2017 secession attempt. The amnesty plan has split public opinion, with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against it across the country on Sunday.

Solidity

Socialist leader in Catalunya and ex-national health minister, Salvador Illa, defended the proposed amnesty law stating that it ‘demonstrates the solidity and capacity for generosity of Spanish democracy’. The deals mean that Pedro Sanchez and the PSOE are now set to secure an absolute majority of 179 votes among the chamber’s 350 representatives - if all the promised votes go his way. Sanchez’s Socialists came second in the July 23 general election, but Alberto Nunez Feijoo, leader of the Partido Popular, which came first, was unable to put together a majority in Congress, leading King Felipe to ask Sanchez to have a go.

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OURSELF A SCAN HERE TO LAND YFRIDAY Your BLACK expat SUBSCRIPTION 50% voice in OFF COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA OFFER FOR Spain S .E SS E R P E V OLI FREE Vol. 4 Issue 103 www.theolivepress.es November 16th - November 29th 2023

Courted by courtyards

courtyards has been The incredible allure of crafty Spain, some with roses, turned into an artform in some with simply others with geraniums andtheir history. palms. We take a look at

See our property special inside

Dueñas VARIETY: Palacio de lasCordoba in Sevilla to a typical design patio and a modern

STAY IN THE NEST! Y

Lack of affordable housing at home into their 30s

is keeping Spaniards

are OUNGSTERS in Spain to compared among the oldest in Europe sing stock is 'social housing' flee the nest. to 7% in other OECD nations. home sound a note By Alex Trelinski The average age to leave hiThe report did however Housing Law, the third is an incredible 31 years, of optimism over the new the lack of ghest on the continent. which is seeking to ‘address regulations leave Only Greeks and Slovakians continually rising prices. affordable housing’ through the ‘difficult transition from and tax measures. home later. and adults living It blames The percentage of young 60% in the education to the labour market’ to The plan to allocate 40% of new resihousing with their parents is over and 50% for adds it creates ‘a difficult transition dential construction to social Spaniards’. units - ‘could case of 18 to 34 year olds, independent life for young half of it for social rental lower-income prices mean youngsters are 25 to 34 year olds. in cities High rental the market, while there is a generate benefits for out of The lack of affordable housing households’, ruled the report. to ensure including the priced housing. and popular tourist spots,Islands, is the critically low supply of council carefully monitored not average rents “But only if costas and the Balearic According to the report last decade that such inclusionary zoning does new projects 40% over the key issue. reduce incentives to start Econo- have risen by According to a new OECD Europe, compared to just 10% in salaries. hou- or drive up market prices,” it added. only 1% of Spain's mic Survey on housing across issue due to Yet, alarmingly, Spain has a long-standing

After the Civil War, the Marquises of Fontalba sold the site to several owners in Jacarilla, and it passed through different hands, including two of the main real estate developers in the region. Jacarilla council took ownership of the gardens in 2003 and six years later acquired the buildings from the Pedrera family. Since then, the mansion fell into disrepair with no finances to restore it, but the gardens have been a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike. Now it's hoped that work will start before the end of the year so that parts of the mansion can be open to the public from next summer. “We will start by renovating the main hall, the access staircase and recovering some rooms on

NOT LEAVING: Spanish

are the third oldest to

fly the nest

Courted by courtyards

New lease of life

the first floor,” said local Mayor Andres Moñino. Complete waterproofing will stop ceiling and wall leaks and Molino added that 'windows will be sealed to eliminate cracks and humidity that have damaged the building. As and when the grants come in, then more work will be done.

Coastal conflict Costa Blanca property owners fear for future after coastline is redrawn BRITISH expats are among the 100plus homeowners in Denia who say they are being virtually stripped of their properties because of a so-called ‘Coastal Law’. The Public Maritime Land Domain (DPMT) legislation was first brought in in the 1980s in an attempt to prevent the Costa Blanca from being overdeveloped. But in its current form, once an area has been deemed to be in the ‘public domain’ i.e. close enough to the beach to be considered government-owned land, private ownership is forbidden. This is the current fate of some 115 home and business owners in Denia, who now find themselves in the ‘public domain’ after the coastline was redrawn by the Coastal Authority (Costas). Costas say the own-

By Alex Trelinski

ers will not lose their homes but will have a ‘75-year concession’ and that demarcation of areas did ‘not imply that any homes would be demolished’ along with the fact they can be sold or passed on as an inheritance. The new demarcation will in one way or another affect more than 3,600 buildings on Denia's northern coast specifically between the Molinell river and the first breakwater - covering an area of over 10,000 m2 along two kilometres of the coastal strip. A campaign group called 'Association of People Affected by the Coastal Law' claimed that all of the properties

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AFFECTED: Locals protest against the Coastal Law

will be deemed not to have planning permission and once the 'useful life' of the homes has expired, they are expected to 'disappear', i.e. be demolished - something denied by the Costas. The group told the Olive HOMES ON THE FRONT Press that at least one of LINE: Some 3,600 the families affected is properties are affected British. Meanwhile, Swissborn Genevieve Chiche owns a semi-detached house overlooking Les Deveses beach, bought by her mother over 50 years ago and which is now on the public domain seizure list. “Costas is taking my home, my garden, and my life, turning me into a legal squatter of a property that had all the legal permits,” she fumed. Also in the firing line is Les Deveses restaurant owner, Sebastian Alcaraz, who bought his business in 1981 with the building constructed 16 years earlier. See page 15 He said: “This is an unprecedented outrage as we lose our assets, savings, and our lives.” Costas has divided the

Tel: 952 147 834 TM

affected coast into three sections and has held meetings for each strip. The Alicante province Costas head, Rosa de los Ríos, has been in charge of directing these surveys. She said it was an 'administrative, procedural act', in which they showed those affected where the line that marks public domain passes and how the rights of way go from that point. De los Rios stated that the demarcation line is 'provisional' and does not entail the demolition of any building.

Private

Some of the lines have been marked out with pink paint spots with one resident promising to take legal action as the line was drawn without his permission on private land. Residents have received the backing of the Valencian government and its general director of Ports, Airports and Coasts, Vicente Martínez Mus who said he shared 'their feeling of indignation and anger'. “We oppose these rules and the way they are being applied are unfair and arbitrary,” said Martinez Mus. “We have demanded for a long time that Costas fight against the regression of the coastline through regeneration and protection of the public domain, instead of fighting residents.” Opinion Page 6

CRIME

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Century not out as our Costa Blanca South edition hits 100!

P RESS November 16th - November 29th 2023

From between the posts to thousands of bed posts...we salute Latin lothario Julio Iglesias as he hits 80 See feature on page 12

Your expat

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COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA FREE Vol. 4 Issue 100 www.theolivepress

.es October 5th - October

18th 2023

See page 9

Birthday tragedy Group of friends killed while celebrating a 30th birthday in ‘illegal’ nightclub

NEWS IN BRIEF Festive cover TORREVIEJA’S famous city centre nativity scene will have a new addition this year - a giant translucent tent to protect the figurines and the viewing public, rented by the council for €22,168.

Busy year BRITISH visitors to the Valencia region will rise by 10% next year, according to Valencia president Carlos Mazon speaking at last week’s World Travel Market event in London.

Tomato woes DROUGHT and the rugose virus has destroyed over two-thirds of the Murcia region’s tomato crops, leading to retailers having to resort to imports to stock up shelves.

New camp CARTAGENA’S Old Naval Hospital has been converted into a camp to receive migrants from the Canary Islands and will take guests until the end of March.

THE manager and an employee of a Murcia City nightclub in which 13 people perished in a deadly fire have been arrested. Fonda Milagros went up in flames in the early hours of October 1 and the cause of the blaze is still being investigated. However the Polica Nacional believe

Club fire arrest SICKENING! See full story on p4

the tragedy was caused by a malfunctioning flare machine, which was set to be used for a birthday celebration. Police sources say there could be more arrests in the coming days and weeks. The fire in Fonda Milagros and the ad-

A BRITISH expat has been slapped with a (€23,000) hospital bill £20,000 bowel exploded during after her a trip to the UK. Helen Winslade, 55, in Almeria, was visitingwho lives home in amazingly, early July when she within weeks the had to un- retired dergo life saving surgery, Brit By Yzabelle Bostyn losing whopping billwas faced with a a part of her small intestine. from the NHS, despite her The procedure went well, but The Welsh British citizenship. native was diagnosed Winslade, Helen was not expecting to stay w i t h ed period in the UK for an extendand their ‘small pension’ a rare could not fund Helen’s accommoform of dation, food and travel costs. b o w e l Karl launched a fundraising c a n c e r campaign to get Helen back to k n o w n Spain, where as GIST nosis would he said ‘her progbe better’ due to t u - shorter waiting ALL YOUR LEGAL times. She finalmours. ly returned in late September ISSUES DEALT WITH! afA c - ter a months-long ordeal. c o r d i n g Her husband, Here to help with your Carlos, had been Compare funerals to her left holding the fort in Seron, life in Spain including b r o t h - while she Plans cover the was stuck in the UK The impact of Covid 19 ‘wiped er, Karl short of funds. out’ their business, wills, residency, whole of Spain couple to live ‘on a leaving the very small tax returns, buying Interest free

Expat slammed with €23,000 UK hospital bill after bowel during visit back home explodes

joining Teatre room, located in the Atalayas area of 147 834 the952 city, took place at around 6am and killed 13 people, who became trapped. and selling property

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MUST GET THE CARD!

PEOPLE resident in Spain are not automatically covered for emergency treatment UK’s National Health on the even if they are British Service citizens. They should get an EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), which is free Spain and available in to people enrolled with their regional health department. This ensures emergency health care is available during trips to the UK and EU countries on

the same terms as in the visited nation. In the UK this means attention would be free, although in some other countries may apply on the same charges basis as locals pay. It does not cover any private healthcare or costs such as a return ﬂight. It also does not cover your costs if you are travelling for the express purpose of obtaining medical treatment.

LIFE SAVED: But at a hefty cost to Helen and hubbie Carlos

pension’. The case is a warning to any expats considering visiting home without medical insurance or failing to travel with forms in case of an the correct unexpected health scare. Under current laws, not a UK resident, you if you are must produce relevant documentation receive free NHS treatment to - including an EHIC (a health card) or GHIC European card, or a so-called S1 or S2 form. Alternatively, you can request a Provisional Replacement Certificate, which will cover care in the UK for the healthlength of your trip. Since a Go Fund Me launched at the start page was of August, only €210 of the couple’s target has been raised. €5,000 Karl says he is ‘eternally ful’ for any contribution. grateOpinion Page 6

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21/6/19 13:30

PUMPED UP

A BEACH bar employee suffered a perforated stomach after being tricked into taking anabolic drugs to make her work harder. The owner of the unnamed Arenales del Sol business and four others have been arrested by the Policia Nacional. The female worker told the police that several employees had also unwittingly taken the drugs, including her son who was 17-years-old at the time of starting his job.

Bar workers tricked into taking anabolic steroids by unscrupulous boss

and one of her managers immediately offered her some tablets. All of the workers were He assured her that they would threatened with the sack if give her more energy for her they did not take what they shifts and she - along with her were told were 'vitamins'. colleagues - were also given the The victim was hired at the ‘vitamins’ as an injection. start of the summer season The female worker noticed all kinds of unwanted symptoms including loss of appePOLICE have arrested a man for about his identity was a security tite, weight the rape of a young British woman camera image of the friend that and hair; who was on holiday with her fami- was with him. larger musly in Pilar de la Horadada. A year of painstaking investigations cles; a deepThe British woman was with a eventually tracked down that perer voice; and friend when she met the aggressor, son over 700 kilometres north to greater ag22, and a friend of his. an address in Logroño in La Rioja. gressiveness When the tourist was left alone Further clues were provided to the - something with the man, he committed the attacker's identity, and the man that her colsexual assault. was identified as a Moroccan still leagues also The only clue that officers had living in Pilar. suffered. She thought By Alex Trelinski

RAPE SUSPECT HELD

nothing of it at the time as she put it down to fatigue due to her workload. In September, she was admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pain and ended up requiring an emergency operation for a perforated stomach. Doctors told her that her symptoms were compatible with taking anabolic steroids. The police probe led them to a warehouse which was owned by the same man behind the beach bar and a search found traces of anabolics on the premises, as well as over 100 tablets at the bar itself. Besides the owner, two managers and a cook also handed out the drugs and they were detained on crimes against public health and breaching workers rights.

Remorseful robbers TWO thieves have repented and returned religious ornaments stolen during the ransacking of the small chapel at Torrevieja’s Quiron Hospital. The Guardia Civil has not reported where or when the items were returned or whether there have been any arrests. The intruders stole an altar cross, a chalice, a bible and other religious artefacts from the room next to the hospital's radiography department. The Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante condemned the ‘sacrilege’ that had been committed.

Double killer AN ORIHUELA man who clubbed a woman, 80, and her son, 50, to death in a row over a €50 debt has been jailed for 43 years. He's also been ordered to pay €130,000 in compensation to their family. The 31-year-old man argued that he was owed some money for the installation of window security bars and returned 20 minutes later wearing plastic gloves and clutching a big hammer. The woman was repeatedly struck on her skull while sitting in the armchair while her son was killed in the kitchen.

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November 16th - November 29th 2023

HAIR RAISING CLAIM HE may have agreed to pay €18.5 million and accepted a 23 month suspended prison term for tax evasion back in 2019, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s tax woes are not over. Hacienda has the football superstar in its sights once more in a row over IVA (VAT) not charged by a string of hair

transplant clinics he owns. The 38-year-old owns several Insparya Medical Clinics which did not add 21% IVA to its bills, arguing that hair transplants are a medical procedure, so exempt. But the tax man is now claiming that the treatment is purely cosmetic and so the IVA is due after all.

Just awards Glittering occasion QUEEN Letizia turned heads when she wore the jaw-dropping Flor de Lis tiara as she accompanied King Felipe on a state visit to Denmark. It is regarded as the most important of Spain’s Crown Jewels. Originally made for Balmoral-born Queen Victoria Eugenie - wife of Spain’s King Alfonso and granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria - it is made with 450 diamonds and 10 pearls, mounted on a platinum structure, forming three fleurs-de-lis surrounded by vines. Experts say it could fetch up to €12 million at auction. The Spanish monarch used the occasion - the first state visit to Denmark from Spain in 40 years - to advocate for a ‘strong’ and ‘united’ Europe amidst conflict in Gaza and Ukraine. King Felipe also recognised the long relationship between the two states during a dinner organised by Q u e e n M a r grethe of Denmark.

What are the Princess of Asturias prizes that have been given to a host of international stars? By Dilip Kuner

MERYL Streep, Steffi Graf, Seve Ballesteros and Sebastian Coe are just a few of the stellar names to have been rewarded with Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award since its inception. While it gives Spain international attention, many people are not aware of just what it is for and why already famous people are

HAPPY: in Oviedo

PROUD MOMENT: Leonor awards Meryl Streep

given a Joan Miro designed trophy and €50,000 cash. This year Meryl Streep was the headline act, recently making the trip to Oviedo to accept the award, beaming with pleasure as Princess Leonor herself presented the prize for The Arts - but there is much more to the awards then famous faces. The Prince of Asturias Awards were established in 1981 when the prince was just 13-years-old. In 2014 Felipe ascended to the throne and his daughter Leonor took over leadership of the principality, leading to the awards name change. They were originally intended to ‘consolidate

links between the autonomous community Principality of Asturias and the King’. This has taken the form of bringing world-wide publicity to the region, with the Princess of Asturias foundation promoting culture and the arts in the region. Prizes are given in eight different categories: The Arts, Literature, Social Sciences, Communication and Humanities, Technical and Scientific Research, International Cooperation, Concord and Sports.

King

The awards are handed out by the Princess of Asturias (Leonor) at an annual ceremony presided over by her parents, the King and Queen of Spain with the awards considered among the most important in the Spanish-speaking world.

Going swimmingly AS winter starts to draw in on mainland Spain thoughts of fashionistas are turning to warm coats and woolies rather than beachwear. But over in the Canaries, where November temperatures see average highs of 25C, the focus is still firmly on bikinis and swimsuits. Canarian designers and brands came together for Tenerife Fashion Beach Costa Adeje 2023 , with eye-catching designs. Lola Casademunt by Maite presented its swimwear collection called Iconic Luxor (main picture) ‘paying tribute to Egyptian culture’. The men were not forgotten, with Ananas Wear coming up with this creation (inset) inspired by ‘vegetation, beaches and sunsets’.

Orca-strated attack A POD of orcas have sunk a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar after a harrowing 45 minute attack. According to the Polish tour operator running the voyage, the killer whales ‘hit the rudder repeatedly for 45 minutes, causing major damage and leakage’. The Grazie Mamma made a dash for safety to Tanger Med, a collection of ports about 30 miles northeast of Tangier but

foundered despite assistance from the Moroccan Navy. None of the crew or passengers were harmed. Orca attacks on vessels have more than doubled in the past two years, according to marine research group, GT Orca Atlantica. So far this year, the group has recorded 53 orca incidents in the Strait of Gibraltar, with 12 causing damage to vessels.

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TRAVEL BONUS PUBLIC transport including trams will be free of charge over the Christmas holiday period in the Murcia City municipality. Fares will be waived between December 1 and January 7 in a bid to cut road traffic during the busiest shopping time of the year. Murcia mayor Jose Ballesta estimated that the number of people hitting the roads will increase by as much as 50%. “We should not forget this is a time where the Murcia population doubles and this will mean obvious savings for residents as well as decongesting traffic and creating new usage habits,” said Ballesta.

Ruff ordeal AN Australian couple have called in police after splashing €25,000 on a trio of Spanish pedigree dogs that were never delivered. Melissa and Jamie Tucker, both 45, paid a popular Spanish breeder a whopping 40,000 Aus dollars (€23,783) for three American Bully puppies. They had hoped to begin a breeding business after Melissa, a former lawyer, was diagnosed with cancer, while Jamie gave up his transport business to care for her. But after stumping up the cash for the dogs, things quickly went awry. One of the trio was discovered to be suffering from a serious eye infection, so was

Drying up

Police probe breeder in Spain after dogs bought for €25,000 never arrived EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore

unable to be sent abroad. The couple said the breeder said he would take it to the vet to be fixed, but that they would have to pay for it. Meanwhile two females were sent to the UK to be checked over and sent to Australia, but one was found to have a deadly disease, while another had a different chip code to the one that was actually pur-

Fallen honoured

TORREVIEJA remembered UK armed forces members who died in combat at last Saturday’s Remembrance Service held at the city’s Inmaculada Conception church. The commemoration was organised by the Torrevieja Royal British Legion (RBL) and took place on the same day as Armistice Day. Torrevieja mayor, Eduardo Dolon, attended along with other city councillors in addition to representatives from the Policia Local and Civic Protection. The service was conducted by Father Richard Seabrook and afterwards, the laying of wreaths and crosses took place at the Garden of Remembrance at the Church of England

November 16th - November 29th 2023

Chaplaincy of Saints Peter and Paul in La Siesta. Other RBL commemorations took place across Alicante province and Murcia last weekend.

BREEDER: On Instagram, while (left) Melissa and Jamie chased, meaning customs wouldn’t let it travel. The couple told the Olive Press they believe the code was switched by the breeder at the last minute. “We want our money back,” Mel insisted from her home in Queensland this week. “We also need to make sure he doesn’t do this to anyone else, as we’ve already found other victims in the UK, US, France and Japan. “So far we’ve confronted him on social media but he has just blocked us on every platform.” The couple have now been forced to file a police report in Australia and are liaising with cops in Spain to launch an investigation. The breeder, Mohamed

Amine Kerouani, has more than 16,000 followers on both Instagram and Facebook. Kerouani, believed to be based in Barcelona, shares videos and pictures of himself flying across the world to pick up dogs, including in China and the Middle East. When contacted by the Olive Press, he insisted he took care of the three dogs for almost a year before sending two to the UK ahead of them being sent to Australia.

ALICANTE province reservoir levels are continuing to fall as the region has not enjoyed autumn rain levels seen in other parts of Spain. Some reservoirs are reporting water levels at their lowest in a decade, despite the Ministry of Ecological Transition reporting that last month had been the third-rainiest October this century. The Segura basin is especially badly hit with capacity averaging just 21.32% while the Jucar basin stands at 46.45%. The national capacity average is 41.47%, compared to 35% during the summer which saw record high temperatures and little rainfall. In the Segura basin, Orihuela's La Pedrera is in a critical situation with capacity down to just 21.95%. The CHS water confederation which administers the Segura wanted cuts to irrigation water supplies for farmers as an emergency measure, but the idea was voted down by the Valencia and Murcia governments along with the irrigators.

Semen

He said he offered to take the male dog to the vet to fix his eye but that the couple said no, and that he sent over semen instead. “I have already called in two lawyers on them,” he added.

RUNNING DRY: Alicante’s reservoirs

NEWS

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5 Brits yearn for EU

November 16th - November 29th 2023

Jumbo celebration

Let there be lights ALICANTE is counting down to tomorrow's (Friday) big switch on of its Christmas lights - one of the biggest urban festive light displays in the country. New attractions this year include an 18-metre high conical tree decorated in white and gold, the revamped Avenida de la Constitucion and the figure of a large bear adorning the Plaza de la Montañeta. Alicante mayor Luis Barcala will switch on the lights at 7pm in the Avenida de la Constitucion. Some 114 streets have been decorated in the city centre and in different neighbourhoods, plus there are 1,927 Christmas motifs between arches as well as garlands and elements on street lamps, posters and trees. Energy savings introduced last year will be repeated with the two-million plus energy-efficient LED lights being switched on from 7pm to 1am nightly, except on Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve and Epiphany, when they will be kept on until 4.30am. The long process of erecting the lights started in early October.

Taxes hiked ROJALES has become the latest council to unveil tax rises for 2024, in keeping with other authorities like Guardamar, Dolores, and Pilar de la Horadada. IBI property taxes will go up by 7.7% to mainly fund salary rises for municipal staff. A 62% hike in the refuse collection tax is blamed on national legislation on financing and charging that has to be implemented by 2025. The average bill for a typical home will go up from €50.93 to €82.34, but discounts of up to 25% are available for pensioners, single-person homes, and large families.

MAKENA, the first elephant born in the Valencian Community, has celebrated her first birthday. A huge cake with a difference was baked along with special decorations for the elephant enclosure at wildlife centre Bioparc Valencia. A large mound of sand with several layers formed the cake containing favourite elephant treats like watermelon, melon, pineapple, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, and pumpkins. That was in addition to gift boxes filled with food, branches, forage and various elements specially chosen to pique the young pachyderm’s interest.

A NEW survey has revealed that a majority of Brits would vote to rejoin the EU if a new referendum were held today - though fewer than three months ago. Nearly six in 10 (59%) of respondents in a recent survey by Redfield & Wilton Strategies support Britain’s re-entry to the European project, with 41% against. This represents a swing of three points in Brexit’s favour since the last survey in August, when 62% of Brits yearned for EU membership Of people who voted for Remain and Leave respectively in 2016, there has been a shift of 11% towards the former. As many as 22% of those who originally voted 'Leave' now express a desire to rejoin the EU, and 11% of 'Remain' voters would now prefer to stay out. Seven years on from the Brexit vote, 71% of respondents aged 18-24 - who were ineligible to vote in the 2016 EU referendum - would vote to join the EU. The majority of other age groups would also choose to join, except for those aged 65 and above, with 54% preferring to stay out.

Keep calm and marry on! Brits looking to stay in Spain can sign ‘civil partnerships’ with their lovers

A BRITISH expat has revealed how he was able to stay in Spain by signing a socalled ‘pareja de hecho’ with his Polish girlfriend. Mark Rofe, 34, slammed post-Brexit legislation which he said made it ‘impossible’ for him to live in the same country as his partner Alex Limanowka, also 34.

By Laurence Dollimore

The couple signed a ‘pareja de hecho’ last year, which allowed Mark to gain residency in Spain and live in Barcelona. A ‘pareja de hecho’ is a legal status that a couple can apply for, if they can prove they

TOURIST TAX SCRAPPED THE controversial Valencian tourist tax has been scrapped. A decree repealing it has been signed by President Carlos Mazon and Tourism Minister, Nuria Montes. The tax could have been applied voluntarily by individual municipalities on hotel and accommodation bookings from 2024. The levy was passed a year ago by the previous leftwing coalition in Valencia and the Partido Popular’s Mazon pledged to abolish it if he won last May’s regional election. Carlos Mazon said: “The Valencian Community cannot be a social community if it is not a tourist community.” “We have woken up from a nightmare that should never have started,” he added.

have maintained a stable relationship and lived together for at least 12 months. According to Immigration Lawyers Madrid the relationship “must be considered public and continuous, meaning that there must be documentation available to prove it and that there has been no interruption in the time you have been together during the last year.” Mark, from Surrey, said: “I don’t think a lot of people realise just how difficult it is since Brexit to move and live in another EU country. The 90 in 180 day rule meant that I could only see Alex for half the year, and who wants to only see their partner for half the year?” He said he looked at golden visas and other options, but added: “None of these were suitable, it was impossible, so we ended up doing the pareja de hecho, a type of civil partnership, which is similar to a marriage, just without the formal ceremo-

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ny. It wasn’t exactly something quick or cheap to do either, it cost thousands in legal fees and took about 6+ months for me to get my residency.”

Strain

Mark’s partner Alex, a relationship therapist said: “For a while things were uncertain, which put a strain on our relationship. Thankfully for us though, we managed to find a way to make it work. “Putting our situation aside, it does make me think how many other hundreds or thousands of other couples may have found themselves in a similar situation because of Brexit. It seems a bit sad that for Brits, even love has more boundaries than it did before.” Opinion Page 6

Voting rights victory BRITISH citizens living in Spain for over 15 years will be able to vote in the next UK general election. Draft legislation is expected to become law in January after being passed in Parliament. Around three million British citizens live abroad with around 293,000 UK nationals registered as living in Spain. Expats allowed will be entitled to vote in the last UK constituency in which they were registered or can provide proof of past residency. It brings to an end a long battle by the late Harry Shindler, an Italian-based British expat, who challenged the former 15year limit on voting rights.

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THE OLIVE PRESS (all editions) - PROMO 2 - 2 x 6 columns - 90x256 - NOVEMBER 15-16-17 - 2023

NEWS FEATURE

Voted top expat paper in Spain A campaigning, community newspaper, the Olive Press represents the huge expatriate community in Spain with an estimated readership, including the websites, of more than two million people a month.

OPINION Costas need more accountability THE Coastal Authority known as the Costas has a habit of not endearing itself with its rock-hard level of bureaucracy that makes it pretty unique in Spain. Last year we had several bar-restaurants in Javea’s Arenal beach area being told they had to close because they were on protected coastal land. The latest missive affecting over 3,000 coastal property owners in Denia takes things onto another level with a hundred-plus people threatened with losing their homes as their land will be reclassified as public domain-owned. There was even the bizarre ‘Monty Python’-style sight of Costas officials demarcating lines with splashes of paint to show whether properties were safe from their clutches or not. Where are public inquiries and formal investigations in all of this? The good news is that the whole thing is likely to be mired in legal challenges for decades but there must be far better accountability by the Costas.

Marriage made in Brexit IT’S no secret that Brexit upended thousands of Britons’ dreams of living a life in the sun. When the Leave camp won by an extremely small majority in the 2016 referendum, hundreds of thousands of Brits in Spain were suddenly plunged into a legal quagmire. We are glad that Mark was lucky enough to have found a loophole to be able to gain residency in Spain (Keep Calm And Marry On, page 5). But it’s clear that much more needs to be done to make moving to Spain easier for Britons, especially those who owned homes before the Brexit vote. They continue to pay the same taxes and community fees, despite now only being allowed to enjoy their properties for six months each year. We encourage all campaign groups to keep applying pressure on politicians in the UK to reach a new agreement with Spain on the rights of homeowners in this country. PUBLISHER / EDITOR

Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es Dilip Kuner dilip@theolivepress.es

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By Laurence Dollimore

T was one of the biggest ever scandals to rock the costas. The infamous Malaya case uncovered a €2.4 billion embezzlement ring that involved dozens of councillors, a series of mayors, a famous flamenco singer, a German countess and at one point even former James Bond star Sean Connery as a side act. The scale of the corruption proved so pervasive that control of Marbella town hall had to be temporarily handed over to a caretaker administration appointed by the Junta until local elections could take place in 2007. The historic crimes, which took place between 1991 and 2006, are now being re-told in a smash hit true crime series on Spanish national TV. The documentary, available to stream, speaks to those involved in the case, including judges, witnesses and journalists. Below, the Olive Press takes you through the biggest players in the Malaya case.

Juan Antonio Roca

Very much the puppetmaster of the Malaya plot, Roca was born into humble beginnings in Cartagena, Murcia, in 1953, before moving to Marbella in 1991 after his development company Comarsa was declared bankrupt. Once through the golden arches he enjoyed a meteoric rise starting as the then mayor Jesus Gil’s chauffeur to becoming the councillor for Urban Planning for 11 years until 2003. While there, he launched an unprecedented campaign of accepting bribes in exchange for building licences from a string of developers. In just four years alone (from 2002 to 2006) a total of 19 agents are said to have paid more than €33 million to Roca and his cohorts. It is alleged that during his time in office, Roca amassed a fortune worth at least €125 million, including a string of properties, a huge collection of exotic animals and a private art portfolio that included a Miro, worth millions, that he kept in the loo. A dedicated website was set up to auction off €75 million worth of his properties, cars, works of art and furniture in an effort to

2016 - 2020

RITISH expat Patrick Clancy went into hospital for a routine shoulder operation and left six weeks later after a near-death brush with a controversial drug that left him unable to walk or eat. Six years later, the 80-year-old still feels the mental and physical damage he suffered at the hands of the lethal drug, that he should never have been given. The notorious painkiller Nolotil, is known to decrease the white blood cell count of Northern Europeans to dangerous levels, leaving them vulnerable to infections and sepsis. While the medicine is a common painkiller in Spain, regulations were put in place banning the sale of the drug to Brits without a prescription in 2018. For Clancy that date sadly came too late. It was a year earlier on September 25, 2017, that the retired oil worker, from Surrey, was admitted to Hospital de Dénia-Marina for a routine shoulder replacement and then given Nolotil to ease the pain. It seemed fine at first but after four days he started to feel ‘extremely unwell’ and was suffering from infections, cold sweats, fevers and fits. Then 74, he was immediately admitted to intensive care and plunged into an induced coma, which he wouldn’t wake up from for

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James Bond, countess and flamenco singers were all dragged into famous Malaya case

claw back enough cash to settle civil liability claims from Marbella Town Hall and the tax authorities. It was through Roca that Bond star Connery’s name was dragged in, with allegations of tax dodging and fraud over the sale of his famous villa, Malibu, on the Golden Mile. It was eventually demolished to make way for 74 luxury apartments and the Scottish actor was eventually cleared of any involvement in the case. Roca was eventually jailed for 20 years and paroled after he had served 12 years.

Isabel Garcia Marcos

The former deputy mayor, Garcia Marcos was ironically a one-time socialist councillor and ferocious critic of corruption in Marbella. But, perhaps inevitably, she eventually became one of Roca’s favourite councillors and was caught saying ‘I don’t sign a piece of paper, or even read one, if I don’t get money’. Police found an incredible €360,000 in cash at her home when she was arrested in 2003, leading to a threeand-a-half sentence, along with €700,000 in fines.

Nolotil nightmare still haunts me six years on

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A controversial drug still being handed to expats and northern Europeans - as the Olive Press revealed - could kill again, believes ex-victim Patrick Clancy By Yzabelle Bostyn

However, the expeSPAIN’S BEST 35 WINES rience left Patrick O LIVE ‘emotionless’. PRESS He said: “Instead NOLOTIL WARNIN of being excited to come home on the day she came to pick me up to take me NEED FOR home for Christmas CHANGE I just thought, ‘Oh, nothings changed’. “It was a shock to the system. If a bomb had dropped952 147 834 down beside me, I would’ve thought; ‘Look at that, it didn’t go off’. In fact, Patrick couldn’t even talk about the experience until three years later. Now, six years on, he tells the Olive Press he still experiences mental and physical side effects as a result of Nolotil. “A doctor told me Nolotil is like a nuclear bomb going off in the body. Everytime I go to the hospital they say I’m alright, but I’m just not the same person anymore. It’s a very, very heavy burden.” Patrick suffers a constant ‘pins and needles’ sensation in his extremities, random stabbing pains and frequent flu-like symptoms. He also experiences consistent brain fog and extreme tiredness. He said: “I always want to put my head in a bucket of cold water. I’m not half as sharp as I used to be.” But the worst of it, he says, is remembering the terrifyingly vivid nightmares he had while under treatment. He recalls: “I’m a very nuts and bolts person. BOTTOMS UP: The Olive Press chooses... The

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six weeks. He was put on dialysis due to kidney failure and diagnosed with septic shock after doctors discovered his body was fighting three infections at once. Medical staff urged Patrick’s wife, Julie, to inform family in the UK to come immediately, knowing that if the infections reached his shoulder, the father of four’s days would be numbered. “They didn’t think I’d last the weekend. It was absolutely awful for my family”, the granddad told the Olive Press. “It was terrible because every single day it was like rolling the dice. It went on for six weeks and so obviously my family had to go back to England, not knowing if it was the last time they’d see me.” The experience was particularly traumatic for Julie, who visited her husband of 34 years every day, as doctors mistakenly informed her that Patrick’s leg had been amputated and on another occasion, medical staff moved her husband without telling her, leading her to believe he had died. Patrick, who had lived in Alicante for over 20 years, was in a coma for an alarming 39 days before doctors managed to revive him. After recovering in hospital for two weeks, the Javea resident was sent to Fontilles, a former leper colony in the mountains of Alicante, to recover. There, the expat spent six weeks relearning how to walk, sit up and eat again before being discharged just in time for Christmas.

voice in Spain

November 3rd - November 16th 2023

A LETHAL painkiller is STILL being given to Brits five years after it was banned, the Olive Press can reveal. It comes as a reader contacted us to sound the alarm after he was given the potentially deadly drug while receiving treatment at HCB EXCLUSIVE launching a lawsuit against the By Yzabelle Bostyn Hospital in Denia, Alicante. Spanish Ministry of Health after Nolotil, also known as Metamizol, she claims doctors are not followis the most common painkiller In October 2018, the drug was ing the guidelines and patients are in Spain and is often marketed banned for sale without still being given the drug ‘against as an alternative to Ibuprofen or scription to British people a pre- their will’. visiting Paracetmol. Spain following a months’ long A spokesperson for the hospital campaign by this newspaper and said: “HCB Hospitals follows the tireless medical campaigner Cris- recommendations of the AEMPS, Deaths and particularly those for the forBut the drug has been linked to tina Garcia del Campo. several deaths and serious illness- Recommendations were also is- eign population, we are very aware es among British expats and tour- sued advising medical staff to of the recommendation not to preavoid giving the drug to patients scribe Nolotil to foreign patients.” ists visiting Spain. Though usually harmless, Nolo- in urgent care and to carry out It insisted that the recommendation til can affect Northern Europe- follow up blood tests if the drug is is followed and patients are informed about the best available treatments. ans with fair complexions and is given for seven days or more. banned in the UK, Ireland, Swe- The directive note, issued by the WARNING: Cristina has campaigned Spanish Opinion Page 6 Medicine against Nolo den. the Olive Press Agency (AEMPS), recommended medical staff monitor patients given the drug to check for potentially deadly side effects like low white blood ‘You’re killing us!’ cell count and sepsis. However Cristina, Tragic end founder of the AffectOVER 1,000 people took to the ed by Pharmaceutiof Palma to demand ‘less tourism,streets cals Association, says more life’, ahead of an EU tourism summit bethe guidelines are ing held in the city. ‘not strong enough’. Protestors marched from Porta “It's worrying beCatalina to Passeig Born, wherede Santa a manicause this is somefesto backed by 77 groups was signed. thing that can kill The manifesto, read by author Tel: 902 123 282 902 123 282 KILL you, it has killed so gold, spoke out against the ‘lackClara InTHE DRUG: The Olive of’ susPress campaigned to ban many people,” she tainable tourism. Nolotil She added there were far too many told the Olive Press. holiday rentals and labelled tourism Now, Cristina is a ‘devas-

Outrage as dangerous Spanish painkiller continues to be given to Brits despite being banned

Stars from Anne Hathaway to Jodie Whittaker keep visiting Ronda, find out why in our travel supplement inside

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“IT’S a dirty world that I don’t want to live in anymore.” These were the intended last words of a British teen who had embarked on a suicide pact with her 16-yearold boyfriend in Marbella. The privately-educated expat, 14, added: “I’m Sorry: To anyone who has ever loved/known or supported me, thank you, I love you and I will miss you.”

Bizarre

However, her heartfelt messages had a cruel, bizarre twist, when her British-Brazilian boyfriend Richard Fitzsimons managed to take his life off the top of the Corte Ingles department store, while she miraculously survived. It came as a hero security guard somehow managed to grab the girl before she was able to plunge to her death after her lover. In a tragically sad incident - that has shocked the coast and made headlines around the world - the teenager, who we are not naming for legal reasons, is now requiring serious Continues page 2

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Andalucia’s city in the mountains leaders and is a hot ticket for world their wives despite Hemingway’s Elisa lukewarm words, writes

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wine, exNICE promenades, good to do…’ cellent food and nothing wrote off Thus Ernest Hemingway numerthe town where he spent the local ous holidays drinking no wine and carousing at corridas, of Rondoubt disappointing many his puzzlingly da’s proud residents with lacklustre review. - including Most of today’s travellers ministers and Britain’s last two prime would certainan American First Lady has been ly disagree with him. Ronda most-visited crowned Andalucia’s thirdsee why. town and it’s not hard to is a true The so-called ‘City of Dreams’ of a cewanderlust gem and somewhat lebrity hang-out. May, Anne HaThis year alone, Theresa Whittaker, thaway, Ricky Gervais, Jodie Scott Thomas Gordon Ramsay, Kristin Rajoy and Spain’s ex-premier Mariano the stunning have all allegedly visited locals in the mountain town... so say know.

Menendez

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headlines Michelle Obama also madetouring the when she visited in 2010,the Moorish old town and discovering Sasha. dynasty with her daughter Novelli Celebrity chef Jean Christophe town after went house hunting in the falling in love with it in 2009. sierra setting, With its spectacular high and atmoleafy parks, cobbled lanes Ronda spheric ventas it’s no wonder of so many has stolen the hearts travellers. of writers Over the centuries a slewits timeless have waxed lyrical about and charmcharacter, stunning views ing locals. it the The German poet Rilke baptised took a ‘City of Dreams’, Orson Welles and shine to its bullfighting scene

GRAND TOUR-ISTS: Painters tackle the gorge, while (inset) recent visitors Anne Hathaway, Gordon Ramsey, Jodie Whittaker and Ricky Gervais

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NOLOTIL VICTORY

A LETHAL painkiller believed to be responsible for the deaths of dozens of expats is finally being regulated in Spain. Nolotil, which the Olive Press has investigated for nearly two years, has been

banned for tourists in Spain. In a breakthrough move, The Spanish Medicine Agency (AEMPS) has finally issued a directive to all healthcare bodies to stop giving the drug to British and

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Irish tourists. Expats in Spain will now be administered Nolotil on a short term prescription only. Furthermore it can only be prescribed after a detailed analysis of the patient’s medical history and heritage. It will also have to be much more closely monitored. It comes after an Olive Press investigation into the mysterious deaths of expats from the drug was launched 2016, in along with a 1,000-strong petition to have it regulated a year later. Nolotil, also known as Metamizole, is banned in the UK, the US and most of Europe. Despite this, the drug is still one of the most popular painkillers in Spain,

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for ENVIRONMENTAL groups are taking legal action against the Junta ‘failing to tackle toxic air’ in the Campo de Gibraltar. claimEcologistas en Accion has filed a complaint with the Health Ministry, ing nothing has been done to protect citizens from a rise in air pollutants caused by the expansion of ‘toxic’ industries in the Bay of Algeciras. polAccording to the green group, more than 10,000 tonnes of dangerous lutants were released into the atmosphere last year. well as This includes potentially lethal cancer-causing chemical benzene, as other fine particles. worst The writ comes as Cadiz province was officially declared to have the air quality in Spain. most And alarmingly, La Linea, which borders Gibraltar, ranks as the 30th polluted place in the world in terms of air quality. The shocking stats were revealed in a damning World Health Organisation report which lists the world’s ‘most contaminated’ Continues page 11 towns and cities. Adding salt to the wound, Cadiz also came bottom in

TOXIC: Oil refinery plumes black smoke into the Campo

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EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore

A BRITISH expat couple are fighting to save their Malaga home from demolition over a technicality. Gill and Bob Ward, both 74, have been locked in a battle with their town hall, which claims their house in Almayate is illegal. Just yesterday the retired couple from Cornwall were given

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THE Olive Press is giving away three pairs of tickets for two of the best concerts on the Costa del Sol this summer... And all you have to do is answer two simple questions! Michael Bolton takes to the stage for an emotive end of season night at Marbella’s Puente Romano on August 10, while Estepona is set for its biggest rock concert in years with mammoth

Doctors and dentists join Olive Press appeal for ban on dangerous painkiller Nolotil EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore

one month to knock down their only property (pictured above). In a court order seen by the Olive Press, the Wards are warned they will be held criminally responsible if they refuse. “I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m at the end of my tether” Gill told the Olive Press, “I’m totally exhausted from the whole ordeal.” The retired pair, who have now spent thousands of euros on legal costs, bought the old farmhouse ‘in ruins’ in 2004, and were given permission from Velez-Malaga town hall to rebuild it. But when the original wall collapsed of its own accord during construction, the Wards’ architect told them it would be fine and that he would let the town hall know. Unfortunately for

tribute bands Think Floyd, Deeper Purple and Whole Lotta Led rocking out the greatest hits of Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin at the Plaza del Toros on August 26. For a chance to win a pair of tickets to see Bolton, just answer the question; what year was Michael Bolton born in? For the Pink Purple Zep Fest in Estepona, just tell us; Where was Jimmy Page born? Email answers to the newsdesk@theolivepress.es. WIN

WIN WIN: Bolton and Pink Purple Zep Fest tickets

KILL THE DRUG

THE Olive Press is calling on Spain to ban a lethal painkiller that is killing countless of unsuspecting expats. British dentists and doctors are supporting the ban after Briton Graham Ward, 75, complained to the Olive Press of how he was prescribed the deadly Nolotil drug by a dentist last week. It’s the very same drug that was blamed for killing his wife in 2006. The Marbella-based expat was furious when he was told to take the painkiller by his Spanish dentist, after suffering from a difficult abscess. His wife Mary, 59, had died after being prescribed the same drug following a double vasectomy at Costa del Sol Hospital. “Within 24 hours she was in intensive care, her white blood cell count plummeted to zero within days,” explains Graham, a former computer HAPPIER TIMES: Graham with wife, and Billy Smyth technician, from London. She never regained conscious- again. Metamizole, Nolotil is banned ness and was on a life support “He said she would be alive if in the US, the UK, Ireland and machine for FOUR months, she hadn’t taken it, but I have most of Europe, but it is prebefore spending three years heard from dozens of Brits scribed widely in Spain. fighting the impact of the and Irish who have been given Irishman William ‘Billy’ drug, which led to organ fail- it,” added Graeme. Smyth was given a five-day It is the third victim of the course of the drug in Februure. “The chief surgeon at the hos- drug the Olive Press has re- ary. pital promised me he would ported on in under a year. But when the 66-year-old renever prescribe that drug Sometimes known also as turned to a different Spanish

Need for more research

Dr Nina King, of Oasis Dental Care in Marbella, fully supports the campaign, telling the Olive Press the drug is not something she prescribes. “It’s not a drug I use, I stick to safe and standard medication,” she said, “And after seeing what damage it can do, it’s a drug I won’t be using in the future.” Marbella-based private doctor Dra. Victoria María Chacón Almeda also agrees the drug is dangerous. “I don’t prescribe the drug,” she told the Olive Press, “I have lots of British patients and I am aware of what it is capable of doing. “There needs to be a lot more research on its impact.”

doctor to get a renewal in April, tests showed the drug had caused a toxic poisoning in his bone marrow and his white blood cell was dangerously low. Billy, a keen sportsman, developed sepsis and necrotising fasciitis as a result and required ‘radical surgery’ to remove the affected tissue in an attempt to save his life.

The dad-of-two later died from septic shock – believed to be linked to taking the Nolotil. Another British expat Hugh Wilcox was prescribed the same medication for mild shoulder pain on the Costa del Sol. He developed severe head Continues on Page 2

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which despite various side effects,Mosquito Screens can cause a rapid drop in white blood cells, leaving patients unable to fight infections. Medical translator, Cristina Garcia del Campo, who has pulled together hundreds of case studies from victims for the AEMPS’ probe, said she was ‘very happy’ the authorities have finally reacted. Following the results of her KILL THE rigorous investigation she DRUG has now demanded that the drug must not be sold without a prescription and a detailed patient analysis. “I am very happy that the problem has been dealt with,” she told the Olive Press. “I will be making sure that the AEMPS recommendations are carried out and if necessary make sure it’s banned completely.” The Olive Press began investigating after a trio of expat families told us how their relatives had died unnecessarily in excruciating pain, after taking the drug in Andalucia. In April, the paper revealed the first steps towards regulation had been taken, with Marina Salud, a big health network in Alicante, issuing a warning to stop administering the drug to British, Irish and Scandinavian patients. estepona@ibexinsure.com

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tating industry’. The protest on Monday also called end to pollution, overcrowding for an and the growth of more tourist lets. It comes after growing frustration residents who claim their quality from is being sacrificed for the comfort of life of visTOO MUCH: locals rail against itors. 'overtourism' The protest was in response to the meeting of EU tour- who ism ministers in Palma. rent legally.” She also highlighted climate change The European Tourism Forum brought industry leaders lenge as a signific together to discuss the social sustainability for the islands. of tourism. “We are a limited, small and fragile The summit aimed to find ways to promote ‘alternative’ just over territory. destinations. one million inhabitants and receive 1 tourists a year. Balearic President Marga Prohens urged EU leaders to “We want bring in new laws to regulate holiday to minimise the negative effects rentals. of and be sustainable from an economic, She said: “Holiday lets present a great opportunity to ronmental social share the wealth generated by tourism. point of view. If just one of these a However, illegal everything thi ones create unfair competition for hotels and owners Ministers fails.” took part in a series of discussions at mit this week to try and combat the negative i the trade. In particular, they signed a joint declaration in f social and sustainable tourism. In the declaration, ministers agreed to advo ‘greener, more digital, inclusive, resilient and See pages 9 & 11 sive’ tourism. They also vowed to create job opportunities and the ‘long-term well-being of everyone in the valu especially the local populations’.

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Property

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November 2023

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CREDIT: Photo by Jon Clarke

The incredible allure of crafty courtyards has been turned into an artform in Spain, some with roses, others with geraniums and some with simply palms. We take a look at their history.

VARIETY: Palacio de las Dueñas in Sevilla to a typical Cordoba patio and a modern design

STAY IN THE NEST!

OUNGSTERS in Spain are among the oldest in Europe to flee the nest. The average age to leave home is an incredible 31 years, the third highest on the continent. Only Greeks and Slovakians leave home later. The percentage of young adults living with their parents is over 60% in the case of 18 to 34 year olds, and 50% for 25 to 34 year olds. The lack of affordable housing in cities and popular tourist spots, including the costas and the Balearic Islands, is the key issue. According to a new OECD Economic Survey on housing across Europe, Spain has a long-standing issue due to

Lack of affordable housing is keeping Spaniards at home into their 30s By Alex Trelinski

continually rising prices. It blames the ‘difficult transition from education to the labour market’ and adds it creates ‘a difficult transition to independent life for young Spaniards’. High rental prices mean youngsters are priced out of the market, while there is a critically low supply of council housing. According to the report average rents have risen by 40% over the last decade compared to just 10% in salaries. Yet, alarmingly, only 1% of Spain's hou-

sing stock is 'social housing' compared to 7% in other OECD nations. The report did however sound a note of optimism over the new Housing Law, which is seeking to ‘address the lack of affordable housing’ through regulations and tax measures. The plan to allocate 40% of new residential construction to social housing half of it for social rental units - ‘could generate benefits for lower-income households’, ruled the report. “But only if carefully monitored to ensure that such inclusionary zoning does not reduce incentives to start new projects or drive up market prices,” it added.

NOT LEAVING: Spanish are the third oldest to fly the nest

PROPERTY

November 16th - November 29th 2023

BE SQUARE RIOT OF COLOUR: A courtyard in Cordoba, made famous for its geraniums

PANISH courtyards have long been admired for their timeless beauty and tranquility. These exquisite outdoor spaces have played a significant role in Spanish architecture and culture for centuries. Today, they continue to inspire interior designers around the world, as they seamlessly blend the boundaries between indoor and outdoor living. The history and cultural significance of these courtyards, will help you incorporate the essence of them into your own home.

The Spanish have long understood that courtyards offer a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor living By Dilip Kuner

The tradition of Spanish courtyards dates back to ancient times, with influences from various civilizations such as the Romans and Moors. These courtyards were originally designed as central gathering spaces within homes, providing natural light, ventilation,

and a sense of privacy. They served as oases from the bustling city streets, offering a serene retreat for relaxation and contemplation. Throughout history, Spanish courtyards have also played a significant role in social and cultural gatherings. They have been venues for celebrations, music and dance performances, and even religious ceremonies. The iconic ‘patio’ in Spain, often adorned with colourful tiles, intricate ironwork, and lush greenery, has become a symbol of Spanish identity and a testament to the rich architectural heritage of the country.

SPANISH COURTYARD DESIGN ELEMENTS Spanish courtyards are characterised by a unique blend of architectural and design features that create a harmonious and inviting atmosphere. One of the key elements is the use of water features, such as fountains or small pools, which not only provide a soothing sound but also cool the surrounding air. INCORPORATING A SPANISH COURTYARD INTO YOUR HOME Bringing the essence of a Spanish courtyard into your home can transform any space into a tranquil oasis. Whether you have a large backyard or a small balcony, there are various ways to incorporate the elements of a Spanish courtyard into your interior design. If you have a spacious outdoor area, consider creating a dedicated courtyard space. Start by defining the space with a pergola or trellis, providing shade and privacy. Incorporate a water feature, such as a fountain or a small pond, to add a calming ambiance. Use colorful tiles on the walls or floors to infuse the space with vibrancy. Complete the look with comfortable outdoor furniture and potted plants to create a cozy and inviting atmosphere. For those with limited outdoor space, consider creating a mini Spanish courtyard indoors. Choose a sunny spot near a window and designate it as your courtyard area. Use large potted plants to create a green oasis, and hang colorful tiles on the wall as a focal point. Incorporate a small water feature, such as a tabletop fountain, to add a soothing element. By carefully selecting furniture and decor that reflect the essence of Spanish courtyards, you can create a charming and inviting space within your home.

COBBLES: At Palacio de Viana the detail is extraordinary

These water features often serve as the focal point of the courtyard, drawing the eye and creating a sense of tranquility. Another essential design element is the use of vibrant and colourful tiles. Spanish tiles, known as ‘azulejos,’ are renowned for their intricate patterns and bold hues. From geometric shapes to floral motifs, these tiles add a touch of elegance and sophistication to the courtyard. Whether used on the walls, floors,

or even as decorative accents, they instantly infuse the space with character and charm. Incorporating natural elements is also crucial in Spanish courtyard design. Lush greenery, such as potted plants, climbing vines, and citrus trees, adds a refreshing touch of nature to the space. Wooden pergolas or trellises covered in flowering vines provide shade and create a cozy atmosphere. Additionally, the use of natural materials, such as stone, terracotta, and wrought iron, adds an authentic and rustic touch to the overall design.

PROPERTY THE iconic works of Spanish art genius Salvador Dali have inspired a wave of ‘melting’ homewares. Among the most trendy items flying off the shelves are the seemingly liquid disco balls pouring off tables by designer Kelly Wearstler, alongside a super trippy rug by Henry Holland for Floor Story. Dali was a surrealist painter from Catalunya whose psychedelic works famously featured melting clocks and other distorted objects. The maestro died in 1989, but it seems his influence is still being felt in the decor business.

Owners look for €280,000 profit by flipping entire village bought for just €300,000 a year ago

November 16th - November 29th 2023

Mortgage woes

DALI-CIOUS! Other Dali-inspired items include a Melt Portable LED lamp by Tom Dixon. Even H&M Home has cottoned on, with the high street store selling a new collection of vases and candle holders which appear to resemble liquid forms.

THE average new mortgage is at a 15-year high. The official average rate granted in Spain in September reached 4.4% - its highest level since February 2009, when it stood at 4.3%. The average rate has risen for the 19th consecutive month. The 12-month Euribor rate, the index to which most mortgages are linked, closed September at 4.15% compared to 4.07% in August and 2.23% in September 2022.

CLOCKING ON: Designers, including Kelly Wearstler and (inset) Tom Dixon are influenced by Dali’s famous melting clocks picture

BACK ON THE MARKET MIXED PICTURE EVER fancied being lord of the manor? Well now’s your chance after an abandoned hamlet went back on sale again.

Canaries to regulate holiday homes THE Canary Islands are planning to ban holiday homes in certain municipalities and tourist areas. It comes following an increase in what it dubs 'gentrification' and ‘touristification'. Opinions of residents are now to be canvassed ahead of drafting a new law with some areas having up to a third of

housing that is purely for tourist purposes. Besides introducing 'zero growth' areas, certain municipalities will get a percentage limit on the number of new holiday homes that can be built. The government hopes to approve its new law on tourist housing next year.

By Alex Trelinski

Salto de Castro, in Castilla y León, was only bought for €300,000 by Toledo constructor Oscar Torres a year ago. The village consists of 44 houses, a bar, a church, a school, a swimming pool, a sports centre and a former Guardia Civil barracks, but minus any residents. Just 100 metres from Portugal’s border in the isolated Zamora province, it had been set to become a rural tourist hub. But now, after various architectural ‘improvements’ it has gone back on the market for €580,000. It is in the heart of the Meseta Iberica

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with stunning views of the Douro River. Last year's sale was said to have attracted offers from Saudi Arabia, Brazil and the UK as well as 20 other investors. The entire community was constructed by Iberdrola in the 1940s to house workers building the dam adjacent to it, however, once the project was finished, it was abandoned and has stood empty for more than 30 years. Experts have estimated it will cost around €2 million to make it workable as a key visitor attraction.

FOREIGNERS buying homes in Spain between January and June accounted for 21.4% of the total number of transactions, despite a 7.5% drop compared to the same period in 2022, according to statistics from the General Council of Notaries. Despite the drop in transactions, the average price paid by foreigners was €2,095/m2, up 1.4% year-on-year, and the highest figure since the end of 2008. Non-Spaniards wanting to pay the highest prices were led by those from Sweden and Denmark.

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OUT: Roca leaving jail after 12 years, while (above) Pantoja and Muñoz were seldom off the celebrity pages

GET IT WHILE YOU CAN! Subscription to the Olive Press website for the equivalent of less than 70 cent per week!

T Julian Muñoz

A former waiter, Muñoz – nicknamed ‘Cachuli’ or ‘chancer’ – also successfully rose from nothing to become the mayor of Marbella in little more than a decade. As the boyfriend of the famous singer Isabel Pantoja, his face frequently appeared in gossip magazines throughout Spain. During his short term of office he publicly fell out with Roca who had him ousted as mayor. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for perverting the course of justice, embezzlement and bribery, but released in 2021 due to a ‘severe and incurable illness’.

Despite this claim, he has been regularly spotted at the Real Padel club in Marbella and various golf clubs, enjoying cheeseburgers and glasses of wine.

Isabel Pantoja

Famous singer and ex-girlfriend of Muñoz, Pantoja was charged in a separate case and faced a huge fine and three years in prison, for helping Muñoz launder the money he received in bribes. The star was also accused of obtaining large sums of money during her relationship with the former mayor. In 2014, seven years after her arrest, she was handed two years in prison for money laundering and ordered to pay €1.15 million in fines. She spent less than 18 months behind bars before being released on licence.

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Not very emotional. But when I talk about the nightmares I burst into tears, I cry my eyes out. Every single one scared me to death.” “After only taking a few tablets over four days, I was in serious trouble. I was very fortunate because I am a strong person. I often think, thank goodness I stopped taking them because I might not have survived otherwise.” In the years following his experience, Patrick says doctors have suggested his case could have in-part inspired the 2018 regulations. He said: “It’s good but I feel cheated by the fact that all they’ve done is create an advisory and not a statute.” “From my point of view, the question is what is a life worth? The problem is that it is a very good painkiller and it must be cheap because they dish them out like smarties.” “Something needs to be done because people are still being affected. Others will suffer because they are turning a blind eye.” Now, Cristina Garcia del Campo, an activist who has been fighting for greater restrictions on the drug, has launched a lawsuit against the Spanish Ministry of Health due to their inaction over Nolotil. She urges those concerned to support the Asociación De Afectados Por Fármacos (Association for Those Affected by Pharmaceuticals) or donate to their Go Fund Me.

Nicknamed the Lady of Marbella, the Catalan lawyer was accused of being one of the main stooges for Roca. Branded the mala mas sexy (sexiest baddy) of the case by gossip magazines, it is thought she was in charge of Roca’s investments and under his supervision became responsible for his money laundering in Madrid and Marbella. She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years for money laundering in 2016 and was handed a mammoth fine of €30 million.

Marisol Yague

A former singer, Yague (above) was appointed as mayor by Roca following a vote of no confidence against Muñoz in 2003. According to investigators she was Roca’s puppet, visiting him at his offices on Mondays to receive instructions and she allegedly took €1.8m in bribes from him. In October 2013, she was sentenced to six years in prison and handed fines of more than €2 million. She went to prison in January 2016 and a year later received another two-year sentence for embezzlement for using granite and marble from the municipal warehouse to renovate her house, called La Madrugada.

Jose Avila Rojas

Born in Granada, Avila Rojas is another of the many contractors involved in the case. He was sentenced to a total of three-and-a-half years in prison and ordered to pay €16 million in fines.

Tomas Olivo Lopez

Among his many projects, business mogul Lopez owns a number of shopping centres including La Cañada in Marbella and the controversial Centro Nevada, in Granada. He had been facing five years imprisonment and fines of up to €4.8 million after being investigated in the case, however he was eventually absolved in 2018 and went on to win a staggering €165 million from the Junta, whom he sued for paralysing works on a business complex.

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They will also receive two travel mail outs each week, featuring exclusive food reviews and guides to some of Spain’s best known - and lesser known tourist hotspots. A new health mail out will also be made available in the coming days.

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Readers will also have exclusive access to the e-editions of our five bi-weekly newspaper editions, covering Gibraltar, Andalucia, Mallorca, Costa Blanca north and Costa Blanca south. This past month we have once again proven ourselves to be the best English-language newspaper in Spain. Our exclusive coverage of the water bills scandal in La Viñuela, for example, which saw Brits lumped with invoices of up to €70,000, was followed up by the Daily Mail and even Spanish newspapers, including Diario Sur. Thanks to our subscription model, we are able to actually send journalists out on jobs, which this month included exclusive coverage of the anti-government protests in Madrid and the dramatic shooting in broad daylight in Guadalmina, Marbella. Supporting us via subscriptions allows us to continue this, frankly, important work, with no other English-language newspaper in Spain coming close to doing what we do. So we offer a big thank you to the thousands who have already signed up, and hope many more will join them, especially while the Black Friday sale lasts!

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Pedro Tomas Reñones Grego

A retired footballer who once captained Atletico Madrid, he became a councillor in Marbella in 1999 for the Grupo Independiente Liberal (GIL), founded by long-time Atletico president, Jesus Gil y Gil. After the local mayor was arrested he briefly took office in 2006 as an interim mayor, but was soon arrested himself. He was sentenced to five years and six months in prison in 2016 on fraud and briber y charges.

HE Olive Press is offering a mega Black Friday deal with an incredible 50% discount on our Quarterly and Annual online subscription packages. For just €8.75, readers can have full, advert-free access to our premium content for three months that’s the equivalent of less than €1 a week. Or purchase a full year’s subscription for €32.50, equalling less than 70 cents per week.

Expats caught in the web It’s not just the Spaniards that got caught up in this huge operation. A total of 11 foreigners were also embroiled in the scandal. These included the German countess Alexandra Sybilla Sofie Grafin Von Bismark, Roca’s employee, Swedish born Karin Marika Mattson, Sergio Gilbert Garcia, born in Gibraltar, and Salvador Gardoqui Arias from France who was known to be one of Roca’s front-men.

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GREEN

Hotting up

November 16th - November 29th 2023

BATTERY SWITCH

Temperatures to climb up to 30C across Spain this week in hottest November on record

SUMMER-like temperatures have been sweeping through Spain with highs of up to 30C. This November is set to be hottest on record, with a phenomenon known as the ‘San Martin summer’ seeing the mercury rise to between 25 and 30C. Temperatures will drop on Thursday and Friday, only to rise again at the weekend, to above 30C in some areas. According to Ruben del Campo, spokesperson for AEMET, temperatures will be ‘5 to 10 degrees higher than normal’, especially in the north and east of the country. He added that the extraordinary heat will mark the highest November temperatures on record. It comes after October also saw record temperatures, with highs of 39.4 degrees in some areas.

Renewable impact THE renewable energy industry accounted for 1.65% of Spain’s GDP in 2022, contributing €19.48 billion to the economy according to a Deloitte study. The sector’s overall results were driven in large part by two technologies, wind and solar photovoltaic, which accounted for 73% of the total direct contributions. Last year, the country saw the installation of 1,658 MW of new wind power, 4,611 MW of gridscale solar and 2,649 MW of solar self-consumption systems. Renewables also helped to avoid the import of €15.23 billion worth of fossil fuels and saved €4.51 billion in CO2 credits.

By Yzabelle Bostyn

Although it rained four times more than usual in Spain throughout October, water levels in the South of the country remain dangerously low. Water shortages have hit Malaga province particularly hard, with 60% of residents subject to water restrictions. Axarquia has been in a state of ‘exceptional drought’ since 2021 and 2023 is set to be the area’s driest year

HEAT: This week’s temperatures are record breakers

on record. La Vinuela, the area’s main reservoir, is at its lowest ever levels, at just 7.5% capacity and according to local council lead Jorge Martin, the reservoir will soon be ‘just mud’ with authorities un-

able to extract any water. Similar shortages are creeping into other areas of the region, with the western Costa del Sol (Malaga to Sotogrande), also declaring ‘serious and exceptional shortages’ at the end of October.

ENERGY company Naturgy is to spend two years investigating whether electric car batteries can be recycled to create outdoor ‘second-life’ energy storage systems. Used batteries will be put into units to store around 450 kWh of energy. The repurposed batteries can then be used in various ways, such as supporting the power grid or self-consumption installations, operating either as part of a hybrid or as a stand-alone solution. Naturgy says that an estimated 13 million tonnes of car batteries will reach the end of their primary use by the end of the decade - meaning that recycling is an important ‘green’ option.

As world leaders gather for climate change talks will anything change?

IT’S ‘COP OUT’ SEASON

ORLD leaders meet again at the end of this month in Dubai at an event known as COP28. This is the 28th meeting of the Conference of Parties. The stated aim, as in the 27 previous meetings, is to discuss how to limit and prepare for future climate change. It is hoped that this summit will keep alive the target agreed to by nearly 200 countries in Paris in 2015 to limit global warming temperatures to 1.5C. Fat chance! The world is on track to hit an increase of 2.5C by the end of the century according to the United Nations. I predict that once again the elaborate and elegantly made commitments will not be adequate to stall temperatures rising, the disastrous consequences of which are regularly witnessed across the globe.

CONTROVERSIAL DUBAI The location for this year’s event is surrounded with controversy. The UAE is one of the largest producers of oil in the world. The CEO of the state owned oil company, Sultan Al Jaber, has been appointed as president of the COP28 talks. The UAE is planning to increase oil production! Oil, like gas and coal, are the fossil fuels responsible for climate change. Conflict of interest? I think so. Campaign groups have likened it to the CEO of a cigarette manufacturer hosting a conference on cancer cures. The agenda for the conference is what you would expect: ● Moving to clean energy sources ● Focusing on nature and people ● Delivering funds to help poorer countries tackle climate change I agree these topics require serious attention. I remain sceptical about the result. In 2009 the so-called developed countries agreed to provide $100 million a year to help emerging nations. It’s not happened yet. WHY CHINA AND AMERICA MATTER

DUBAI: Will host COP28

There is a glimmer of hope. Last week John Kerry, the

Green

Matters

By Martin Tye

HOPE: John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua will meet again to hammer out details US climate change envoy, met with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua to discuss the climate change challenges. Hopes are high that some positive outcome will follow. China and America are the two largest polluters on the planet. Per person China’s emissions are about half those of the US, but its huge 1.4 billion population and explosive economic growth have pushed it way ahead of any other country in its overall emissions. These two countries can’t agree on Taiwan, trade sanctions, civil liberties and human rights. Maybe, just maybe, there may be some common ground in them cooperating to save the planet they both want to rule.

Martin Tye is the owner of Mariposa Energía, a green energy company specialising in solar panel installations. Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es or call +34 638 145 664

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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL

CUTTING REMARKS

ANOTHER bastion of Spanish cuisine has been brutalised in the eyes of Spain’s netizens - this time in China. A video has gone viral of a female market stall worker chopping up a cherished leg of Spanish jamon with a meat cleaver. She takes to the leg - which is almost as big as her - with great sweeping chops. It is a far cry from the delicate slices favoured by true jamon aficionados, which is considered an art form in Spain. Through brute force - including lifting up the leg itself and smashing it down repeatedly - she manages to get the blade through the hunk of meat. Online Spaniards had a few choice words, with one user demanding that she be sent to jail for her culinary crime. Another commented: “Just when there was nothing in this world left for me to see.”

CHOP: Ham is assaulted

Football crazy

Sevilla FC ‘steal’ plane leaving 80 passengers with 5 hour bus journey instead AIR NOSTRUM has been slammed for turfing passengers off a Vigo to Madrid flight at the last minute to make way for a bunch of footballers. The scheduled service transformed into a charter flight to take home Sevilla FC players and coaches after a match at Celta Vigo. The La Liga side's original charter plane could not be used due to a technical problem so they took over the Air Nostrum craft. Passengers stood agog as they waited in line to board at Peinador Airport and were passed by the

By Alex Trelinski

Sevilla FC squad. One unhappy traveller fumed on social media, writing: "We are still at the airport with no word about the theft of the plane by Sevilla."

Bus

The controversial decision by the carrier meant that 80 passengers had to make a 600 kms bus journey to Madrid lasting five hours, as opposed to the original hour-long flight

LOW COST airline Easyjet will be launching nine routes next summer from Alicante-Elche airport to coincide with the company opening a new base there. Three of the services - two of which are brand new - will link the UK with the Costa Blanca. The debut flights to Alicante-Elche will launch from Southampton on March 31 and Belfast City on May 2, in addition to the return of the Newcastle route on April 2. Other new routes will take in Zurich,

time. Passengers are reported to have missed national and international connections as a result of the enforced switch. “This only happens in a banana republic where football is allowed to take

Easyjet expands Prague, Lyon, Lille, Nantes and Nice, with Easyjet saying an extra 125,000 seats will be available due to the expansion. The company expects to offer 1.5 million seats to Alicante between April and October, representing an increase of around 10% compared to the 2023 ‘high’ season. The expanded flight schedule means there will be three aircraft at the new Alicante base.

OP QUICK CROSSWORD Across 1 Harp on about Jane Eyre, for example (6) 5 Encourage (6) 8 Performed surgery (8) 9 Quartz grains (4) 10 Punch (4) 11 Transcendent (7) 13 Jericho was, until Joshua arrived (6) 16 Bury (6) 19 Profits (7) 22 Copies (4) 23 Duration (4) 24 Magnificent (8) 25 Vigour (6) 26 Clear a channel (6) Down 2 Reproduction (7) 3 Injurious (7) 4 Short letters (5) 5 Loud enough to be heard (7) 6 Uncooked meal suitable for Fridays, maybe (5) 7 Anger about scope (5) 12 Holstein holler? (3) 14 Shelter (3) 15 Think it probable (4,3) 17 Learner (7) 18 Assembly (7) 19 Get ready to eat (5) 20 General meaning (5) 21 Reliable (5) 23 Blows away (4) 24 Cooking measure (4)

All solutions are on page 15

everything and everyone by surprise,” said an irate traveller. Air Nostrum apologised 'profusely' for the incident, and said it would be contacting all affected passengers to compensate them for the inconvenience caused. Spain's consumer association, FACUA, has reported Air Nostrum to the Galicia Consumer Affair's department as well as the national Ministry of Consumer Affairs. FACUA has argued that the carrier infringed consumer protection laws, and it has also filed a complaint with Spain's Aviation Safety Agency which has launched an investigation.

Seb’s the best FORBES has revealed the ‘24 best places to travel in 2024’ and San Sebastian in the Basque Country has made the top 10. The list, compiled by Forbes and luxury travel advisors OvationNetwork, predicts this year’s travel boom will continue into next year, with tourists seeking out ‘off the beaten path’ destinations. Experts said the seaside city offers ‘an unforgettable gastronomic experience, natural beauty and unique Basque culture’.

HOT UP NORTH NORTHERN Spain has seen a massive increase in tourism this year as scorching temperatures in the south put off visitors. In August, the regions of Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria received 47% more international tourists compared to the previous year, totaling 435,500 visitors. The growth overshadowed perennial tourist hotspots like Malaga and Valencia, although they still received many more visitors overall. This shift north coincided with extreme heat warnings in the south.

ANIMAL COVER Liberty's pet insurance sales up 25% in last six months

IBERTY SEGUROS' pet insurance has grown by 25% in the past six months, surpassing one million euros in annual revenue. According to company data, this growth follows the trend of the last two years, as this segment grew by 12.7% in 2021 and 13.6% in 2022. The new Law on Animal Welfare, which came into force on 29 September, makes it compulsory for dog owners to have civil liability insurance. And this fact has been reflected in the demand for both Civil Liability insurance, which in August alone has shot up by 623%, and Liberty's specific product for pets, which in the same month has increased by 70%. However, compulsory civil liability insurance for natural or legal persons owning dogs will not be effectively applicable until the corresponding regulatory development takes place. In this sense, Liberty stresses that behind the growth of these insurances recently there is also a growing concern of pet owners to cover their main needs and risks. José Luis García Camiñas, Liberty's Executive Director of Product in Europe, says: “We expect this segment to continue to grow in the future not only because of increased regulatory requirements but also because of society's growing concern to protect the welfare of their pets and to have cover for issues such as veterinary expenses, theft and travel assistance. Specifically, more than 90% of the claims reported to Liberty under pet insurance correspond to veterinary expenses. The rest correspond to the death of the animal, liability issues and theft or kidnapping”. The number of dogs in Spain is estimated to be more than nine million, but having them insured is not a widespread practice. This contrasts with countries such as the USA where 70% of households have a pet and between 20% and 25% of them, especially dogs and cats, are insured. In the EU, 25% of EU households have a dog, according to the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF). "Due to all of these factors, this insurance product, which was initially demanded by residents in Spain from other countries, and which has been increasingly

valued by national clients, presents a significant growth potential in the for thcoming years", says José Luis García Camiñas. Main changes that Spain’s new animal welfare law will bring The Animal Welfare Law, which came into force on 29 September, establishes new obligations for pets, and in particular for dog owners. One of these is the obligation to have Civil Liability insurance to cover possible damages and injuries caused by dogs, whatever their breed, to other people, animals, or things. However, this obligation will not be effectively applicable until the regulatory development of the rule takes place. On the other hand, the classification of potentially dangerous dogs (PPP) disappears and the concept of special dog handling is created. An individualised sociability study will determine whether a dog is a special dog handling. In addition, a compulsory training course for dog owners will be introduced. The development of these two elements is also still awaiting a regulation. Customised Insurance also for Pets Liberty Seguros has comprehensive insurance policies for pets, a product that is defined by its many adjustment options to provide protection for the insured animal against risks such as accident and illness and which can be taken out as a basic package with the possibility of adding others with optional guarantees. As for civil liability, it also offers specific insurance for this legal cover for damage to third parties or as optional cover within home insurance. José Luis García Camiñas explains: “Each pet owner can personalise their pet policy in the way that best meets their particular needs and pay only for what they really need”.

VISIT WWW.LIBERTYEXPATRIATES.ES FOR MORE INFORMATION OR CALL 91 342 25 49 FOR THE NAME OF YOURNEARES AGENT/BROKER.

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November 16th - November 29th 2023

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Dear Jennifer:

We can cover your insurance needs

SPAIN'S Argal Alimentation, which produces high grade meat products, has linked up with US firm Smithfield Foods in a strategic alliance. Smithfield’s European operations will assume a 50.1% stake in Ar-

TRAVEL SAFELY I AM delighted to inform you that we are working with a very successful travel insurance provider. Jennifer Cunningham Insurance can provide you with a no obligation quotation if you are a resident in Spain with Single trip and Annual cover to meet your needs. We offer: ● Single Trip policies for up to 180 Days for clients aged up to 65 years, 32 days maximum for over 65´s ● Cover up to age 79, and discounts for Couples & Families. ● Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance allows individual trips of up to 17 days, however, you can choose 32, 45, 90 Days, (subject to age restrictions). There are three levels of cover to choose from – Silver, Gold and Platinum, with varying levels of sums insured depending upon your travel needs. You have the choice to adapt the insurance to your travel requirements. Our standard travel insurance also includes cancellation, medical and repatriation, Personal Accident, baggage and personal effects, money, cards and documents. There are additional cover options, the most popular of which are: ● Covid-19 – this optional extension is useful if you wish to be covered for Covid-19 before and whilst on a trip ● Winter Sports – if you are participating in winter sports whilst on holiday ● Pre-Existing medical Conditions Europesure does not cover all pre-existing medical conditions, however, there are many conditions that are covered. It is not necessary to complete a medical questionnaire. Contact us and we can provide more information. My advice to you is to go nowhere without insurance, and that includes visits to the UK, especially after Brexit. To find out more, and have everything explained to you fully, contact one of the offices.

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November 16th November 29th 2023

Meat alliance

gal, based on a medium-term plan with the agreed framework of joint management. Argal offers a wide range of

charcuterie and other packaged meats, including cooked ham, cured ham, bacon, turkey, cold cuts, sausages, fuet, pates, among others as well as ready-to-eat meals, all made with high-quality raw materials.

Rich get richer THE wealthiest people in Spain got richer by 37% last year despite the Ukraine war and inflation according to the latest Forbes list. Inditex fashion group founder Amancio Ortega - who has been on top since 2014 - saw his fortune grow by 53% to €81.8 billion. The stock market revaluation of Inditex contributed to this, but also the fact that the valuation of Pontegadea

Forbes list throws spotlight on growing fortunes of wealthy elite By Alex Trelinski

- Amancio Ortega’s investment arm in the real estate business - shows it is worth almost €15 billion. With a net worth of €8.8 billion, the founder of Inditex climbs eight steps in the

TELECOM SWOOP VODAFONE SPAIN has been sold to UK telecoms investor Zegona Communications in a deal valued at up to €5 billion. Zegona will pay at least €4.1 billion in cash and a further €900 million in financing taking the form of preference shares. Vodafone Spain is the third biggest telecoms network in the country after Movistar-Telefonica and Orange. The group launched a strategic review of the business in Spain earlier this year after suffering hefty sales falls, blaming a highly competitive market.

ranking of the largest fortunes in the world and now lies in 13th place internationally. THE TOP FIVE IN SPAIN (a combined €102.7 billion) ● Amancio Ortega (Inditex) ● Sandra Ortega (Inditex) ● Rafael del Pino (Ferrovial) ● Juan Carlos Escotet (Abanca) ● Juan Roig (Mercadona)

TOP MAN: Amancio Ortega is the richest person in Spain

Amancio Ortega’s fortune is more than double the sum of the rest of the fortune holders that make up the top 10. His daughter Sandra is second in the list and the only woman in the top five with €7.1 billion - 31.5% more than last year. The chairman of Ferrovial, Rafael Del Pino y Calvo-Sotelo, with €5.9 bil-

lion, remains in third place, although his fortune has grown by 55.3%. The chairman and largest shareholder of Abanca, Juan Carlos Escotet, with a fortune of €4 billion, 25% more, is in fourth place this year and displaces the chairman of Mercadona, Juan Roig, in fifth place, with €3.9 billion - up 14.7%.

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November 16th - November 29th 2023

Eurovision hopefuls

Disney attraction

A PUBLIC vote has named The Alhambra the top spot in Spain for a Disney film. The entertainment giant launched a survey to see which Spanish landmarks viewers would like to see on the big screen. Granada’s famous monument took top

Adaptable genius THE grandson of Pablo Picasso says that if the legendary Spanish painter was alive today he might be experimenting with digital art. As the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death continues to be marked in Spain and France with a series of exhibitions called 'Celebracion Picasso', Bernard Ruiz Picasso believes the Malaga-born artist would have moved with the times. “He could be using NFTs or digital art. He changed techniques,” he said. “He was the most important artist of the 20th century and had a great hope that he could do something to make things better.”

spot, with 29% of the votes. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the palace is one of Spain’s most visited tourist destinations. In second place was the country’s most visited attraction, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

And in third spot was Sevilla Cathedral, with 9% of the votes. The city has already featured in a Disney film, with the Plaza de España used in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.

STONE AGE WAR By Walter Finch

THE unexpected discovery of 300 fossilised human skeletons in what’s thought to be a mass grave has stunned experts and hints at a violent conflict dating back 5,000 years. Researchers found that injuries to the skulls indicate a highly unusual and savage conflict for the Neolithic era.

OP Puzzle solutions Quick Crossword Across: 1 Orphan, 5 Assure, 8 Operated, 9 Sand, 10 Biff, 11 Sublime, 13 Walled, 16 Entomb, 19 Returns, 22 Apes, 23 Span, 24 Splendid, 25 Energy, 26 Dredge. Down: 2 Replica, 3 Harmful, 4 Notes, 5 Audible, 6 Sushi, 7 Range, 12 Moo, 14 Lee, 15 Dare say, 17 Trainee, 18 Meeting, 19 Ripen, 20 Tenor, 21 Solid.

Mass grave from 5,000 years ago is discovered in Spain The find was made in the Rioja Alavesa of Laguardia in the Basque country with a report on the astonishing site recently published. Further excavations revealed a 20sqm shelter which housed

the human remains of around 338 individuals buried in ‘atypical positions,’ including face- GRIM: The mass grave dates back down. 5,000 years An armoury of 52 arrowheads, 64 cutting Teresa Fernandez-Crespo, a blades, two polished stone professor at the University of axes, and five tools made of Valladolid noted that damage bone were found alongside the to bones during violent conremains. flicts are rare. The fossilised skulls showed Usually it is the soft tissues signs of unhealed traumas, which are catastrophically which indicate the injuries damaged. caused the deaths of up to 78 Even in other cases of prehisindividuals. toric massacres, the percentThe axes and arrowheads age of individuals affected by matched the injuries to the smashed up bones rarely exskulls and were determined to ceeded half - indicating the exbe the deadly weapons. treme ferocity with which the The team of scientists, led by people died.

THREE Alicante area acts have made it to the last 16 of Benidorm Fest 2024 which will pick Spain's representative for next year's Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. They are synth pop duo Nebulossa, urban singer Almacor, and trio Mantra who have accumulated more than eight million streams on Spotify. The two semi-finals will be on January 30 and February 1, with the Grand Final on February 3. Tickets go on sale next month and all the songs will be released on December 14.

Top prize SPAIN'S Luis Mateo Diez has won the 2023 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s highest literary honour. The prize is presented each April 23 on the anniversary of the death in 1616 of Miguel de Cervantes, author of 'Don Quixote' in a ceremony attended by King Felipe. A prolific writer, Diez is known for his unreal and dreamlike stories based in the fictional region of Celama and picks up prize money of €125,000. Culture Minister, Miquel Iceta, praised Diez, 81, 'for being one of the great narrators of the Spanish language, heir to the Cervantes spirit'.

952 147 834 * Vo l u n t a r y i n s u r a n c e c o v e r. S u b j e c t t o c o m p a n y u n d e r w r i t i n g c o n d i t i o n s . * D a t a e x t r a c t e d f r o m p r o c e s s c l o s u r e s u r v e y s a f t e r u s i n g o u r R o a d s i d e A s s i s t a n c e a n d b r e a k d o w n s e r v i c e s .

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Hello Komodo

FINAL WORDS

Fuengirola Biopark has hatched Spain’s first Komodo dragon in 10 years and only the fifth in Europe. Juanito was born alongside his identical twin, Boqueron, who did not survive.

Water gift The Arcosur Principe de Benalmádena aparthotel has donated 200,000 litres of water to the town council after having to empty its pool for maintenance. It will be used for cleaning.

Super speed Hypersonic planes that can fly from Madrid to New York in just 90 minutes may be available by 2030 as a US company, Hermeus, is developing the 125 passenger planes.

Your expat

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COSTA BLANCA SUR / MURCIA FREE Vol. 4 Issue 103 www.theolivepress.es November 16th - November 29th 2023

Sisters of sushi

VINTAGE CROP

‘Work hard but don’t get upset’: Spanish family have a combined age of well over a thousand! NOT many ‘babies of the family’ can get to the fine old age of 76 and have 11 older siblings all still alive. But that’s the case for the Hernandez-Perez family, whose 12 brothers and sisters regularly dine together at weekends. Now Guinness World Records has honoured the family - including 76-year-old ‘baby’ Luis - as being world champions.

By Walter Finch

The combined ages of the Gran Canaria natives reach an astounding 1,074 years - an entire millenia encapsulated in one set of siblings. It comes a year since they set a new world record for the highest combined age of 12 living siblings, dethroning the previ-

SPAIN has taken on the USA on their home turf and brought back three medals from the World Beach Ultimate Frisbee Championships. Ultimate Frisbee sees teams weave a disc between players t o score in a goal area known as an ‘endzone’ in a sport that was invented in California. In recent years, the sport has grown in

HAPPY FAMILY: The long-lived siblings ous holders in Pakistan. They recently got together for a celebratory meal, where they shared some of their secrets. Big brother Jose, affectionately

FLYING HIGH popularity in Spain, with over 50 clubs and 1,000 players. The national teams picked up silver medals in the open and mixed categories at the contest held in California, with the women’s side achieving bronze.

known as ‘Pepe’, is the oldest at 98 years old. He attributes his longevity to a simple motto: “Live peacefully, don’t get upset and work hard.” The long-living dozen, from the village of Villa de Moya, have spent their lives in each other’s company, working in the local fields. This, they say, is part of their secret to maintaining their health. Scientists might also want to take a look at what’s in their genome, too. Mama Martina passed away in 1991 at the age of 91, while papa Modesto died in November 2002, at 105 years old.

WHILE most cloistered nuns specialise in making sweets or pastries for religious occasions, Granada’s Carmelita order has gone viral for their delicious sushi and noodles. The five Filipino nuns behind the scheme have revolutionised the nunnery with their unique culinary offering, which allows them to maintain sales throughout the year. The Carmelite Descalzas del Realejo Convent has seen sales soar overnight with their Spanish-Asian fusion which went viral after being featured on Spanish news channels Tele5 and Canal Sur. As well as sushi, the sisters offer noodles, gyozas and Filipino stews.

Hard luck

A LOTTERY winner who was set to collect €2,000-a-month for five years has died before claiming a penny. The man, from Lastres, Austrias won the second place EuroDreams prize. The soon-to-be married man’s winnings will now go to his heirs in a one off payment of €120,000.