HIGH ACHIEVERS How these two expat women made a difference a century apart
International
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All inside our International Women’s Day special supplement International
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March 11th - March 24th 2022
March 2022
Women’s Day
END THE VIOLENCE A CAPTION
Fiona Govan Digital News Editor
International Women’s Day – celebrated annually on March 8 – is a day that commemorates the social, political and achievements of women.economic This year is particularly as we watch our sister poignant Ukrainians suffer the brutal reality making our own perceivedof war, compared to other countries struggles for equality in our in Eu- voters clearly generally rope and worldwide. Until approved. safe environments pale into comration of the 2017 State the elabo- Vox also has made some question- parison. Pact, never able statements before had a government about women’s Eighty years ago, almost committed to the eradicationbeen so working roles. to the month, as the Second of genAnd when it comes to der violence.” raged, my grandmotherWorld War itself, the proportion the workplace as Quintanilla points out of women in a Jewish refugee, fled Kyiv that, in May managerial the only 2019, Spanish Congress positions remains around member of her family had the a third of that to survive. most female members of men with She lost her family, her home, her – 166, taking 47.4% in its history bers dropping even furtherthe num- belongings of seats. This reers as caand even made the Spanish parliament progress. she adopted a fake her name as the EU Spain's female identity and leader in gender parity. executives earn 15.1 forged papers to begin a new life, percent less than their In the Cabinet, that number male counter- firstly in Iran and then when is even parts, although higher, with women taking once this is just below the again forced to flee the major- EU average during the Isity of ministerial roles, including that according salary gap of 16 percent lamic Revolution, in England. of Deputy Prime Minister. to the latest EU data from But she never Not the top 2017. lost her job yet though. ble Ukrainian spirit and indomitaQuintanilla says: “On average, that same However, a backslide spirit is apparent in every image 2019 when the far-rightoccurred in ish women earn €5,977 less Span- of women per Vox - now than men broadcast from the Spain’s third largest and occupy more than year war-torn country political party of part-time 70% since the Rus- claimed that the gender violence en, 46% contracts. Of these wom- sian invasion - whether reporting law favours women and should be re- because affirm they are part-time from the frontline, sheltering placed with a family violence they care for dependents in bunkers spite this being controversial,law. De- cannot afford childcare services.” or to safety or trekking miles to get across borders. some Does Spain have a high femicide rate? March 8 is a day to celebrate The Spanish government site for do- grandmothers, our mothers, our mestic violence (DV) our sisters and provides annual statistics equality fellow and our daughters, our Sarah Cowley womankind and to femicide. At the end of about and together The new Deputy Head of come 2021, Spain in solidarity and peace Mission at the British Embassy became the first European in Madrid is a pioneer as country in the hope of creating a better to start recording all femicides, the first ever UK ambassador world. in cases where the aggressor even portantAnd this year it is more imto take maternity leave than ever. didn’t know the victim. Last year, 44 women Her message on International Women’s Day is one that and nine of the male were killed to all aspects of life and perpetrators transfers career. had previously “There is a responsibility been denounced for for those of us who have domestic violence (DV). do something to showcase been the first to that to others, so they can pares to 47 in 2020 and This comdone and how it can be see it can be Harking back a decade,55 in 2019. “Women shout not hide done. their achievements and 73 deaths of women at Spain had est about them. They may or be overly modthe hands of male partners or ex-partners but to other people they not seem like big achievements to you in 2003 and 72 in 2004, so You could be a role modelcould be really inspirational. rates have at and blaze a trail for what least decreased. others can do.” Spain’s come a long way tle for equality isn’t over but the batyet.
LTHOUGH Spain treats men and women equally by law, and the government worked hard to educate has the entire population about many women still report equality, sexist behaviour and ‘machista’ attitudes. rights. Some of the most outmoded atti- Feminists made tudes hark back to the rapid progress after Franco era of the dictator’s National Catholicism when, death and as Spain in 1939, developed the dictator removed as a democracy, women’s any powers rights started women had gained. to match those of other forced to be mothersFemales were European countries. wives, with no legal right and house- The husband’s permission rule was property, or get divorced.to work, own abolished in 1975, the adultery law go to prison for adultery,They could went in 1978, and divorce was legalstraying husbands weren’t although ised in 1981. punished. In 1987, A 1953 guide showed women how agreed the Spanish Supreme Court to be a good wife, including that a ensur- to prove they rape victim didn’t have ing that the house was had fought the children tidy, and dinner spotless, the In 2004, the government man back introduced Women were told not on the table. what is known as the “Integrated husband with “trivial” to bother their Law”, which funded the Government a patriarchal society, chatter. It was Delegation of Violence Against with women en. And, Womtreated as chattels. in 2017, a State Pact was formed against gender Progress has been made Carmen Quintanilla, viceviolence. Ever since Franco died president of in 1975, wom- AFAMMER, en’s groups and female which works for women have worked to rid the politicians in rural areas explained: “Spain is a ‘machista’ culture and country of a pioneer and benchmark country in secure equal terms of laws that ensure equality,
Spain has some of Europe’s most progressive gender government-funded education laws campaigns discouraging and violence. But is it working? Jo Chipchase takes a look. domestic
Blazing a trail
UKRAINE CRISIS SPECIAL
A special four-page pullout www.theolivepress.es
Refugees welcomed in Mallorca AT least 80 refugees fleeing Russian troops invading Ukraine have arrived in Mallorca this week. Around 30 people have been taken in by friends or family who live on the island while some 50 are being put up in the Covid hotel in Palma ahead of more permanent accommodation being found. More are expected to arrive in the coming days as the Balearic government develops a plan with central authorities to offer homes to Ukrainians. Spain’s government said 6,000 refugees were expected to arrive this week and have set up three main reception centres to receive them in Madrid, Barcelona and Alicante. Authorities also said they were working to provide transport ‘for all those who want to come’ in collaboration with the consular services of Romania, Poland, Hungary and Moldova.
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UKRAINIAN Halyna Surkova (pictured right), 53, has poured her heart out to the Olive Press about the shocking irony that the couple’s daughter is currently trapped in the besieged city, while he is attacking it. The Malaga-based translator fears her daughter, 31, and her grandson, 3, could be killed while cowering in a basement as Putin’s forces surround the city. “I am suffering a lot of distress, I had to visit the doctor because this situation is heavily impacting my mental health,” 13:30 revealed the former Kyiv resident.
EXCLUSIVE By Jorge Hinojosa
“It is terrible to think that my ex-husband is among the forces that could kill his own daughter.” She added he was a senior and ‘very experienced’ soldier, who had killed ‘many times’ before. However she didn’t want to give more information for reasons of her family’s security and safety. She has only managed to have intermittent contact with her family back home since the invasion began two weeks ago. “Many of my family, especially the children, are very afraid. They are living in basements and in fear for their lives,” she explained. Describing the close relationship between the Russian and Ukrainian communities in Spain, BRIGHTENING THE LONG NIGHT: Bellver she insists she Castle is lit up with the Ukrainian colours doesn’t blame
The colours of solidarity
Portals Nous, 07181, Mallorca.
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Ukrainian expat terrified her Kyiv-based daughter could be killed by her ex-husband, a Russian soldier
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Russians individually. “I have a very good relationship with some Russians here,” she said. “The majority of them disagree with Putin, but they are scared to share their views.” According to the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE), 112,000 Ukrainians live in Spain, 56% of whom are based in Madrid, Valencia and Andalucia. Some 79,485 Russians are officially registered as residents. Despite all the damage the war is causing Ukraine, she is trying to stay positive about the future. “If Ukraine joins the EU, it will grow economically because Ukrainians are very hard-workers,” she insisted. Opinion Page 3 See Ukraine Special, pages 2 & 3
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NEWS IN BRIEF Impact on Spain SPAIN’S Prime Minister warned that the Russian invasion would impact Spain’s economy and cause an increase in energy bills. “The result will be an economic slowdown and less investment at a key moment for Europe as we consolidate the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis,” said Pedro Sanchez.
Right track REFUGEES fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been offered free rail transport throughout Spain.
Barrelled over THE Spanish government has given two million barrels of its oil reserves to the Ukrainian army.
Free calls EXPAT phone company Lobster has waived charges on any calls and texts made to Ukraine. The company said it was the right thing to do ‘during these difficult times’.
UKRAINE CRISIS
CRIME
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March 11th - March 24th 2022
RUN AGROUND
Will Spain seize superyachts and luxury villas owned by Russian oligarchs under sanction rules? AT least four superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs are currently moored in Spain and could be seized by authorities under sanctions threatened by the EU in retaliation for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Three palatial yachts currently being serviced in Barcelona ports and at least one in Mallorca could be targeted under sanctions being threatened against some of Russia’s
On the road!
By Fiona Govan
wealthiest men. Moored up in Palma is the 77-metre Tango owned by Russian metal billionaire and close cohort of Vladimir Putin, Viktor Vekselberg. With an estimated worth of €150 million, the yacht has been languishing in port since its arrival on January 30.
A UKRAINIAN sailor has been arrested for attempting to sink a €7million superyacht owned by a Russian arms dealer moored in Mallorca. The 47-meter Lady Anastasia belongs to Alexander Mijeev, a close associate of Vladimir Putin and head of one of the largest Russian weapons production companies. The five berth ship had been anchored in Port Adriano, near Palma, when it nearly sank. "My boss is a criminal who sells weapons that kill the Ukrainian people," explained the 55-year-old identified by police as D.Taras O. The 55-year-old who worked on the yacht as a mechanic surrendered to police after his ‘act of sabotage’ explaining he had been moved to carry it out after watching footage of Kyiv being bombed on the news. “I watched the news about the war and there was a video of a helicopter attack on
HARD TO PORT: Viktor Vekselberg’s Tango is moored in Palma Across the water in a Barcelona dock, mineral tycoon and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, could see
Direct action a building in Kyiv. The armaments used are produced by the owner's company. They were attacking innocents,” he told a court. A few hours later he decided to "take revenge on the owner by causing only material damage, not personal damage". He explained how he opened valves to allow the boat to take on water and told the crew, most of whom were also Ukrainian, to abandon the vessel. The yacht was only partially submerged and is salvageable, according to local reports. The Ukrainian added that he planned to return home to Kyiv to defend his homeland against the Russian invasion. “Today was my first battle,” he said when leaving the court.
his 139-metre Solaris seized. The vessel, dubbed the ‘most expensive custom-made yacht’ with an eye-popping price tag of €600million, is currently undergoing a refit in Barcelona’s MB92 shipyard. Other vessels known to be owned by associates of Putin have recently left Spanish ports to head out to international waters as the conflict in the Ukraine intensified.
Invasion
Meanwhile a superyacht believed to be owned by Putin himself sailed out of a German shipyard to a Russian port just days before the invasion. Dozens of other pleasure craft belonging to wealthy Russians are moored in ports across Spain and its islands. Although not on the scale of the mega-yachts they could still be among the assets seized if their owners appear on the black list.
EMERGENCY supplies donated by people in Mallorca have been distributed among Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian forces. A 24-tonne trailer crammed with food, warm clothes and medical supplies arrived at the Polish Ukrainian border on Tuesday a day after it set off from the Balearic Islands.
Packed
Donations flooded into the Ukrainian Church on Carrer de la Costa Brava in the island’s capital across Mallorca in the days following the invasion. Such was the overwhelming desire to help that the donations stacked up to the church roof and space had to be made in a nearby warehouse. Donations are now being welcomed at Carrer Gremi de Picapedrers, 2 at the Son Castello industrial estate.
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A GROUP of expat Ukrainians have quit their jobs in Murcia to join the resistance against Putin’s invading forces. Sergio Curas is among thousands of Ukrainians abandoning their safe lives in Spain to fight for their homeland. Curas, a builder, and two friends left Murcia with news of the invasion on February 24 and are already in Kyiv getting trained in the basics of resistance fighting. “We used to be normal citizens, and we left our job to join the war,” he said. “We are going to get weapons and we are going to wait for them,” he said of
OPINION
Not bricking it the Russian soldiers who are currently marching towards the capital. “I feel very proud of the Ukrainians who are resisting the aggressiveness of Russia,” he said. “If we don't help them, who is going to help?” He has joined up alongside many ex-servicemen from other European countries, who feel moved to travel to the embattled country. In echoes of the International Brigades, who fought for the government during the Spanish Civil War, Ukraine
NO PASARAN has set up the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine and called on foreign volunteers to help. “I invite you to contact foreign missions in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too,” said Dmytro Kuleba, minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine.
Russiaphobia Russians in Spain struggle as sanctions bite over Ukraine invasion
Care package MALLORCA’S expat-run international removal company is donating cardboard boxes to those transporting emergency supplies to refugees in Ukraine and its refugees in bordering countries following Russia’s invasion. A huge outpouring of support across the island has seen donations flood into collection points for transport to eastern Europe.
Right thing
However, when White & Co saw how donations were being packed up they stepped in to offer proper packing equipment. They have now donated new cartons and packing tape to ensure the safe transportation of supplies which include survival gear, non-perishable food and medical equipment. “It’s a small thing that we can do but as a company it’s the right thing to do,” a White & Co spokesman told the Olive Press.
LIBERTYCASHBACK
RUSSIANS in Spain are facing a backlash after the invasion of Ukraine, with reports of assaults and blackmail. And as banking sanctions start to bite, many find themselves with no cash and credit cards blocked with no way of buying food and essentials. While many long-time residents of Spain have local bank accounts, others have relied on their Russian accounts and credit cards,
PEACE: Russians march against war which are now frozen. Alexander Chepulrnoy, president of the Russian associa-
‘We’re not Putin’ “I regret what has happened to Russians like me here in Spain, though our problems are nothing compared to what is happening to the people of Ukraine,” Igor Bagaev, 56, told the Olive Press. He has no idea if he will be able to go back to his homeland, as he has been openly critical of the Kremlin. “I have no plan. We are all hostages to Putin. Most of all the Ukrainian people,” said the music and cultural promoter who moved to Estepona six years ago. For all the talk of sanctions on Russian oligarchs, there has been little consideration of the effects on those Russians who sought to escape Putin’s influence. “I wanted to move my family to a free society. I never voted for Putin.” he said. “Since the invasion my wife cries several times a day and I am scared for my children. My little boy had his first day of school today, but I can’t help but feel worried about his future. Normal Russians are not the enemy and I am not an oligarch.
Until APRIL 25th 2022
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March 11th - March 24th 2022
We are having a bad time, we are losing friends, people are feeling very low at the moment.
tion in Alicante, told the Olive Press: “Someone called me two hours ago, saying that his bank accounts had been blocked. I told them that they should go to the bank to see if they can solve it.” He believes that if the bank accounts of Russians based in Spain continue to be blocked, they will not be able to pay their bills - which means sanctions against Russians will have a knock on effect on Spanish companies.
Blackmail
Chepulrnoy, added that Russians based in Spain are suffering from ‘Russiaphobia’ “I know of two cases of Russians being assaulted and also of blackmail”. He said that this situation is impacting the Russian community emotionally. “We are having a bad time, we are losing friends, people are feeling very low at the moment.”
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WATCHING Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsey shot at and wounded along with one of his team, while clearly working for the press in Ukraine, was harrowing in the extreme. That his team was targeted by Russian soldiers while attempting to report on the conflict should however, not be a surprise. The world may have changed in the fortnight since our last edition, but what has not is the tyrant Putin’s hatred and disdain for journalists. Russia has, after all, been one of the most dangerous countries to be a reporter over the last two decades. Over 20 journalists have been slain in the country since Putin came to power, while most opposition leaders have also been imprisoned. The dictator simply does not want his dirty laundry aired or anyone questioning him. What ALSO hasn’t changed is the strength and generosity of the expat community in Spain. Faced with the third giant crisis of the century, we have quickly rallied around our fellow Ukrainian expats, who number around 112,000 in Spain, mostly on the coast. With an outpouring of compassion and generosity, the great Community of the Costas has jumped to help. Showing their true colours, they have collected, donated and organised themselves to help in any way possible. Alongside the Spanish (and some Russians, it should be pointed out) we have donated in our tens of thousands, with many offering their homes to refugees - and even driving there to pick them up. Some have even upped sticks to go and fight. And that should be no surprise - particularly for all of us schooled in the history of Spain and its infamous, tragic civil war. Just as tens of thousands of foreigners joined to fight for the Spanish Republic in the 1930s - collectively known as the International Brigades - Ukraine has set up its own International battalion and is now recruiting. Take note Russia: Madrid was completely surrounded, but under the passionate rallying cry of ‘No Pasaran’ (or They Shall Not Pass) it was NEVER taken during the savage three-year war. Joining to fight for the democratically elected Spanish Republic in 1936 was described as the ‘last great cause’. With Kyiv now nearly surrounded, this must be the first great cause of the 21st century. For Putin is now definitively an evil pariah not scared to kill innocent civilians and journalists doing their jobs. Said to be the world’s richest man, which is hard to prove due his lack of transparency, he certainly has the full trappings of wealth, befitting of the most corrupt leaders. This includes a mansion on the Côte d’Azur and, closer to home, a giant mansion near Marbella with a helipad, 24-hour security and three underground floors. As first revealed by this paper over a decade ago, completely denied by Moscow’s official press agency, which derided us as a ‘tiny and biased’ newspaper called ‘the Olive Tree’. We have always stood by the story with impeccable sources and knowing he was obviously not going to be buying it in his own name and would, of course, deny it. But it’s the giant complex that Putin’s been building on the Black Sea for the last decade that will ultimately spell his downfall. In fact it almost guarantees it. For the massive estate displays the very same megalomania displayed by the former Communist dictator of neighbouring Romania. And it was appropriately from his gross, outsized 7000room, 13-floor Bucharest Palace that tyrant Ceaucescu was summarily dragged out of by an angry mob and later hung in 1989. Dear Vlad: it’s coming!
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UNSTOPPABLE SOME 3,500 people joined International Women's Day demonstrations in Mallorca on March 8. The streets of Palma turned into a sea of purple as people came together to walk under the slogan 'Juntes som i serem imparables’ (Together we are and we will be unstoppable). Crowds gathered in Plaza de España on Tuesday at 7pm before marching along Carrer dels Oms. The protesters stopped in front of the Vox headquarters, which was on the way, and shouted phrases like 'Mallorca will be the grave of fascism'. The route continued along the Rambla with shouts such as 'we are the heart of those who no longer beat'. People held banners with slogans against issues such as the gender wage gap, sexist violence and pornography, while a statement was read out highlighting the 'intolerable' inequalities that still exist in our society. "This year we have found it fair and necessary to re-
MARCH: Fighting for equality in Palma
claim our history as women and as feminists articulating our manifesto", said the slogan from Mallorca’s Feminist Collective.
WIKIPEDIA NARCO
Vain British drug smuggler finally jailed after retrial NOTORIOUS British drug trafficker, Brian Charrington, dubbed the ‘Wikipedia Narco’ for updating his own profile on the site, has finally been found guilty and jailed for almost 11 years.
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It’s the second time the gangster has been tried for smuggling cocaine into an Alicante marina in 2013. The drug lord's original 2018 trial and conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court over impartiality issues, with a fresh hearing held last autumn. Charrington and his son Ray were originally convicted, along with three others, of smuggling 192 kilos of cocaine from South America to Altea on a yacht nine years ago. In 2013, police raided several 'luxury' properties owned by Charrington in the Calpe area as he was arrested with 'up-market cars' seized. He received a 15-year-jail sentence in his first trial which has now been reduced to 10 years and nine months. His son Ray and another defendant were acquitted but two others were found guilty, including an associate named as Aleksei P. Both were ordered to pay a €15.3
RECKONING: Brian Charrington brought to justice at last million fine. Charrington's long history of brushes with the law included a customs raid at his UK home in 1992 that unearthed millions of pounds in alleged drugs money. He escaped criminal charges when it was revealed he was a police informant.
Conspiracy
In 2002, a Leeds trial collapsed when Charrington and two Middlesbrough police officers faced public office conspiracy charges. The case fell apart when the judge ruled against illegally-obtained phone taps. In July 2003, a German court jailed him for seven years after convicting him of drug smuggling, and he also spent two years behind bars in France.
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A MALLORCA woman survived carbon monoxide poisoning that killed her husband because she was wearing a special device designed to stop her snoring. The 45-year-old woman was discovered close to death beside the body of her dead husband in their bed at a rural property in Sant Joan in the centre of the island on Tuesday afternoon. The couple’s son raised the alarm after he dropped by the house because they weren’t answering their phones.
Serious condition
Investigators from the local fire station believe she was saved from breathing in the poison gas, which was released by a faulty fridge pipe,because of a mask she was wearing to prevent sleep apnea. Unfortunately her 58-year-old husband had no such protection and had been dead for several hours by the time the alarm was raised. The woman was transferred to Manacor hospital where she is said to be in a ‘serious condition’.
Head teacher jailed THE former owner and headteacher of Mallorca's King Richard III College in Portals Nous has been jailed for eightand-a-half years after sexually abusing two women. James Berry, 77, who ran the select British school outside Palma for 30 years, was convicted of five charges, including rape at a Glasgow trial in January. The crimes committed in Scotland go as far back as the early 1960s. Berry was extradited from Spain in 2019 on a European Arrest Warrant. But for his age and the historic nature of the offences, Berry would have got a longer sentence of ten years. The judge at an Edinburgh sentencing hearing described his crimes as 'heinous.' Berry was cleared by a Mallorca court over sex abuse allegations brought against him in 2016. In a March 2019 letter to parents sent after his latest arrest, Berry said: ‘‘I beg you to continue to trust us and especially support my family.” Berry is married with three children and his family who live in Santa Ponsa.
Gruesome discovery A HUMAN skeleton thought to have been buried for at least fifteen years has been unearthed during building works in Cala Major, Mallorca. The grim discovery was made on March 9 by construction workers who were clearing the site of its thick undergrowth when the bones were revealed. They immediately called the police who sent several patrols to the area. The case is now being handled by the murder squad, who believe the body could have been buried there for more than a decade. The type of clothing discovered beside the human remains has led officers to believe it was a man. The body has been taken to the Instituto de Medicina Legal in Palma, where a post mortem will be carried out to verify the sex and age. DNA will also be extracted and checked with the missing persons database to try and find a match.
NEWS
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Staying put SPAIN’S former King Juan Carlos has said he will remain in exile in the UAE despite fraud investigations against him being dropped. Scandal-hit Juan Carlos, 84, who left Spain in August 2020, has been the subject of multiple money-laundering investigations by Spanish and Swiss authorities for the past two years.
Kickbacks
The Spanish prosecutor's office had been investigating Juan Carlos for allegedly receiving kickbacks linked to Spain’s high-speed train contract in Saudi Arabia. The decision to drop the probes - which followed a similar move by Swiss prosecutors late last year - came last week after investigators failed to find sufficient evidence of criminal activity. This led to speculation that the former monarch would consider returning to Spain. But a statement from Spain’s Royal Palace of Madrid appeared to rule that out. "For reasons that remain private and that only affect me, I prefer in this moment to continue living in a permanent and stable way in Abu Dhabi, where I have found tranquillity," wrote Juan Carlos to his son King Felipe VI.
Boys star in bar brawl Antony Starr arrested while on location filming with Jake Gyllenhaal in Guy Ritchie movie HE apparently went from soldier to rogue in a matter of minutes. New Zealand actor Antony Starr has been arrested after a vicious late night bar brawl on the Costa Blanca. The Boys star, 46, currently filming a war movie in Spain, allegedly glassed a fellow drinker after a fight broke out in Alicante city at 2am. According to the man he attacked, Venezuelan
Bathuel Araujo, 21, he was ‘very drunk’ and ‘bumping and pushing’ others in the bar.
Stitches
This led to an argument during which Starr allegedly hit him with a glass which left him needing four stitches above his eye. They got into another fight outside the bar mo-
Perverse prescription A MENORCA doctor has been convicted for filming dozens of patients as they undressed ahead of medical appointments at a hospital on the island. The doctor was handed a five year jail sentence and a seven-year disqualification for recording video footage of 94 patients in toilets and changing rooms. A judge also ordered him to pay compensation of between €1,700 and €7,000 to each of his victims. His sick voyeurism came to light when a nurse found a hidden camera in one of the hospital toilets and alerted police.
ments later and police confirmed that Starr had been detained. Starr, famous for roles in Amazon’s hit series The Boys and Homelander, is on location filming an action movie by British director Guy Ritchie. Ritchie’s new project is an as yet unnamed war film based in Afghanistan and stars Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal. Locations around Alicante are said to double for Afghanistan where the film is set.
March 11th - March 24th 2022
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Find the tall man! A NEW lead in the case of a British tourist killed while on holiday on Spain’s Costa Brava a decade ago has brought new hope that his murder could be solved. Craig Mallon was 26 when he was dealt a killer punch while in Lloret de Mar, Catalunya, in May 2012. Craig, from Cambridgeshire, was on his brother’s stag-do when a group of French men attacked him and his friends as they left the Rockefellers Bar. Despite multiple eyewitnesses of the incident, local police were never able to find a lead. However, this week it was revealed that a woman had made a call from the scene of the crime on the same night.
Killer
Now, a team set up specifically to find the killer has launched a fresh appeal to find the unknown caller. “An English-speaking woman telephoned the emergency services at 6:26am on May 19, 2012,” a spokesman for the The Craig Mallon Appeal told the Olive Press. “The woman spoke about a tall man and others in-
VICTIM: Mallon was killed by a single punch
volved in a fight. The description of the distinctly tall man features in other witness statements. The woman’s information is vital.” “This is very encouraging and I would urge the woman or someone who might know her to come forward,” said his father Ian Mallon. “They did the right thing making the phone call that night, but they might not have known what happened to Craig.” David Swindle, who heads up the inquiry team for the case, said: “We will keep pushing with this and we are now approaching the 10th anniversary. We do hope the woman or someone who knows her comes forward.”
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February 25th - March 10th 2022
THE MYSTERY OF MARIA! A special four-page pullout
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Despite changing her appearance and name to ‘Maria’, Britain’s Most Wanted woman Sarah Panitzke has been snared after eight years in hiding. But what made the public school educated Masters graduate do it?
S
HE was long Britain’s most wanted woman for her part in a £1 billion (€1.2 billion) VAT scam. Somehow escaping the reach of British and Spanish police for eight long years, she changed her appearance and disappeared deep into the Catalan outback. But finally the long arm of the law has caught up with Sarah Gina Panitzke, 47, after she was arrested while walking her dogs near the town of Santa Barbara, in Tarragona province. As unlikely as it was surprising, she was filmed by the Guardia Civil being detained in a park in the town looking like a harmless middle-aged Spanish housewife. Incredibly she had been living in Catalunya for two decades and even after police had tracked her down to the Barcelona satellite town of Olivella, in 2015, when they followed her husband who took her regular supplies. But somehow she was able to escape, before changing her appearance and moving to Santa Barbara. It is understood she completely cut off from her Spanish husband and family back in the UK, who she previously communicated with via Facebook, and moved into an anonymous apartment, above an English academy in the town. While the former owner of the now-
closed Enjoy English language school insists she did not work By Alex Trelinski, there, neighbours told the Olive Jorge Hinojosa Press this week she was ‘myste& Elena Goçmen Rueda rious’ and didn’t communicate much. According to her Linkedin page, She did however change her she even ended up landing the name, we can reveal, to Maria plum job as the manager at the and ‘could have been masquerfour star Hotel Subur Maritim, in ading’ as a Spaniard, thanks upmarket Sitges, from 1998 to to her excellent grasp of the 2000. Quite an achievement. language picked up during her But inexplicably she found hertime studying at university in self recruited into notorious tax Barcelona and a Spanish decriminal Geoffrey Johnson’s gree in the UK. web of 18 fraudsters in Britain “All I know is she was known in via an acquaintance. the town as Maria,” the mayor She opened a of Santa Barbacompany called ra, Antonio Olles, Investerest and told the Olive Collectively became part of a Press. “I realgang members shady network of ly can’t tell you companies that much more.” cheap An enigma she were sentenced bought certainly was. to 135 years in mobile phones in overseas counPublic school edjail tries without VAT, ucated, she got then sold them in ten GCSEs and the UK for a big three A-levels at profit. York College for Girls, before Panitzke ended up travelling to taking Spanish at Manchester places like Dubai and Andorra University and then a Masters to ‘clean’ the money the gang in Business Management at had stolen. Pompeu Fabra University, in Originally from York, PanitzBarcelona. ke disappeared in May 2013 She made dozens of contacts before being convicted and and good friends around sentenced in absentia to eight the autonomous reyears behind bars. gion, as well as a She was the last of the gang to network of expats be caught, with other members in Spain. collectively sentenced to 135 She initially years in jail at Kingston Crown worked as an Court, in 2013. English teacher Investigators were tasked with before running locating her and found plenty of businesses, leads in Spain. including one, Under Operation Vaulter, UK the Universal holidaymakers were asked to Transolution help catch the ‘Most Wanted group SL, that woman’ with various appeals ‘produced going out from 2016 on the electronic National Crime Agency’s Most components Wanted list. for all types She was said to have ‘disapof devicpeared into thin air’ and in 2019 es’. police revealed that she was responsible for laundering approxPUBLISHER / EDITOR imately one billion pounds. Jon Clarke, jon@theolivepress.es It was a shockingly large sum and she must have known the Dilip Kuner Fiona Govan net was closing in on her. dilip@theolivepress.es fiona@theolivepress.es While she appeared to live a humble life when arrested a week ago, she did certainly Kirsty McKenzie Alex Trelinski own at least one other propkirsty@theolivepress.es alex@theolivepress.es erty in Spain, on the Costa Blanca in Villajoyosa, we have Simon Wade Cristina Hodgson discovered. simon@theolivepress.es cristina@theolivepress.es She was a regular visitor there, according to one ex-boyfriend, British expat James Brooks, Elena Goçmen Rueda Joshua Parfitt who went on holiday at her elena@theolivepress.es joshua@theolivepress.es home in Villajoyosa, near where he now lives. OFFICE MANAGER ADMIN DISTRIBUTION What’s certain is that she must Héctor Santaella Sandra Aviles Diaz ENQUIRIES have had control of a lot of mon(+34) 658 750 424 (+34) 951 273 575 (+34) 951 273 575 ey as she is also now facing anaccounts@ admin@ distribution@ other nine years added to her theolivepress.es theolivepress.es theolivepress.es sentence due to the non-payment of a £3 million confiscaNEWSDESK: 0034 951 273 575 tion order. While currently fighting extradiFor all sales and advertising enquiries tion in Madrid, she is expected please contact 951 27 35 75 to be sent back to face justice HEAD OFFICE over the next few weeks. Carretera Nacional 340, km 144.5, Calle Espinosa 1, Edificio cc El One friend, who she met while Duque, planta primera, 29692, Sabinillas, Manilva on a TEFL teacher training course in Barcelona described Deposito Legal PM 610-2017 her arrest as a ‘total shock’.
ON THE RUN: The UK’s most wanted poster
ARREST: In the town of Santa Barbara and (right) a young Sarah Panitzke at €20,000-a-year private school Teacher Loretta Louise Lacour, 54, who now lives in Lanzarote, told the Olive Press she ‘seemed completely straight’ and believed ‘she must have been influenced by someone’. As to who, she can’t say, but she did meet her boyfriend - a Catalan called ‘Joan’ - on a couple of occasions. “When I met her in Barcelona we just clicked straightaway… She was very friendly and we group, where Sarah was an ‘adgot on very well. ministrator’ was a man called “I didn’t know anything about Joan Ribas Carceller. [this crime side], I was totally According to official Spanish shocked when I found out. She company house records the seemed completely straight and company had another director it is not the Sarah that I met.” with the name ‘Juan Ribas CarShe added she had visited celler’ also on the deeds. her upmarket home in a gated A former employee of the comcommunity in the seaside town pany, Josep Maria de Cara Tora, of Vilanova i la confirmed that Geltru, south of Joan worked Sitges. there but didn’t She seemed “She lived in a wish to comment so straight, I very nice house, further. But bein a secure prifore slamming wonder if her vate area, then down the phone, one day she dishusband Joan he confirmed connected all of that the compainfluenced her? ny was owned her numbers and I lost touch with by Sarah’s husher.” band. She continued: “I met with her We were unable to track down boyfriend Joan at their house Ribas Carceller - who also has for dinner once. I only met him a links to Investerest and many couple of times and he seemed other companies - before going normal too, but I wonder if he to press. perhaps ended up influencing Either way, the arrest came as her?” a huge coup for the British auThe Olive Press has discovered thorities. that the boss of the compa- Tom Dowdall of the UK’s Nationny, the Universal Transolution al Crime Agency said: “Sarah
Panitzke has been on the run for almost nine years. Given the length of time she might have thought we had stopped searching, but she remained on our radar. “Joint working between UK law enforcement and our partners in Spain led to her being apprehended. This should serve as a warning to others on our most wanted list – we will not rest until you are captured, no matter how long it takes.” A spokesman for Spain’s Guardia Civil meanwhile revealed that they had been keeping a close watch on her friends and family for the last few years, but she had apparently ‘broken off all physical contact’. “Finally, we found a woman closely matching the suspect’s physical description who lived in a block of flats on the outskirts of the town of Santa Barbara. “Mindful of what had happened in 2015, a large team of plainclothes officers was deployed and she was arrested while out walking her pets.”
International
Women’sDay
A special four-page pullout www.theolivepress.es
March 2022
END THE VIOLENCE A WOMEN TAKE TO THE STREETS: Marches are held across Spain for a cause not yet won
LTHOUGH Spain treats men and women equally by law, and the government has worked hard to educate the entire population about equality, many women still report sexist behaviour and ‘machista’ attitudes. Some of the most outmoded attitudes hark back to the Franco era of National Catholicism when, in 1939, the dictator removed any powers women had gained. Females were forced to be mothers and housewives, with no legal right to work, own property, or get divorced. They could go to prison for adultery, although straying husbands weren’t punished. A 1953 guide showed women how to be a good wife, including ensuring that the house was spotless, the children tidy, and dinner on the table. Women were told not to bother their husband with “trivial” chatter. It was a patriarchal society, with women treated as chattels. Progress has been made Ever since Franco died in 1975, women’s groups and female politicians have worked to rid the country of a
Spain has some of Europe’s most progressive gender laws and government-funded education campaigns discouraging domestic violence. But is it working? Jo Chipchase takes a look. ‘machista’ culture and secure equal rights. Feminists made rapid progress after the dictator’s death and as Spain developed as a democracy, women’s rights started to match those of other European countries. The husband’s permission rule was abolished in 1975, the adultery law went in 1978, and divorce was legalised in 1981. In 1987, the Spanish Supreme Court agreed that a rape victim didn’t have to prove they had fought the man back In 2004, the government introduced what is known as the “Integrated Law”, which funded the Government Delegation of Violence Against Women. And, in 2017, a State Pact was formed against gender violence. Carmen Quintanilla, vice president of AFAMMER, which works for women in rural areas explained: “Spain is a pioneer and benchmark country in
Blazing a trail
terms of laws that ensure equality, compared to other countries in Europe and worldwide. Until the elaboration of the 2017 State Pact, never before had a government been so committed to the eradication of gender violence.” Quintanilla points out that, in May 2019, Spanish Congress had the most female members in its history – 166, taking 47.4% of seats. This made the Spanish parliament the EU leader in gender parity. In the Cabinet, that number is even higher, with women taking the majority of ministerial roles, including that of Deputy Prime Minister. Not the top job yet though. However, a backslide occurred in 2019 when the far-right Vox - now Spain’s third largest political party - claimed that the gender violence law favours women and should be replaced with a family violence law. De-
Sarah Cowley The new Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Madrid is a pioneer as the first ever UK ambassador to take maternity leave Her message on International Women’s Day is one that transfers to all aspects of life and career. “There is a responsibility for those of us who have been the first to do something to showcase that to others, so they can see it can be done and how it can be done. “Women shout not hide their achievements and or be overly modest about them. They may not seem like big achievements to you but to other people they could be really inspirational. You could be a role model and blaze a trail for what others can do.”
spite this being controversial, some voters clearly approved. Vox also has made some questionable statements about women’s working roles. And when it comes to the workplace itself, the proportion of women in managerial positions remains around a third of that of men with the numbers dropping even further as careers progress. Spain's female executives earn 15.1 percent less than their male counterparts, although this is just below the EU average salary gap of 16 percent according to the latest EU data from 2017. Quintanilla says: “On average, Spanish women earn €5,977 less per year than men and occupy more than 70% of part-time contracts. Of these women, 46% affirm they are part-time because they care for dependents or cannot afford childcare services.” The Spanish government site for domestic violence (DV) and equality provides annual statistics about and femicide. At the end of 2021, Spain became the first European country to start recording all femicides, even in cases where the aggressor didn’t know the victim. Last year, 44 women were killed and nine of the male perpetrators had previously been denounced for domestic violence (DV). This compares to 47 in 2020 and 55 in 2019. Harking back a decade, Spain had 73 deaths of women at the hands of male partners or ex-partners in 2003 and 72 in 2004, so rates have at least decreased. Spain’s come a long way but the battle for equality isn’t over yet.
Fiona Govan Digital News Editor International Women’s Day – celebrated annually on March 8 – is a day that commemorates the social, political and economic achievements of women. This year is particularly poignant as we watch our sister Ukrainians suffer the brutal reality of war, making our own perceived struggles for equality in our generally safe environments pale in comparison. Eighty years ago, almost to the month, as the Second World War raged, my grandmother fled Kyiv as a Jewish refugee, the only member of her family to survive. She lost her family, her home, her belongings and even her name as she adopted a fake identity and forged papers to begin a new life, firstly in Iran and then when once again forced to flee during the Islamic Revolution, in England. But she never lost her indomitable Ukrainian spirit and that same spirit is apparent in every image of women broadcast from the war-torn country since the Russian invasion - whether reporting from the frontline, sheltering in bunkers or trekking miles to get to safety across borders. March 8 is a day to celebrate our grandmothers, our mothers, our sisters and our daughters, our fellow womankind and to come together in solidarity and peace in the hope of creating a better world. And this year it is more important than ever.
International
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March 2022
Taking on the bitcoin bros
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FT art typifies the modern age. It is techy, in high demand, and confusing to a large proportion of the population. Bought via cryptocurrency, the art is rendered using blockchain, which creates a unique stamp of the artwork, making each piece completely unique. The underworld of cryptocurrency and NFTs is male-dominated and has given rise to a dubious stereotype: the bitcoin-bro. But artist Gala Mirissa is taking on the big boys, one of the few female artists to ride the crest of the NFT wave. Her art features in forthcoming Hollywood film ‘Fresh Kills’ directed by actress Jennifer Esposito and she was named by BeInCrypto on International Women’s Day 2021 as one of the three most influential hispanic women in the cryptocurrency industry.
Recognition
She also recently designed a world first NFT cover for ELLE magazine. Speaking exclusively to the Olive Press, Mirissa says: “It wasn’t difficult to start making NFT art, but I found it much harder to get recognition as a woman. My social media following was increasing rapidly, but I wasn’t given the same opportunities and projects that I wanted to be a part of always ended up in male hands. In addition, most collectors are men who buy from men, and if they do make an offer to a woman it will be much cheaper.” “I think that when a man does something related to new technologies it is considered a profession, but when a woman does it it seems to be more like a hobby, something she does simply because she likes it and wants to try it. But actually, lots of women are into cryptoart and new technologies.” She hopes her success will inspire other women: “Many women who are starting out making NFT art write to me and ask me for a lot of advice, which I am happy to give. I hope my success can start to make the industry more female friendly”
WORLD FIRST: Palvin’s NFT cover for ELLE magazine
Women’sDay
GOING GREAT
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HIS year’s International Women’s Day is dedicated to recognising women’s achievements no matter how small. So it’s the perfect opportunity for the Olive Press to showcase women from the expat community in Spain who are doing great things. One of the biggest advocates for women in Spain has to be Ali Meehan. Ali set up what is one of the biggest women’s networking groups in Spain – Costa Women – more than 10 years ago. There are now 12,500 members and Ali and her Costa Women team have more than 20 events every single month. It is not all about business. As well as offering training and online business networking events, Costa Women offers discussion forums on important subjects like menopause, a book club, and the opportunity for women to get together socially all over Spain. Ali says she is immensely proud of how Costa Women has grown. Since January alone she has welcomed 275 new women to the group and launched a brandnew website and member app.
Women are often too modest to blow their own trumpets, so we sent Helen Barklam to speak to five inspirational women and do it for them
PROUD: (From left to right) Mari Miota Villalba, Sam Bayley, Helen Johnson, Debbi Skyrme and Ali Meehan
at Andalucia Lab in Marbella and she is crazy time. soon launching a new show ExpatRadio. “Paulina is now five and about 18 Mari Miota Villalba was born and raised months ago I decided it was time to in Alcala de Henares, Madrid. She get back to work. I secured a role as an moved to London and worked her way independent real estate agent for the up the ladder in Transport for London, biggest franchise in the world, Remax. becoming a very successBefore finishing my first ful senior reliability analyst year, I was named the “It has been a privilege and an honour with all the perks, and all best agent of the month If women to create Costa Women as a space for in her second language. out of 50 agents and believe in women to connect socially and share When Mari became pregreceived a huge promotheir businesses. We tend to forget that nant with her daughter, tion. I couldn’t believe it. as foreigners we have achieved much everything changed. Mari themselves they “I don’t think there is by first making the move to another and her husband Liam just one big achievecan achieve country. Then we create businesses in decided to move back to ment to celebrate. Movanything a language not our own, deal with bu- Spain to raise Paulina on ing to London, speaking reaucracy, and market our products and the coast. hardly any English and services in a different way, or on differ- “It was a scary prospect making a huge success ent platforms to those we are used to,” to pack up our lives and move back to in my time at Transport for London was she said. Spain, and a part that I did not know incredible. But then moving to a new It doesn’t stop there. Ali has just updat- well here on the Costa del Sol. Not only part of Spain and juggling both worked the Costa Women business directory had I left my home, I left an amazing job ing and being a mum has been a big and plans are in place for the organisa- to go to a strange place where I had no challenge. Everything has been worth tion’s annual conference on the May 12 friends and a new baby in tow. It was a it to be able to spend time with Paulina and be a good example and role model for her. “If women believe in themselves, even at the worst times, with perseverance, persistence, hard work, and empathy and kindness towards others, they can achieve everything they are determined to do,” she added. Bilingual celebrant Debbie Skyrme is a huge inspiration and BOSSY lady in a kilt with a ‘big bottom’ hardly sounds like role model for women across your typical war hero. the world. She moved to Spain But that’s exactly how Fernanda Jacobsen was described 12 years ago after she gave up by those that met her when she was sent to Madrid – the her job in the UK as a registrar beating heart of the social revolution – to help the wounded as of births, deaths and marriages. the Republican government faced off Nationalist forces in 1936. After eight years in rural Spain When military leader General Franco - backed by fellow fascists Debbie moved to the Costa Mussolini and Hitler - launched his bloody attempt to overthrow Tropical where she realised she the elected Spanish government, Fernanda was one of the first of could put her skills as a registrar almost 2400 Brits - around 550 of them Scots - to leave the safety to good use and become a wedof her home to join the fight against fascism. ding celebrant. Since then, she A ‘furious’ middle aged woman, Fernanda was working as a sechas won award after award for retary in Glasgow when she went to aid the humanitarian effort in TARTAN ARMY: Jacobsen organising food donations her work. Despues praised Fernanda and her ‘chicos’ for their humanitarthe poorest and worst hit parts of Madrid. “I have been presented with the The Scottish Ambulance Unit (SAU) was formed by her boss, the ian work in an article entitled ‘¡ESCOCIA POR ESPAÑA!’. International Wedding Award for wealthy and generous Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, Sir The unit was twice called back to Britain, in part because they three years running. Last year were mentally and physically exhausted, but also so they could Daniel Macaulay Stevenson. was one to remember. I was He believed his fiery Spanish-speaking assistant was the only per- collect food donations and old buses from Scottish companies awarded European Celebrant of son who could lead his team of medical volunteers to Spain safely that could be used to ferry the wounded to hospital. the Year. - and when the first convoy of six ambulances left Glasgow in Sep- Fernanda remained behind and appealed for contributions in Debbie has faced a challenging tember 1936, Miss Fernanda Jacobsen stood proud - a little over The Guardian, warning that the people of Madrid were ‘weakfew years since she set up her ened by malnutrition, not to say starvation, without fuel, without 5ft - as their loyal Commandant. business. coronavirus hit and Fernanda was only meant to stay in the necessaries of life, the coming of winter is to many of them all travel and foreign weddings Spain a few days, helping with trans- a sentence of death’. were cancelled. lation and sourcing contacts but soon The appeal was successful and Fernanda was able to open two “I had to reschedule 50 wedshe became indispensable and ran porridge canteens in January 1939 to provide food to the starvdings due to the pandemic ing people of Madrid. the unit for nearly three years. and I am still catching up now. Despite having no medical training Franco's military coup ultimately succeeded and the dictator deMy business has changed alot Fernanda found herself at the heart clared victory on April 1, 1939. The government-led Republicans since Covid. There is a new of the fighting in Toledo and Madrid, were crushed and one of Fernanda’s canteens was taken by the category of people getting marfeeding the starving and tending to Falangist relief organisation Auxilio Social, much to her fury. ried. Many are elopements Her work continued beyond the end of the war, and she returned the injured. with just the couple present, Spanish newspaper Politica said to Scotland in August 1939. She later received an OBE for her or micro weddings, with 10 or at the time: "The work already work in Spain. less guests. Many couples have carried out by these Scotsmen A tiny woman with a fiery temper, Fernanda was described as been diddled out of their wedwho came to Spain to mitigate ‘as indefatigable and bossy as Florence Nightingale herself’ ding elsewhere due to Covid and the sufferings of war is really and she was never seen without her kilt, military jacket and want to come out and do the big extraordinary.” Indeed, local Glengarry bonnet. dress and the photos here in people were so amazed by She later said: “My kilt costume was always my best protection, Spain. And others are coming the resilience of the Scottish a perfect ‘Salvoconducto’. There are always troubles if I am about here on holiday and want to force, they named them sent and the Macaulay kilt gets me everywhere without harm to combine it with a wedding,” she me or those accompanying me”. ‘Los Brujos’ - the wizards. explained. Another newspaper Not all heroes wear capes - some prefer tartan. During Covid, Debbie recognised what was going to happen when
Remembering Madrid’s civil war battleaxe - a nurse from Glasgow
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the world opened up again. She spent renovations, all from orders taken at the lockdowns here in Spain reaching out to market. It was incredible. I was good at other multi-lingual celebrants to create drawing and scaling, so I had an idea to the Celebrants in Spain directory. draw and paint cartoon characters onto “It was important to me that any wed- pieces of wood. It came to a point when dings that needed rearranging could go we were selling 50 pieces a week on the ahead on the date the client requested. market. And on top of that, my biggest fear was “From 2008, for around four years, it getting sick, losing my voice or being was really tough. We had to rethink struck by Covid and not being able to the business to fit in with what people officiate the wedding. I couldn’t bear the wanted and could afford during this thought of my clients losing their wed- recession period. We turned to helping ding again. people to renovate existing kitchens to “As much as Covid really rocked me, it fit budgets so our clients felt like they has actually made my business stron- had a new kitchen, but we had just reger. Now, I don’t have to turn anyone freshed it. That has been the business away.” model ever since. Sam Bayley’s business, Painted Kitch- “For years I was mostly found in a mask en, began 30 years ago when she ar- in the spray room, very much in the rived in Spain as a 27 background. I came out year-old new mum… proto do any specialist deviding her husband with sign work. It worked reWe have sandwiches to take to ally well around the kids customers who and schooI. But in 2014 Fuengirola market. Now she has her own specialwas at a networking have been with Ievent ist painting business and representing Joe’s works alongside some business when I realised us from the huge global brands. that the work I was doing start “Joe, my husband, startcould be a stand-alone ed off showcasing mock business. That was when ups of kitchen and bedPainted Kitchen was room furniture that he could create and born,” took orders each week at the market. Sam is now travelling up and down the “It grew and grew to a point where we coast from Nerja all the way down to were doing full kitchen and bathroom Sotogrande and Gibraltar doing profes-
How one of Spain’s most successful expat entrepreneurs came to lead an all-female team, writes Fiona Govan
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ENNINFER CUNNINGHAM is proud of the fact that she leads a team of twenty women in what has become one of the most successful expat businesses in Spain. “It isn’t a policy to only employ women, it just turns out that they are the ones that have thrived,” she explains. “Applications are open to everyone and we have employed men and I try to keep a balance in the teams, but it’s the women that seem to be most successful in this business and the ones that stay on for years and years, while the men just don’t seem to keep up.” She is talking about her business empire comprising seven offices across the Costa Blanca and one in Lanzarote offering private insurance designed especially for members of the expat community. Cunningham, a long-term resident of Javea, learnt early on that to get ahead as a woman in a male-dominated business sphere in Spain, she had to be fearlessly determined, a quality she has in spades thanks to her time in the Royal Air Force. “Being in the RAF was one of the happiest times in my life and where I had discipline instilled in me,” she recalls. “As a result
sional spraying and hand painting. “I think my greatest achievement has been to realise that I am quite good at what I do and luxury brands like Clive Christian Homes want to work with me. I am really proud of how a nugget of an idea on Fuengirola market has turned into what it has,” she added Helen Johnson has taken her business from a phone box in Mijas to a business with clients from Almeria to the Portuguese in the 36 years she has been on the coast. Her and her husband run Envirocare Spain, which is an air conditioning and pool heating business and Masterbuild Spain – a kitchens and bathrooms renovation company. Helen said: “A magazine came through our door in the UK and on the front of it was an apartment in La Cala Golf covered in beautiful purple bougainvillea. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I am not quite sure how it all happened, but we rented out our house, packed up our car and drove down to southern Spain. “We had no money. We used the rent from our house to pay the rent on the apartment, but there wasn’t much left. I got a job in a telesales call centre selling air conditioning. They didn’t pay me the first week. No money the second week. By the end of the month there was still no money. I left and took my leads with me. “My husband and I went down to the local phone box as there were no internal phones and couldn’t believe it when the first lead we called bought an air conditioning unit. My husband was an engineer, so he could fit it. The deposit just about paid for the unit. And that was the start of our business. “We have customers who have been with us from the very start. I think our biggest achievements are to create what we did back when we arrived and create a life for us and our family out here. “Stuff doesn’t just happen. You have to embrace the country you are in and make a life where you are. I think that is really important for women who are moving to this wonderful country and want to make a success of themselves. I have worked hard with my husband to create an amazing business,” she added. Over to you. What are your biggest achievements? Let’s shout about them!
Pamela Twissell-Cross MBE, Her voluntary work during the Covid crisis rewarded with Queen’s New Year Honour
Care and compassion
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AMELA Twissell-Cross had never imagined her life would take such a turn, after retiring to Spain. After a long career saving lives in the NHS, life in Spain was missing one important element - the need to continue helping others. Following a decade of voluntary work with the Royal British Legion, she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List, for services to British nationals overseas. Pamela became involved with the Royal British Legion as a welfare volunteer caseworker in 2011, becoming District Community Support Coordinator three years later. Despite the role being voluntary, the satisfaction she gained from the job made it almost full time. Pamela became involved with coordinating all the welfare work for an area stretching from the Spanish border with France down to Almeria. As if that wasn’t enough, she also took on responsibility for a similar role in the Balearic Islands. Pamela works tirelessly in her efforts to find men and women that would benefit from the Royal British Legion’s help and support. Once found, she ensures relevant and specific help is provided for those beneficiaries.
Deserved
By 2020, Pamela and her team assisted an incredible 569 people throughout Spain. Pamela told the Olive Press: “I feel very honoured to be nominated for this honour, let alone chosen.” Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott said: “As with most voluntary organisations, the Covid-19 pandemic has added to the RBL’s workload and, as their patron in Spain, I know how busy Pamela has been over the past two years, managing and supporting an increasing number of calls to the helpline.” “Yet, despite the volume of work, Pamela treats each beneficiary as an individual, showing seemingly endless compassion and care. She is also a tremendous help to our consulate in Alicante, providing a level of support to prisoners, and welfare and hospitalisation cases, which we would not be able to offer alone. This honour is very richly deserved.” She received the news from the British Ambassador by telephone, thinking it was a joke. “We’d been talking about routine business and going through some figures,” explained Pam, “and then, very matter-of-fact, Hugh asked if I’d mind getting an MBE!” “It was a complete surprise and probably the most wonderful surprise I have ever had. I do wish my parents were still here to see it.” “I felt so privileged and excited because I do the work to give back to the community for the wonderful life I have had - I never expected anything in return.” “However,” she continued, “It would be impossible to achieve anything without the amazing team around me, especially the caseworkers who support beneficiaries in so many ways and I cannot thank them enough for their support, ideas and trust.”
I’M PROUD THAT WOMEN THRIVE IN MY BUSINESS I don’t stand for any nonsense but that also means people know where they stand with me, which is very important in business.” But she recalls the hardships of starting up three decades ago when it was hard for a woman to be taken seriously. “I was a widow, surviving on a meagre widow’s pension and so the only way I could start up was to re-mortgage my home, borrow money and make it work,” she recalls. “I had problems finding a bank who would support me and I remember the first time I presented my business plan to get a loan, the bank manager wouldn’t address me directly but kept looking towards the male friend I had brought with me. “I had to point out that it was me who was borrowing the money, that I was the business owner and when they didn’t take me seriously, I walked out and went somewhere else.” She eventually found a sym-
pathetic bank manager, a man who has supported her ever since her first venture, and who she has stayed with as he moved across different banks. She then began working with Liberty Insurance and ASSSA Seguros designing special packages for the expat market and has built up a reputation as a hugely successful expat businesswoman. “At the beginning they didn’t want to take me on and they felt sure that I would fail,” she reveals. “My style of selling was completely new to them, the culture here in Spain was so different.” “As an entrepreneur I had to take risks and convince those who had the financial backing of huge institutions behind them to take a risk on me, but I proved myself and in the end, those very same people looked to me to lead strategy and even asked me to teach them how to do it.” Outside of work she is committed to building up a hospice charity that offers invaluable support to the terminally ill and their families among the expat community on the Costa Blanca. Over the last year alone, the charity and its team of 20 volunteers has helped more than 100 people by providing care at the end of life.
The charity is very close to her heart as she set it up following the death of her son Paul from cancer when he was only 33-years-old after witnessing the care he was given during his last days in a Sue Ryder hospice in Bedfordshire. “They had taken such exceptional care of my son but on my return to Spain I looked around to see what would happen if someone was in the same circumstance here in Spain and discovered that there really wasn’t anything similar. People were simply being sent home to die to be cared for by their family, but what if that wasn't possible?” The realisation led her to set up the Paul Cunningham Nurses Charity, which is run thanks to volunteers and donations with three charity shops on the Costa Blanca – although fundraising has taken a hit with the pandemic. “We are always looking for volunteers and it would be great to have some fundraising events now Covid is less of a threat,” she says. “The business and the charity have been my reason to get out of bed and do justice to my life and to his,” she admits. Visit www.jennifercunningham.net or www. paulcunninghamnurses.com for more info
LA CULTURA
March 11th - March 24th 2022
All hands on wreck PRICELESS artefacts lost at sea during Roman times off the coast of Mallorca have been brought to the surface. The wreck, known as the Ses Fontanelles, was retrieved following an operation involving experts from The University of the Balearic Islands as well as Barcelona and Cadiz university. The ship, which sank some 1,700 years ago, offers a fresh insight into Roman civilisation with many hundreds of artifacts still in a remarkable
A RECOVERY operation overseen by the Consell de Mallorca has unearthed By George Mathias
condition. The findings are all the more incredible given the boat's close proximity - under 50 metres - to the popular Can Pastilla beach. The 12-metre-long, six metre
wide boat was first discovered three years ago following a heavy storm, though rumours of its existence had been shared between Mallorcan residents since at least the 1950s. Following its discovery, the Consell de Mallorca assembled a team of archaeologists
On the tiles
A LARGE mosaic dating back to Roman times has been uncovered at an olive grove in Cordoba. A ‘fortuitous earth movement’ led to a farmer making the remarkable discovery in the town of Adamuz. He then reported the major artifact to the Nature Protection Service (Seprona) and archaeologists began digging on the site. Archaeologist Alejandro Ibañez, who led the team of excavators, said: “This province of ours does not stop giving us surprises”. For security reasons, and to avoid looting, the speHIDDEN TREASURE: In Cordoba cific place of the discovery has not been revealed.
OP QUICK CROSSWORD Across 6 It lay in the house that Jack built (4) 7 Crude source (8) 9 Finely chopped (8) 10 Pop, air and cap (4) 11 Recent architectural genre (13) 14 No-nonsense stance (4,9) 17 Opera singer --- Terfel (4) 19 Total sales (8) 20 Reorganising ripe romp is unseemly (8) 21 Disney dog (4)
OP SUDOKU
Down 1 Spa wear (8) 2 Turnings in town, often windy (6,7) 3 Caribbean cult (6) 4 “Mrs. Dalloway” author (8,5) 5 Scottish valley (4) 8 Masonic group (5) 12 Trotter Boy? (3) 13 Turns out well (8) 15 King of the castle (2,3) 16 Mistakes (6) 18 Their dams produce lambs (4)
All solutions are on page 13
11
TALK OF THE TOWN
TIME CAPSULE: 1,700 year old artifact found and marine experts to embark on a three-year project. What they found stunned them. “Things have been so perfectly preserved that we have found bits of textile, a leather shoe and an espadrille, the most surprising thing about the boat is just how well preserved it is – even the wood of the hull, it’s like it was made yesterday,” said Dr Miguel Ángel Cau, an archaeologist from the University of Barcelona. By analysing minerals from clay found inside some amphorae on the ship, the team determined the boat originally set sail from Cartagena in Spain.
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A festival which promotes Catalan language is to return to Mallorca this summer after a nine-year hiatus A celebration of the Catalan language will take place on the penultimate weekend of April this summer. The event, known as correllengua, criss-crosses 25 municipalities across Mallorca with a symbolic torch passed between some 5,000 participants over a stretch of 200km. President of Joves de Mallorca per la Llengua, Pau Emili Muñoz said: "We call on all Mallorcans to take up the 'flame' and run in favor of our language, so that it continues to be present in all areas of daily life."
Vitality
The event begins on April 22 with an opening ceremony in Palma’s Plaza de Cort. A host of high-ranking public officials will open the ceremony, including president of the Consell de Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, the mayor of Palma, Jose Hila and the rector of the university of the Balaerics, Jaume Carot. Afterwards, a torch which represents ‘the vitality of the Catalan language’ will begin its journey, passing from volunteer to volunteer.
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been extended to 70 years of age, whilst the upper age limit for renewals has been extended to 80 years of age. What’s more, Life cover with Liberty Seguros now boasts a wide range of additional new extra options too. For example, you can take out extended cover for repatriation to ANY country; and, if you have children under the age of 18, beneficiaries can receive double the insured capital in the event of the death of both spouses in the same accident. Furthermore, this is without having to take out an additional policy either. LIBERTY SEGUROS really does have you covered and always has your real needs in mind! This includes a 24/7 freephone number for both roadside assistance and emergency home assistance with English-speaking operators. For more information on Car, Home or Life policies and to find out about all the great benefits of taking out insurance with LIBERTY SEGUROS, simply call or visit one of the more than 300 qualified expatriate brokers and agents. They are available to provide friendly and expert advice, in your language, about the best covers and options to suit your specific needs whilst in Spain.
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12
GREEN
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March 11th - March 24th 2022
DO SOMETHING!
MEPS visit Spain to study Mar Menor pollution MEPS have been on a fact-finding mission in Spain to see why the Med’s biggest saltwater lagoon is ‘dying’. The European Parliament delegates will compile a report over the next three months that aims to get an all-party consensus to approve a package of financial help to clean up the Mar Menor in Murcia.
Audit
Latvia MEP and a member of the Green group in Brussels, Tatjana Zdanoka, said that she would propose that any EU funds allocated to help the regeneration of the Murcia lagoon should be fully audited. Zdanoka said that the MEPs were able to verify ‘firsthand the gravity of the environmental state of the Mar Menor’. “It is a problem which has many origins, which must be addressed at all levels of administrations, which includes European bodies,” she said.
Drying up SPAIN’S reservoirs have dropped by 155 hectares of water in just one week adding to the severe threat of drought. This means water stores have fallen by 0.3%. Currently 24,713 cubic hectometers of water are stored in Spain’s reservoirs about 44% of overall capacity. This is nearly a third less than the ten year average and 31.33% less than in the same week a year ago.
The Mar Menor has suffered a series of mass death events with tonnes of fish and other sea creatures washed ashore. Scientists believe that a lack of oxygen has been the probable cause. This problem has been blamed on
high levels of fertiliser and pig slurry seeping into the water from the Campo de Cartagena. It has become a big issue, with thousands of demonstrators demanding action at a series of marches over the past few years.
Shameful record SPAIN has been given a shameful title - the biggest exporter of shark fins in the EU. A report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare highlighted the nation’s ‘key’ role in the trade, which it claims is leading several species to extinction. Spain shipped 51,795.32 tonnes of fins, with Hong Kong. Taiwan and Singapore major importers. Portugal, the Netherlands, France and Italy were next in line as exporters. Despite shipping the most shark fins, Spain was behind Italy when it came to exports of shark meat. Italian fishermen sold 608.47 tonnes of the fish.
As electricity prices soar, end users might like to know about one of the fat cats cashing in
WHAT A BUGGER’S MUDDLE WE are all up to speed with the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Ukraine, but at what cost to the environment? Simple answer: MASSIVE!! This horrifying international conflict is just another reason why humanity must cut its reliance on nonrenewable resources such as gas and oil. Reliance on fossil fuels is unsustainable. FACT. The war in Ukraine is tied to the climate crisis in many ways. The aggressor is a petrostate whose long term economic future depends on slow action to cut emissions. On the one hand European dependence on Russian oil and gas is driving conversation on accelerating the transition to clean energy. That’s the good news. On the other hand terrible actions are occurring. Fossil fuel extraction is set to increase. In Germany the anti-nuclear Green Party, which heads the coalition in power, is starting to think that nuclear is a better option than depending on Russian gas. And it’s considering reviving coal mines to generate electricity. In Hamburg, energy company Vattenfall, has halted preparations for dismantling the Moorburg coal plant as a consequence of this war. The 27 countries in the European Union get 40% of their natural gas from Russian controlled sources. Putin sees this as a distinct advantage. SHALE IS BACK The climate movement has fought hard to stop fracking and phase out fossil fuels. But fracked shale gas is making a comeback in America because it’s plentiful. MILITARY POLLUTION The world’s militaries are the largest climate polluters in history. The military uses more liquified fossil fuels and emits more CO2 than most countries do.
Green
HIGHER DEFENCE SPENDING
Putin is dragging the world into a new era of higher defence spending and military priorities. This will have a direct impact on the necessary finance required to meet targets agreed to at COP-26. War will slice through the resolve countries have to tackle climate change. COP-26 was less than four months ago and already the landscape has drastically changed. PUTIN: “The smiling climate change assassin”
HEADLINES CHANGED This war has understandably grabbed the headlines. A major climate change report, important to us all, is not getting the publicity it should. The IPCC report once again hammers home the need for change. The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutteres described the contents as ‘An atlas of suffering’. (Not all Russians support Putin. The Moscow delegation at the IPCC apologised on behalf of those opposed to the conflict to the IPCC co chair Hans-Otto Portner.) How will Europe manage its energy crisis? ONE THING IS FOR SURE…OUR UTILITY BILLS WILL RISE Gas and electricity bills will continue to rise. As will petrol and diesel prices. Oil has now topped US$105 a barrel - the highest for eight years. Remember how you thought not that long ago petrol would never get to €1 a litre? Soon we’ll see it hit €2 a litre. Remember cheap electricity 18 months ago? We all go ouch when bills arrive now! How long before a KWh of electricity costs €1?
RUSSIAN IRONY It’s ironic that whilst this war wages on, climate issues in Russia are a real concern for Russian citizens. (Not the top of Putin’s list). In Russia the very ground is moving. Melting permafrost is believed to have brought one of the worst environmental disasters in the country’s recent past. In 2020 during a heatwave the subsiding earth caused a tank to split, spilling 20,000 tons of diesel into the rivers and lakes near Norilsk. And while Russia pursues its imperial war in the south, in the north climate change has launched a chemical war. Anthrax released from the melting soil in recent years is only the first warning shot. Tackling these problems requires huge investment and planning. This should be Russia’s priority. Not unsolicited territory grabs. For those not familiar with the term ‘Bugger’s Muddle’, it comes from a 1950s post war expression meaning an absolute mess. Bugger - to sodomise, ruin, wreck, incapacitate, thwart. Just about sums up Mr Putin.
Martin Tye is the owner of energy switch company Mariposa Energy. +34 638145664 ( Spain Phone ) Email him at martin@mariposaenergia.es
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FOOD,DRINK & TRAVEL
Burger me, that’s good
AN Ibiza-made burger made from oxtail has been named among the best burgers across Spain. The ‘rabo de toro’ patty topped with Old Gouda and braised apple was placed in the top ten in the Spanish Hamburger Championship which took place at the Estrella Galicia brewery in A Coruña this week. More than 240 chefs from across Spain presented their burgers and Kitchen 62 in Ibiza’s Sant Antoni de Portmany was placed in the number 9 slot, the only restaurant from the Balearic Islands to make it on the list.
The world’s biggest cruise ship is set to dock in Palma this spring bringing 7,000 passengers to the island. Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas set sail from Florida on its maiden voyage this week in a tour around the Caribbean islands. But on May 9 the gigantic vessel will
March 11th - March 24th 2022
Top table
HMS Whopper!
dock in Mallorca on its first tour of the Mediterranean. Built in the French shipyards of SaintNazaire, the ship measures 362-metres in length and weighs a whopping 236,857 tonnes. It boasts 20 different restaurants and even has a mini-golf course on board as well as a water park complete with splash slides, twin climbing walls and a ten story high zip wire. Its 18 decks can accommodate up to 6,988 guests across 2,867 staterooms.
LOOSER RULES Spain relaxes Covid travel regulations for visitors
TRAVELLERS from non-EU countries will be allowed entry to Spain if they have a Covid recovery certificate, in the latest loosening of travel restrictions. Until now Spain had only allowed tourists from ‘high risk’ third countries if they were fully vaccinated with EU-ap-
By Fiona Govan
proved vaccines and had a certificate to prove it. But Spanish authorities have
OP Puzzle solutions Across: 6 Malt, 7 Oilfield, 9 Shredded, 10 Guns, 11 Postmodernism, 14 Zero tolerance, 17 Bryn, 19 Turnover, 20 Improper, 21 Lady. Down: 1 Bathrobe, 2 Street corners, 3 Voodoo, 4 Virginia Woolf, 5 Glen, 8 Lodge, 12 Del, 13 Succeeds, 15 On top, 16 Errors, 18 Rams.
Much more than four stars.
SUDOKU
Quick Crossword
relaxed the rules and now allow all WHO approved vaccines as well as certificates proving that a traveller has recovered from Covid within the last six months. Recovery certificates must be recognised documents issued by health authorities in the travellers home country, such as an NHS pass. Although the rules have been relaxed for non-EU/EEA nationals for non-essential travel, some proof of either vaccination or recovery is required. Those non EU/EEA citizens who are unvaccinated and do not have a recovery certificate are still banned unless their reason for travel falls into one
Friends.
of the exemptions. These do not include tourism. The rules apply to all travellers over the age of 18, although 12 to 17-year-olds who don’t have a full vaccination record can instead produce a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before travelling.
SUPERSTAR Robert De Niro was treated to a slap-up 16-course meal cooked up by five of the world’s top chefs. The 78-year-old was served the show-stopping menu by Michelin-starred Spanish chefs Quique Dacosta, Carles Tejedor, Joan Roca and Martin Berasategui, as well as Argentinean Mauro Colagreco. The Taxi Driver star spent more than three hours in the royal suite at Madrid’s newly refurbished Ritz hotel along with partner Tiffany Chen, even slicing jamon himself. Staff reported he was in very good spirits, quipping once he sat down: “Give me everything leftover to go.” But at the end of the meal the chefs joked that he seemed to want even more then the multitude of courses served. The chefs pulled out all the stops, serving, among other things, white asparagus and truffle contessa by Roca, beetroot with Osciètre caviar sauce by Colagreco and caramelised mille-feuille of smoked eel, foie gras.
Booster
Children under 12 don’t need a PCR test or vaccination record. Current rules also demand that the last dose of a vaccine must have been administered between two weeks prior and within nine months of entry – so for many people proof of a booster is now required.
A CUT ABOVE: De Niro slices jamon
Good life.
Reset.
Comfort.
At Ocean Drive Port Portals we have our own star rating. Because, we like the stars of the Majorcan sky, the stars that form the lights of the harbour or the star service provided by each member of our team.
Music.
A hotel that maximises the destination to it's full potential, thanks to it's excellent location. It offers great local experiences at any moment. With art, design, relaxation and comfort. A hotel full of life.
Sunset.
13
OUT OF ORDER
EU declares penalties for breaching infamous form 720 ‘disproportionate’
T
HE 720 form is in question. This infamous and abusive Spanish tax form has now been declared contrary to the free EU movement of capital. The EU Court of Justice ruled on January 27 2022 that the penalties imposed are disproportionate and are not necessary to guarantee the effectiveness of the Spanish tax legal system. On top of that, the power of the Spanish Tax Office to treat that information as an undeclared capital gain, even before the four years statute of limitation has elapsed, is abusive. Form 720 is still mandatory, and it should be prepared before the end of March 2022. However, the Spanish Government must modify the current penalties. This process is likely to take several months. Del Canto Chambers is now considering potential legal action to be brought against the Spanish Tax Office for those affected. Form 720 is a full declaration of all the assets held abroad by the Taxpayer, with heavy fines and penalties for lack of compliance. Form 720 is required to those who are tax resident in Spain when the value of any assets held abroad surpasses €50,000 including: ● Bank accounts ● Investments: including shares, securities, insurance… ● Properties The fines imposed for not complying are:
Claudio Rodríguez, Tax Counsel European Lawyer and Spanish Abogado (London) ● €5,000 for every piece of information that is not submitted, or if it’s not accurate. €10,000 is the minimum fine paid if this omission is detected by the authorities. ● €100 for every piece of information on the form when it is submitted by post, rather than electronically. €1,500 is the minimum fine paid if the individual does not complete the electronic form. ● €100 for every piece of information on the form when it is submitted after the deadline and before it is requested by the Tax Authorities. But that’s not all. Any assets not listed on the form will be included in your taxable base as an undeclared gain. In that case there is a penalty of 150% applied to the relevant unpaid tax. Thankfully, this has now been declared illegal by the EU Court.
Del Canto Chambers has an in-depth understanding of international tax, legal affairs, property law and residence issues. We offer a Tax and Legal Residence Opinion service that will clearly set out your options with regard to living and paying tax overseas. To make a no-obligation enquiry, please either call us now on: +44 2070 430648 or Make An Online Enquiry at delcantochambers.com. We will come back to you within 24 hours and we will be delighted to help you.
14
BUSINESS
SPAIN’S Dia supermarket chain insists it is business as usual despite its key figure being placed on an EU Russian oligarch blacklist following the invasion of Ukraine. The struggling retailer was taken over by the LetterOne investment company (LIHS) in 2019 after a two-year battle to secure a majority shareholding. Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, 57, co-founded LIHS, which holds 78% of Dia’s shares. After Fridman’s name was included in an EU sanctions blacklist of oligarchs, Dia said it was not controlled by Fridman or LIHS co-founder Petr Aven, who has also been blacklisted. The retailer said that despite LIHS having the majority
March 11th March 24th 2022
Dia’s denial shareholding in Dia, it claimed that no individual shareholder controls LIHS and so Dia would not be affected by sanctions. In a message to LetterOne employees, Fridman, said that ‘war can never be the answer’ and pleaded for an end to bloodshed. Fridman, who was born in Ukraine added: “This crisis will cost lives and damage two nations who have been brothers for hundreds of years.” Dia last week reported a €257 million loss for 2021 across its outlets in Spain and abroad, following an intensive period of restructuring and store closures.
SP-OILS OF WAR
Spain rations sunflower oil as Ukraine invasion threatens supply
SUPERMARKETS across the Balearic Islands have taken steps to ration the sale of sunflower oil amid stockpiling by customers fearing a shortage as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Owing to the situation in Ukraine, there are some problems with the supply of sunflower oil. For this reason, purchases are limited to three one-litre bottles or one five-litre bottle per customer per day.” said signs that appeared in SuperCor supermarkets on Wednesday. Mercadona, Lidl, Dia, Spar and Ifa which operate in
By Alex Trelinski
the Balearics all placed limits on purchasing sunflower oil after ‘atypical consumer behaviour, according to a statement from Asedas, the
Inflation spirals SPAIN has clocked up its biggest annual inflation hike since 1989 according to figures from the National Statistics Institute. Preliminary numbers for February released last week showed a 7.4 % year-on-year increase. The largest price rises were for food, fuel, and non-alcoholic beverages. It’s the 14th successive month that inflation has gone up in Spain. February’s figures showed a 0.6% rise on the previous month’s total, which had fallen compared to December. The increase is larger than what economists had predicted. Core inflation, which doesn’t include food and fuel, rose by 3% - the biggest increase since 2008. Energy prices are set to soar further due to the Ukraine invasion and Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies.
TAX cuts on electricity bills and a windfall tax on power companies will stay in place until the end of June. IVA on bills was slashed in October from 21% to 10%. The cut came in tandem with the elimination of a 7% generation tax paid by energy firms and the reduction of an electricity tax from 5.11% to 0.5%.
Windfall tax
The measures had been extended twice and were due to expire at the end of April. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the latest extension to Congress, saying that a windfall
supermarket association that represents them. The decision to place a limit on purchases per customer came amid reports of ‘panic buying’ with some fearing supply disruption following the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Ukraine is the world’s biggest producer of sunflower oil and accounts for 14% of global vegetable oil supplies according to analysts. Lidl’s director of operations in Spain urged calm but admitted sunflower was a victim of the same sort of ‘hysteria’ that hit toilet roll sales at the outbreak of the pandemic, when many began stockpiling. “There are people who never even use sunflower oil who are now buying it in bulk,” he told Europa Press. “Now is not the time to buy it if you are not going to use it.”
TAX BREAK tax will remain on energy firms, who he believes benefited from selling at higher rates boosted by increased wholesale gas prices. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sanchez called on Spain’s 17 regions to take measures to help the most vulnerable people in society at a time of general price rises. In a separate move, power giant Iberdrola said it would freeze tariffs for domestic consumers who would otherwise be exposed to swings in wholesale market prices.
HEALTH
Pandemic pounds
SPAIN is turning into a nation of fatties, with health bosses warning that more than half the population is overweight. According to a study carried out by the Spanish Society of Obesity (Seedo), the rise in the number of people considered obese is ‘alarming’ with the pandemic blamed for worsening the problem. The data shows that 53.8% of people asked have problems with their weight, with 36.3% classified as overweight and another 17.2% considered obese.
Sedintary
Weight problems are afflicting more over 65s with 66% categorised as overweight. The study also revealed how little physical exercise is carried out among the population with 40% admitting they do no exercise at all. The Covid pandemic has increased the number of people with weight problems according to the Spanish Society of Obesity. The rise is blamed in part on Covid restrictions. Even after Spain came out of the strictest lockdown in Europe, sports centres remained closed for another four months. And after they reopened, many people were put off from going because face masks were still compulsory.
15
March 11th - March 24th 2022
Facing a change
Alzheimer’s breakthrough
Spain to drop compulsory face masks indoors ‘very soon’ SPAIN’S prime minister has announced that the wearing of face masks in an indoor setting will soon no longer be required. Pedro Sanchez announced that ‘very soon’ the Covid measure would no longer be required in indoor public spaces including restaurants, bars and shops. He said he was unable to
provide an exact date because it depended on expert advice following risk assessment but he anticipated that it would be soon.
Vaccine success
“I don't want to go out on a limb, because I want the experts to decide the moment when the masks will no lon-
UNMASKED THE days of compulsory use of masks in classrooms are numbered in the Balearic Islands. Now that the sixth wave is subsiding, Balearic authorities are poised to drop the need for children to remain masked at schools. A date is expected to be set following the Interterritorial Council meeting this week when it is likely that authorities will also agree to stop mandatory quarantine for those who have been in close contact with a Covid-positive person. The Balearic Islands have seen the number of cases drop significantly leading regional authorities to call for more flexibility and to move ahead with ‘de-escalation’.
ger be compulsory in indoor settings,” he said during an interview with Spanish state television RTVE. He said the measure was now possible as the infection rate of the virus had dropped significantly over the last few weeks and because of the success of Spain’s vaccination campaign. Some countries in Europe, including the UK, have already decided to end mandatory mask wearing.
End of an era
Denmark became the first European country to end the obligatory wearing of masks indoors, with the measure scrapped in February. The Spanish government is also considering removing quarantine rules for non-vaccinated people who have had close contact with someone with Covid-19.
SPANISH researchers have discovered a protein that protects the brain from Alzheimer’s disease. The discovery was made by a team of researchers from the Spanish National Research Council and announced this week. They found that a little-known protein called LRP3 controls levels of beta-amyloid, which builds up in layers in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Reducing these layers is known to improve symptoms of Alzheimer’s, so targeting this protein could be an important development in treating the disease. Little was known until now about the functions of this protein in the body. Researchers found that levels of LRP3 were greatly reduced in people with Alzheimer’s compared to healthy people, showing a clear link. Some 40,000 new cases of Alzheimer’s are diagnosed in Spain each year and it is the leading cause of dementia and disability in older people worldwide.
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Ashes to C-ashes
FINAL WORDS
JARS of volcanic ash from the La Palma volcano are the new must-have tourist souvenir with proceeds going towards helping those affected rebuild their lives and homes.
Diablo double? British popstar Dua Lipa has found herself in hot water over accusations that her smash hit ‘Levitating’ is plagiarised from Spanish singer Miguel Bose disco track ‘Don Diablo’.
Bed-handed THREE burglars were caught in the act robbing an Alicante apartment after making useless attempts at evading police. Officers found two men crouched behind a bed while a third was hiding behind a sofa.
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Massive lineup of UK’s finest set for summer festivals BRITAIN’S best are set to descend on Spain this summer at a series of long-overdue music festivals. Muse and Franz Ferdinand are heading to the Balaerics, headlining the Mallorca Live festival on the final weekend of June. The festival says it is returning ‘to its original format so that you can continue dancing and enjoying what we like the most: the best national and international live shows of the moment.’ Meanwhile Arctic Monkeys, Liam Gallagher and the Chem-
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Your expat
voice in Spain
March 11th - March 24th 2022
HITMAKERS: A stella line-up of British acts are coming to Spain this summer
HERE COME THE By George Mathias
ical Brothers were recently announced to play Cala Mijas festival in September.
POLICE in Palma seized eight kilos of high purity cocaine smuggled into Spain inside packets of Colombian coffee. The ruse was rumbled when officers posed as buyers in a sting operation after Barcelona customs detected a suspicious shipment. They covertly tracked the import on its
It is the first Chemical Brothers concert in Spain for seven years. In addition, creative Londoner James Blake is joined by Hot Chip and Bonobo. Billed as ‘the perfect end to
Cocaine con leche way to the Mallorcan town of Sant Joan where they seized the 50 packets of coffee. Analysis revealed that each packet contained around 8% of cocaine in total representing one of the largest drugs busts on the island for several years.
summer’, Cala Mijas invites attendees to ‘embrace the warmth and feel the breeze of the south on your skin’. Elsewhere, James Blunt and Madness are performing at Barcelona’s Jardins de Pedralbes Festival. Alternative music festival Primavera Sound, also in Barcelona, includes a host of British bands, including Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz and Trip-Hop supremos Massive Attack. At Mad Cool in Madrid in July you’ll find Stormzy, Muse, Alt-J, Placebo and Florence and the Machine.
WITH horrific images of war being broadcast from Ukraine it is easy to imagine someone might be tempted to seek out a property with extra security…just in case this does turn out to be the start of World War Three. For pessimists with deep pockets, a property that has just come on the market in Mallorca could be just the ticket.
Watch tower
Overlooking cliffs in Cap Blanc is an unusual property that incorporates a vast underground bunker. A former military base within the town limits of Cap Blanc, the property of 8.24 hectares includes a building which once serves as a barracks and has room for 12 bedrooms and a canteen. The property also has a small house and a 10m high watchtower overlooking the sea and with views stretching to Cabrera island. Marketed by SAE real estate who suggest the site would be ripe for conversion into a boutique hotel, it is listed on Spanish property portal Idealista with a price tag €3.8million.