ASSOCIATIONS AND VOLUNTEERS R E P R E S E N T E D I N T O R R E V I E J A

nies, which they used to attract the girls. They posed as representatives promising their victims a successful professional career in the world of fashion or cinema. In order to give greater credibility to the deception they made up a photo album for each woman.

The victims were then subjected to prostitution and made to carry geolocation devices so that they were available at all times. If they refused or were reluctant to provide sexual services, they were subjected to sadomasochistic practices as well as death threats from their pimps.

The agency was run in the towns of Elche and Novelda, where police were able to identify more than 120 victims.

Although the alleged perpetrators are now behind bars, the investigation remains open since it is not ruled out that new victims may appear.

Volunteers representing associations from around the region came together at the Parque de las Naciones in Torrevieja on Saturday, at Regional Volunteer Days 2023 organised by the Provincial Council of Alicante with the collaboration of the Torrevieja Council. There were bouncy castles for the kids, entertainment, including dancers, and more that 20 stalls representing associations including those representing cancer survivors, the hungry, those in need, and international groups who are in need of extra support in their new home, albeit, in some cases, hopefully only a temporary arrangement, such as in the case of the many Ukrainians who have been displaced and now find themselves in Torrevieja as a consequence of war.

CLARO anger as PSOE publishes candidates for Municipal elections

Mayoress Carolina Gracia presented the PSOE list of candidates for the Orihuela Municipal elections last week under the banner of a “continuance of promoting positive change,”however,in her selection of potential councillors,it would appear that once again she is disregarding the 30,000 people that live and work on the coast.

In the 2019 Municipal elections the party won just 6 of the available 25 seats,so if that were repeated in May only the candidates listed from numbers 1 to 6 would be elected to office.The highest listed potential candidate with any relationship to the Orihuela Costa who is published on Gracia’s current list is at number 9,so unless there is a major swing to PSOE on election day,highly unlikely,there is no way that he would win a seat.

The President of CLARO,Antonio Cerdan,was outraged by the list stating that “It is remarkable,the contempt of the PSOE to the thousands and thousands of European Residents of the Costa, since it has not been able to include anyone of any stature on its list for the next elections.Once again,the PSOE is showing no importance to La Costa.”

Along with a delegation from both the Alicante province and local governments, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Spain also attended, with speaking given both in Spanish and translated into Ukrainian, to give comfort to those refugees who attended.

For a year now, 25,000 vines, all native varieties, have been growing in the only undeveloped plot of land to the south of Torrevieja - The Universo Ferris project is the creation of a winery located on the coastal plot between Punta Prima and Mar Azul, for the production of fine wine.

It could be an idyllic picture postcard on the Torrevieja coast, a small cove surrounded by dunes, waters carpeted with Posidonia and a hundred-yearold palm grove by the sea. Miraculously, unlike Cala Mosca just a kilometre further south, it is also a corner free of concrete. And it will continue to be so because 25,000 vine trees now grow in this extraordinary landscape which, with a bit of luck in addition to the hard work of Rafael Bernabé Navarro, will soon be producing one of the most unique wines in Alicante.

Rafael Bernabé Navarro, a young agronomist from Bigastro, has launched an unprecedented project in the midst of the capital of residential tourism on the Costa Blanca. At the beginning of 2022, he planted 25,000 vines on eleven hectares of the Lo Ferris farm, in Torrevieja. It is located right on the edge of the sea, next to the iconic centenary palm grove that has withstood the last forty years of concrete maelstrom on the coast. A unique space protected since 2018.

The land that has been leased from the historical owners of the plot, the Murcia family, now allows the opening of a winery integrated into the landscape, where the wines will be produced. It is a winery that anyone who is interested in can visit, to learn about both the farm and the artisan production process, with the possibility of getting involved in the harvest or in the work of treading the grapes to make pie de cuba, a preparation that is made before the first vintages, and of course taste the wines.

Bernabé has named the project Universo Ferris, because the area is in itself a whole different universe, a unique place between Torrevieja and

Orihuela Costa. The idea is that it be developed in the medium term, although Bernabé hopes that he will be able to speed up the bureaucratic sluggishness that slows down the construction of the winery. As the development progresses, he anticipates a little more municipal involvement that will create an attractive and exclusive initiative in Torrevieja.

“It really is a world apart. I want to bottle everything that I can see and feel here, the sea, the grass, the salt, the lavender and the dates when they are ripe”.

At the moment there are eight hectares planted with white varieties: meseguera, muscatel, esclafacherre, and there will also be monastrell and garnacha blanca. “We will have the entire range,” he says.

Rafael wants the first harvest to be ready in a couple of years. “The vine has no time and neither does the wine. You can't hurry it. You have to be patient”, he explains with the clarity of someone who comes from a family of farmers from Campo de Salinas and Bigastro.

“If you water it, it will grow very quickly, but it is not the idea. I don't want a big production. You have to keep a balance”. And it is clear that the objective is focused on quality and not quantity. No more than 50,000 bottles will be produced from the current cop.

And the project has already generated enormous interest with requests to visit and to enjoy this landscape already pouring in via the Universo Ferris website as it’s popularity grows on the wine tourism circuit.

If you would like more info about the winery or join the list for a visit, details are available at http://www.universoferris.com

European Travel Etias Scheme Delayed Again

The European Union has said that the implementation of it’s proposed travel visa scheme, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), has been delayed for the third time, now until 2024 although there is no specific date for it’s launch.

The visa will operate in a similar way to the existing American Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), in which travellers from outside the EU area would have to pay a small fee for an application process which would allow them to travel into the member states.

Recycling Saves Santa Pola Residents 600,000 euro

In the last 4 years, paper and plastics recycling in Santa Pola has saved the residents 581,995.29 euro, which has then gone towards the contract for other waste collection services.

José Pedro Martínez, Councillor for Finance, said that he wanted to publicise the info so that "people know the usefulness and benefits of recycling.

Montesinos Municipal sports facilities

Los Montesinos Council is currently carrying out maintenance and improvement of it’s Municipal sports facilities. Valencia 1st Regional Group 8 football team CD Montesinos is amongst those benefitting from the direct aid of e3,153,536.83 subsidies during 2022 received from the Valencian Community.

The Artichoke School Olympics held in Almoradí.

Over 200 fifth-grade schoolchildren from Almoradí and Orihuela took part in the third edition of the Artichoke Olympics last week,which was won by the Pascual Andreu school. Held on the track and the grass of the Sadrián de Almoradí stadium,there were nine disciplines in total,sport, music and a knowledge of Artichokes,all combined.

Fellowship and joy were the great winners of this popular activity said a competition spokesperson.

A New Year Of Passion Begins In Pilar De La Horadada

The parish church has hosted the unveiling of the poster announcing the Pilareño Holy Week, the work of the Pilareño photographer Antonio Rodríguez Álamo from Fotoestudio Casablanca Digital.

The poster shows the image of Jesús Triumphant next to the image of two children.

It symbolises the children's procession that this year, will take place next Holy Tuesday.