Council worker to lose his home because of unpaid salary

Mauricio Rivas
shows eviction notice

LA LÍNEA Mauricio Rivas Molina, 41, has worked for the Council since 1996 but is owed some €11,000 in unpaid salary, at an average of €730 per month, which he can prove. He owes three months on his mortgage, about €2,200. The bank has told him that the property will be taken back and auctioned o at the end of this month. However, the Junta de Andalucía (and other autonomous regions) have put  emergency procedures to avoid evictions such as this, but Mauri, as he is known, is not sure if he qualifies. This could save him at the last minute. Nevertheless, he points the finger directly at Mayor Gemma Araujo, who has refused to met him personally, not only for the financial aspect of the problem, but also for a severe depression that culminated recently in a suicide attempt. (How on earth, we ask as you surely do, too, can anyone live without being paid for a year? He can't even leave his job because he risks losing his back pay!)

Over 3000 rally to demand completion of hospital

Meeting in the square

LA LÍNEA Over three thousand people attended a rally yesterday evening near the old hospital then marched to the main square, Plaza de la Constitución, to demand completion of the new hospital, work on which has been stopped for a year (Our item here). Heading the march were numerous mothers with prams, plus members of the Multiple Sclerosis in wheelchairs, as well as organizers belonging to the Plataforma en Defensa del Hospital. Present, too, were several area politicians, including Mayors Gemma Araujo (La Línea), Guillermo Ruiz (Jimena) and Juan Casanova (Castellar). These three municipalities are the most impacted by the lack of an up-to-date hospital that was announced several years ago and is at the 'skeleton' stage of construction. One comment from a demonstrator: "The politicians are eating it (the money) all up and then tell us there's no funding for it. How can they start something with a full budget, and then say there's no more money?"

19 firearms seized from tobacco smugglers

21 people under arrest and 60,000 cigarette packs confiscated · La Línea connection

SEVILLA The Guardia Civil have arrested 12 people allegedly belonging to a tobacco smuggling gang in the first phase of Operation Pisonova carried out in the provinces of Sevilla and Cádiz, where the gang has been dismantled. More arrests are expected. Aside from the tobacco, the GC also confiscated ten vehicles, six real firearms and 13 simulated ones that could be made to fire real bullets, plus €166,000. The operation began several months ago, when the GC received a tip-off that there was a gang in the Aljarafe area of Sevilla possibly involved in criminal activity. Further investigation led to a well organized and structured with close connections to another gang based in La Línea and another in the centre of Sevilla, both used for distribution purposes. So far, nine properties, homes and storage units, have been searched in several areas of Sevilla, as well as La Línea. Other searches have been made at shops, presumably looking for contraband tobacco.

Teacher run over by parent at school gates

IES Mar de Poniente, La Línea

LA LÍNEA A teacher at the Mar de Poniente High School was run over by the father of a student. He was run over at the gates of the school (image) but fortunately not badly hurt. The incident occurred after the father was informed that his daughter had left school without permission. School authorities are carrying out an investigation, which may also be handled by the police. The Council advises 'prudence' and calls the incident as 'deplorable'.

Al-Qaeda suspects 'planned a massacre'

Suspects, from l., AAA and MA,
of Russian origin, and CY, a Turk 

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) The three men arrested on suspicion of belonging to an Al Qaeda cell, and who had a cache of explosives hidden in a flat in the Mirasierra section of town, were planning a major attack, though it has not yet been confirmed exactly where.  This information may come from the computers that were confiscated in the search of the flat carried out yesterday. According the Ministry of the Interior, there was enough explosive to 'blow up a bus', though an explosion would have been a great deal more dangerous if shrapnel had been added to it. The three are being questioned by the courts this morning. Given their proximity to Gibraltar,>>>

Rescued from burning catamaran

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) The Guardia Civil were able to rescue the two crew members off a catamaran that burst into flames twenty meters away from the Poniente (western) beach in La Línea in the early hours of Thursday last. The elderly crew were taken to the port of Algeciras where they were picked up by relatives. La Línea Council closed off the beach because a rescue boat detected an oil slick that threatened the beach, but no reports of damage have been recorded.

Sewage leaks and pollution are common all year round

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) The town's problems with sewage are getting worse rapidly. Although sewage being spilled out onto the beaches are often stopped-up in the summer (i.e. beach time), it is none the less a common occurrence the rest of the year. And it is not only at the beaches. Leakages all over town are reported by residents all the time. The problem is an old system dating back to the 1930s that has very rarely been properly maintained or updated. Two beaches, El Burgo and El Carmen, were closed to bathing recently, though it is expected that they will be reopened this week.

Australian arrested in domestic violence assault on pregnant partner

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) National Police officers arrested an Australian citizen who is identified by his initials, K.P., aged 52, accused of domestic violence. Alerted of a domestic situation at flats on Avenida España, the agents arrived to find the woman, who is evidently pregnant, on the floor and bleeding profusely from her mouth, whereupon her partner was arrested and is now 'at the disposal of the courts'. (The emergency number for domestic violence reports is 116, which does not leave a trace on the phone bill.)

Municipal personnel to be paid over €1 million; frontier still affected

(Photo: europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Mayor Gemma Araujo called in the union leaders to announce that the Council would be liquidating the municipal workers' pack pay of June and August almost totally. In the meantime, the workers voted to continue their protests and once again cut off access to Gibraltar at the frontier. Yesterday, however, things appeared to be somewhat less aggressive than they had been earlier in the week, although rocks had been placed on the access lane.

La Línea workers begin strike action by closing off Gibraltar

(Photo: www.europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Municipal workers demanding back wages staged the first of their planned 'indefinite' one hour strikes by closing off the access to Gibraltar. Although they began at the Palacio de Congresos convention centre, they soon marched to wards the border where they were greeted by a cordon of National Police that stopped the marchers from reaching the Customs area. However, the protesters did eventually get around the cordon and went into the customs area where vehicles come out of Gibraltar. The entrance and exit to and from the Rock was closed off for vehicles during the best part of an hour. One hour strikes and protests are planned for every day for the foreseeable future.

The domino effect at local level

Empty market meat counter (europasur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Original source: Europa Sur) We hear about the domino effect of debt default all over Europe. We are warned continually of how close to the abyss our countries are; how we should prepare for the worst. But there is little on the news about the human side of these stories. Ask a municipal worker in La Línea about La Crisis and you're likely to get a barrage of complaints. No wonder: she or he probably haven't been paid for months, or are owed back pay for extra hours, etc., etc. But ask how the woman at the meat counter in the market -if she's still there, or the bread man, or the sweet kiosk, or the blind lottery seller on the corner, or the fishmonger delivering at the door ... they're ahead of the rest of us in the area and probably in Europe. Their tiny businesses are taking the brunt of municipal maladministration. The new Council is unable to come up with the loans that will get the payments up to date - and the workers can't find new jobs either because there aren't any or because they could/would lose their present jobs and the back pay they are rightfully claiming.

Municipal workers begin one hour daily strikes today

(Photo: EuropaSur.es)

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) Municipal workers voted last week to come out on an 'indefinite' strike to protest that they have not been paid for a variety of weeks, months, extra hours or whatever (take your pick). However, when the vote came to shove, they elected to hold an hour long strike every day. That means that every municipal worker is called to come out to the Palacio de Congresos at noon today for further information. This could cause considerable incovenience to traffic in and out of Gibraltar as the convention centre is on the main seafront street. The workers have reserved the right to change the time and venue for their daily protest, which could mean more demos at the frontier, one of their favourite places to congregate.

21 robberies in Guadiaro and Sotogrande cleared up thanks to municipal employee

Iván Rodríguez, centre

LA LINEA (Press release)  Iván Rodríguez, a long time municipal employee, likes to walk. Recently, he was taking a constitutional along a pathway some distance away from the A-7 road, a place he frequents when he suddenly found a small mountain of handbags, cases and documentation thrown onto the ground. He informed the Local Police immediately. They in turn put the matter into the hands of the Guardia Civil. The result of it all is that21 separate robberies, all from the interior of vehicles, in the Guadiaro-Sotogrande area as well as near Manilva, have been cleared up, and the alleged perpetrators caught and arrested. Rodriguez was received by Mayor Gemma Araujo and the head of the Local Police, Restituto Casal, who congratulated him (photo).

Gibraltar Police warn of La Linea assault and robbery incident

Los Junquillos (illustration only)

GIBRALTAR (GibChronicle) A young Gibraltarian man was robbed in La Linea after three women allegedly set a trap for him and enabled two men to threaten him at knife-point, the Royal Gibraltar Police said yesterday. The gang of five stole the man’s belongings and his car. The incident prompted the RGP to issue a warning about distraction tactics used by criminals to set up their victims. The incident happened in the early hours of Friday morning as the man drove alone to Gibraltar from Alcaidesa via Carrefour and the road through the notorious Los Junquillos area, which meets the border road. According to the victim’s account, three young women jumped into the road and forced him to stop his car. “They distracted him further whilst two men got in to his unlocked car and he was threatened at knife point,” the police said in a statement. “He was then robbed of all his belongings and even his car.”>>>

La Línea workers cut traffic to protest non-payment

(Photo: Paco Guerrero for Europa Sur)

LA LINEA (Agencies) The municipal workers of La Línea were back on the streets this morning to protest that they are still owed a series of payments and the list is getting longer. They gathered near the convention centre, marched towards the frontier and also to the Town Hall. Thay burned tires and held up traffic in the area for several minutes. According to union leader José Porras Naranjo, next Monday they will be owed their salaries for July, to which must be added those of May and June, the 'extraordinary' for the summer (it is usual in Spain for an annual salary to be divided into 14 payments: two 'extraordinary', summer and Christmas), two half salaries for 'work days' and what remains of the Christmas payment. "We are at the worst possible point in Town Hall debts to its workers," says Porras.

Vitoria family denounces 'stolen baby' in La Linea

Tombs of exhumed baby 'bodies'

LA LINEA (Agencies) A family from Vitoria, in Galicia, has denounced that one of it members is supposed to have died in 1962 at the hospital in La Línea, in the belief that the case could be part of the 'stolen babies' that allegedly took place at the hospital in the Franco era. A spokesperson for the family, brother to the 'deceased', said that his parents moved from Vitoria to La Línea in the late 1950s, as his father worked for the Bank of Spain and was assigned to the town. The family included a girl and a boy, but the latter died aged five months. The mother had two more boys, one in 1959 and another in 1962. The last one was delivered under the direction of a gynaecologist whose name has been linked to several similar cases at the same hospital.>>>

La Línea PP demands 'more firmess' on landfill

GIBRALTAR / LA LINEA (Agencies) The PP in La Línea, headed by former Mayor Alejandro Sánchez, yesterday expressed its "indignation regarding the weakness and non-operativity of the central Government, the passivity of Socialist Deputy Salvador de la Encina, and the attitude of Mayor Gemma Araujo about the continuous land filling going on in Gibraltar and the impact it is having on local beaches." In a press release,  the former governing party of the town added that Chief Minister Peter Caruana "should understand that the bay is not his property and that he cannot put the interests of Gibraltar above everyone else's. Equally, Ms Araujo should take on her role as governor of La Línea, not as consort of Gibraltar. She must protect La Línea above everything. If not, in a few years we will lose the Levante (Eastern) beach. Living in harmony does not imply capitulation to the interests of a single population."

No bulls at the bullring again

LA LINEA (Agencies) There will be no major bullfights at the La Linea bullring again this year. A tradition of many years is broken for the second consecutive feria. The reason given by Mayor Gemma Araujo is that there hadn't been time to set out the tender conditions for the ring. However, it is understood that the real reason is that there was no money for a grant to bullfighter Curro Escarcena, the one impresario who had wanted to organize the fights this year. A grant, or subsidy is a tradition, acting as a financial net in case the carteles (scheduled bullfights) show a loss. The La Linea bullring>>>

Sierra Carbonera fire under control

(Photo: Europa Sur)

SAN ROQUE/LA LINEA (Agencies) The fire that broke out on Wednesday night and forced the evacuation of several hundred residents of the area, burning over 200 hectares of brush, was under control by 9 this morning, say the firemen. They are hard at work trying to find the cause of the fire, but there are clear indications that it was set deliberately. They are also trying to establish the possibility of a link to Sunday's fire nearby. The area has had 11 major fires in 15 years, say some accounts.

Fire on Sierra Carbonera, near Santa Margarita, 'also deliberate'

(Photo:lalineadigital.es)

LA LINEA (Agencies) This time it was on Sierra Carbonera (as predicted by an onlooker at last week's nearby at La Alcaidesa) and it was still active at midday today. This one broke out yesterday, Wednesday, at 11.30pm, and forced the evacuation of the Vistahermosa residential complex, which is within Santa Margarita. It is widely believed to have been set deliberately, which is unconfirmed by the firemen as yet. Residents began moving out of their own accord during the night, but were told at 9.30am that they could return. The main road, A-383 had to be closed to all traffic this morning because of visibility problems, but was opened again shortly after noon. We received a call at about 7.30pm, from a friend in the vicinity, who tells us she believes the fire is now under control although she could see there were still plenty of bomberos about, as well as Guardia Civil vehicles. Let's hope it doesn't start up again overnight.