Prieto’s Body Found & more–19th Oct 2023

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 19th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

A city-wide search had been going on since Thursday the 12th in Sevilla after Alvaro Prieto, a young football player for Cordoba's youth team, went missing. On Monday the 16th, after four days of searching, police officials found his body.

On Friday the 13th, government officials announced they were looking for the young man who went missing after trying to catch a train from Sevilla´s Santa Justa station in the early hours after a night out. Police said Prieto told his mom that his phone battery was nearly out of charge, so they presume he couldn't access his digital ticket. Security staff then told police they reprimanded Prieto after he tried to catch another train without a ticket.

Security footage then showed him leaving the station, and he wasn't seen again until Monday when his body was found. An autopsy on Monday the 16th later confirmed that Prieto was electrocuted after climbing onto the roof of a disused train parked in the workshop area of the Santa Justa station. The train was connected to the electric mains, and he died instantly after touching the catenary of the convoy - the system of overhead wires used to supply electricity.

Political unrest continues worldwide as protestors demanded peace in Palestine and Israel over the weekend.

According to the British newspaper outlet The Guardian, various European leaders have said they will ban pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian protests if they see things getting out of hand - Spain hasn't said they will. Still, they are keeping an eye on it.

Over the weekend in Spain, the Platform against Antisemitism tweeted that on Sunday the 15th, "Free Palestine" was graffitied on one of its synagogue doors next to a crossed-out star of David. At the same time, the Israelite Community of Barcelona has reportedly canceled upcoming events because of security concerns.

It's not all violent or destructive, though. In Madrid, hundreds of protesters, including children and Podemos political party members María Teresa Pérez, Ione Belarra, and Isa Serra, attended a peaceful free-Palestine demonstration on Sunday the 15th with signs saying "no to the war," "end the apartheid," and "how many more people have to die." The next day, hundreds more attended a peaceful protest against the Israel–Hamas war in the Capital, calling for peace. In Barcelona, on Saturday the 14th, protestors called for the Government to stop providing weapons to Israel.

Still, the pro-Palestinian protest in Madrid on Sunday hasn't gone unnoticed by The Israeli Embassy in Spain; neither has the comments of Ione Belarra, the Minister of Social Rights and Acting Sectary General. On Sunday, the 14th, she told the Government that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu needs to be taken before the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

Forty-eight hours later, on Monday, the 16th, the Israeli embassy released a statement condemning members of the Spanish government for their recent comments and actions about Palestine and Israel. In its note, the Israeli consulate says that it's concerning that certain members of the Executive have chosen to align themselves with ISIS-type terrorism, referring to Hamas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded that "it rejects the falsehoods" about some of its members.

Turning back to the EU now, Spain sent its budget plan to Brussels on Sunday the 15th for the upcoming year, and there are some key things to be aware of.

The Executive has estimated that the country's GDP will grow by 2% next year instead of 2.4% because of downward trends in the Eurozone economic growth. At the same time, they say that they will create more full-time jobs and that unemployment will be below 11%— it's stood at 12% since June twenty twenty-three. If there are no changes to inflation, the budget also states they won't renew the anti-inflation measures to help households with rising costs, like Value-added-tax cuts on basic food items and discounted transport. However, to move forward, the next elected Government has to approve all of these plans.

Speaking of Brussels, The European Union has taken Spain to the European Court of Justice for not complying with railroad regulations involving the railway operator ADIF, the railway company RENFE, and the Spanish government. According to Brussels, ADIF and RENFE are not independent of each other as Spain hand-picks the board of directors of each organization. Thus the government can influence the pacts between the operator and the railway company.:

Popular Journalist Sonsoles Ónega won the €1 million euro Planeta Prize this week, one of the world's most lucrative literary awards, for her novel The Maid's Daughters," or "Las Hijas de la Criada." The book tells the story of a Galician family over a century, focusing on the canning industry and the resilience of women who worked at sea across generations.

Now for a little update concerning Joan Laporta, FC Barcelona's current president, who faces bribery charges in the ”'Negreira case.”

The Spanish court has implicated Laporta, former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep María Bartomeu, and a few former directors.

The investigation centers on payments made to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees from two thousand eight to twenty ten.

These payments allegedly benefited FC Barcelona, leading to a charge of continuous bribery.

Next up, residents in Orcasitas, near Madrid's Chinatown in Usera, have been dealing with renovation nightmares.

For context, Orcasitas was established as a settlement for overcrowding and immigration in Usera in the nineteen fifties. However, the infrastructure wasn't there, so people self-constructed their homes. This led to the Orcasitas Neighbourhood Association.

After almost fifty years, homes were deteriorating and dangerous. So, the association sought funding from the Madrid City Council to upgrade homes. The project was successful, even earning praise from the European Commission for energy efficiency.

However, It seems that no one read the fine print. Since twenty fifteen, residents have had one hundred euros deducted from their minimum pensions because of the tax on the grants they received. Many residents also paid out-of-pocket on their twenty twenty-two tax returns even though the grants were allocated to the community association. All of this has undoubtedly caused financial strain, especially for elderly residents.

From static housing to floating vessels, Barcelona Port will restrict access to major cruises from Sunday, the 22nd of October, in a bid to move cruise activity away from urban areas.

They have bid farewell to the World Trade Center pier, just a stone's throw away from Las Ramblas, Barcelona's infamous promenade separating neighborhoods, El Borne, Raval, Barri Gòtic, and L'Eixample.

Instead of disembarking near the center, cruise passengers will get off at the Moll d'Adossat pier closer to the foot of Montjuïc. The local council says the area will be reclaimed and become a new public space for everyone to enjoy.

Moving on, homelessness is a big problem worldwide, and Spain is no exception. According to El Pais, nearly 30,000 people are homeless throughout the peninsula, and the problem is increasing. A September twenty twenty-three survey by the National Statistics Institute said organizations and centers helping homeless people are overrun. In twenty twenty, these centers helped around 17,000 people, and between twenty twenty-two and twenty twenty-three, that number increased to just over 21,000. But what can be done about it?

On Monday the 16th, consulting firm Ernest and Young or EY presented an economic solution report to the private sector. The EY study estimates homelessness could be solved with an initial investment of 1.2 billion euros, further money for assistance programs, and by using Spain's 3.4 million empty homes.

If you want to get involved and help people living on our streets, there’s a Barcelona-based volunteer-led charity called Esperança, which means hope in English. There are two routes out on Saturdays and Sundays where they hand out pre-prepared food, clothes, and hot drinks to those most in need. Equally, there are lots of other ways to get involved. Link to Esperança in the show notes!

And finally...if you want to learn about Spain's environmental challenges, Greenpeace investigates the biggest polluters and solutions. Namely fossil fuels, droughts, and fires. Find out more about their report in the show notes.

And that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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¡Hasta la próxima!