SPAIN: Gibraltar Agreement & more – 28th Aug 2025

Buenos días from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Spain Update from the 28th of August twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Spain.

First up this week, on Tuesday the 26th, the government formally declared the areas worst hit by the devastating wildfires in northwest Spain as disaster zones.

The decision covers the provinces of Orense, Zamora, León, and the region of Extremadura, where blazes have destroyed more than 15,500 hectares, around the size of metropolitan Paris.

President Pedro Sánchez has stressed the need for regional solidarity and international cooperation in tackling the wildfires. He has also confirmed that the government would prepare aid packages once the economic impact is fully assessed.

Keeping with warm weather, Spain’s state meteorological agency AEMET, confirmed that the country had its most intense heatwave period on record between 3rd and 18th August

AEMET confirmed that temperatures averaged forty degrees Fahrenheit (around four degrees Celsius), exceeding the average normal of 100°F or thirty-eight Celsius. This surpasses all previous years, with highs of 109°F or forty-three Celsius. The agency stressed that four of the five strongest heatwaves have occurred in the last six years, underscoring the urgent nature of global warming.

The Carlos III Health Institute reported on Tuesday the 19th that the heatwave this summer has caused more than 1,100 deaths.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the 25th, news publication El País announced that the United Kingdom and Spain have reached a post-Brexit agreement that will dismantle the Gibraltar-Spain border fence in January twenty twenty-six.

José Manuel Albares, Spain’s Foreign Minister, called the La Verja border the last wall in Western Europe. This announcement will end daily ID checks for over 15,000 frontier workers who cross from the town of La Línea de la Concepción into Gibraltar every day.

The European Commission has to approve the draft agreement, which is not ready yet, with Albares saying on Monday that the text would be ready by the fall.

Also on Monday, after nineteen consecutive days of a heatwave, the citizens of Huelva in South-western Spain have filed a formal complaint against industrial emissions, warning that the city is suffocating.

Huelva, along with a few local towns, has accused the Andalusian government, the regional Environment Department, and the Huelva City Council of inaction during the heatwave and between the 30th of July and the 17th of August, when heavy pollution plagued the cities.

Protesters demanded immediate curbs on emissions from Atlantic Copper, the company they blame for arsenic and particle pollution, and called for hourly air monitoring and a full study about the local air quality.

Now to the beach, where on Friday the 22nd, bathers at Ondarreta Beach in San Sebastián, Northern Spain, once again found the sand buried under tons of 19th-century rubble, a problem that has been happening for two decades.

Studies by Azti and the Aranzadi Scientific Society confirmed the stones come from demolished structures, including a military camp built in eighteen seventy-three and the former Ondarreta prison, whose remains resurface with the tides each summer despite efforts from the local council to remove them.

Keeping with the beach, on Wednesday the 20th, authorities in Guardamar del Segura, just north of Torrevieja on Spain’s Costa Blanca in the southeast, closed a seven-mile or eleven km stretch of beaches after two specimens of the blue dragons were spotted at Vivers Beach.

The blue dragon is a striking marine animal measuring about two inches or five cm and feeds on the Portuguese man o’ war and other venomous species, storing their stinging cells in concentrated doses.

Experts note its sting can really hurt humans, causing nausea, pain, vomiting, and severe dermatitis. Authorities have been working this week to reopen the beach and remove the dangerous creatures.

In crime news, on Tuesday the 26th, the National Police arrested one of Poland’s most wanted fugitives in Benahavís, a luxury town near Marbella in Southern Spain.

The man was considered a high-value target by Europol and faced two active European Arrest Warrants, which national judicial authorities usually issue, for homicide and drug trafficking for a criminal organization.

Polish authorities dismantled most of the group in twenty twenty-two, but the fugitive and his main associate managed to escape. The man is now in prison in Spain, awaiting extradition to Poland.

Speaking of crime, on Wednesday the 27th, La Guardia Civil, the national police force, dismantled a criminal network that transported migrants by speedboats from Algeria to Almería, southern Spain.

The investigation began in May twenty twenty-four and revealed that the network had invested over one million euros in acquiring and building high-speed vessels, financed through illicit activities.

In twenty twenty-four, Almería emerged as the main hub for irregular migration, with more than four thousand people reaching Spain through the Algerian route. Police have made fourteen key arrests so far, which they say is enough to put an end to the network.

On the same day, Benidorm in eastern Spain acknowledged it could face potential bankruptcy after a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.

The ruling requires Benidorm to compensate a prominent business family for land in the Serra Gelada natural park, which could cost over 340 million euros. The dispute began in two thousand three, when the then-mayor Vicente Pérez Devesa agreed to exchange plots for development rights.

After Serra Gelada was declared a protected park in two thousand five, the family upheld the agreement but never received compensation. City officials now warn that fulfilling the payment could drain Benidorm’s entire annual budget and push Benidorm to bankruptcy.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, on Tuesday, the 26th, the Spanish Actors and Actresses Union announced that actress Verónica Echegui had died in Madrid at the age of forty-two after being hospitalized since late July for cancer treatment.

Echegui, a four-time Goya nominee, became widely known in two thousand six for her breakthrough role in Bigas Luna’s My Name is Juani or Yo soy la Juani. In twenty twenty-one, she won her first Goya Award as director of the short film Tótem Loba. Over her career, she appeared in over fifty films, television, and theater productions.

Tributes poured in across Spain and abroad as President Sánchez called her an actress with enormous talent and humility who leaves us far too young.

While the peninsula mourns the loss of iconic figures like Verónica Echegui, Spain is also looking ahead to support the next generation of artists. On Monday, the 26th, the Ministry of Culture confirmed it is considering expanding Spain’s Youth Cultural Bonus to include musical instruments, cultural workshops, and artistic materials such as paints and easels.

Currently in its fourth year, the program grants 400 euros to all eighteen-year-olds for cultural products and activities, divided into 100 euros per year for physical products, 100 euros for digital services, and 200 euros for performing arts.

Since its launch, the program has grown steadily, with roughly 270,000 recipients in twenty twenty-two and all the way to 330,000 in twenty twenty-four. The ministry is seeking to ensure greater access for young people from low-income families, who remain less likely to apply.

Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia has officially become the tallest building in Barcelona, standing just over 155 metres (or 509 feet).

The Catalan master’s plan was to have the main tower reach 172 meters (564 feet), slightly shorter than Montjuïc hill, respecting his intent not to outdo nature and God. The Chapel of the Assumption is scheduled for completion in twenty twenty-five, with the central Tower of Jesus Christ, crowned by a seventeen-meter (fifty-six feet) cross, set for twenty twenty-six, marking 100 years since Gaudí’s death.

Finally, here’s an interesting story, especially for those who love to travel. In spring twenty twenty-six, the luxurious Al Andalus train will launch a new seven-day journey between Seville and Madrid, offering passengers an immersive slow-travel experience across Spain.

The route includes stops in Córdoba, Cádiz, Jerez, Mérida, Alcázar de San Juan, Campo de Criptana, Toledo, and the Royal Palace of Aranjuez, with opportunities to explore UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Roman ruins, historic architecture, local wineries, and artisanal food producers.

The trip promises big entertainment, but at a whopping 6,600 euros per person price tag! —Maybe we’ll just take a RENFE service.

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

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¡Hasta la próxima!