POLITICAL ROUND UP

The aftermath Last week's local and regional elections produced few surprises. Those who were tipped to win, won. The only - mainly expected - upsets were in the regional government elections. In the Canary Islands, the Socialists (PSOE) ousted the main opposition party, Partido Popular (PP), and in the Balearic Islands, coalition negotiations were still going on at the time of writing in an effort to keep the PP in power. In Navarre, the Union del Pueblo Navarro (UPN) - the equivalent of the PP - got the most votes but not a majority, leaving the Socialists in a position to form a coalition with the other smaller parties. However, this is an exceptionally sensitive area. The Basque terrorist group ETA and its political wing, the banned Batasuna party, have made it clear they want Navarre to form part of an independent Basque state, mainly because it will give them a frontier with France. Polls show that most non-Basques would not like that. Now it looks as if Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero may decide against entering into a coalition with pro-ETA or pro-independence parties and allow the UPN to rule as a minority, which would dispel accusations that he wants to hand the region over to ETA. This would be the most sensible decision because when all the votes were in and counted, it turned out that the PP won some 166,000 more votes than the Socialists. It doesn't sound a lot now, but it could make a big difference next March. One newspaper extrapolated the voting figures and concluded that the PP would win the next election by 147 seats to 146 for the Socialists. The overall conclusion of most political observers is that Sr Zapatero should sit down and do some serious thinking especially as the people of the city he governs from - Madrid - gave the PP historically overwhelming majorities - for Esperanza Aguirre as president of the Madrid Community (regional government) and Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who repeats as Mayor. In an effort to wipe the PP from the political map, for the past three years Sr Zapatero and his cohorts have been doing everything possible to make people believe that the PP is the Franco dictatorship in disguise. They are quick to point out that many PP politicos come from Franco-supporting families. What they fail to mention is how many of their own come from a similar background. They came up with the Historical Memory Law, reopening the old wounds caused by a civil war that ended 68 years ago. They have tried to make out that all Republicans were "good" and all the rest were fire-breathing, blood-thirsty monsters who enjoyed torturing little children to death. What they never mention is that it was tacitly agreed after Franco's death not to indulge in show trials of the dictator's supporters had been involved in atrocities for the simple reason that a lot of Republicans would end up in the dock too. For example, the man who led the Communist Party when it was legalised after Franco's death - Santiago Carrillo - was the commissar in charge of Madrid when 5,000 men and women suspected of sympathising with Franco were rounded up and shot. It must also be noted that Sr Carrillo fully supported the return to democracy and the monarchy, and was booted out of the party for his pains. Then we have Iraq. Joining the allies in the Iraq war was the biggest mistake former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar ever made. It was very unpopular with the Spanish people and Sr Zapatero made the withdrawal of Spanish troops his main commitment during the March 2004 election campaign. The day after he took over, he recalled the troops, and he's never stopped reminding people of this ever since. It had become so boring that just a few days before the May 27th elections, one of the allies who helped him form a government, Izquierda Unida general secretary Gaspar Llamazares, wondered aloud just how much more mileage Sr Zapatero expected to get out of the Iraq war. The same could be asked about the PP's "inability to come to terms with losing the March 2004 election" - which it had been tipped to win. Whenever the PP dares to criticise the government, which is most days, the first thing the PM or his spokesperson says is: "The trouble with you lot is you can't get over your election defeat". In fact, the odds were in favour of the PP until the morning of March 11th 2004, when bombs blew up several trains in Madrid during the rush hour, killing 91 people and injuring more than 1,700. The Socialists seized on the fact that the bombs had been set by Islamist not ETA terrorists to bring out the anti-war vote on Sunday, March 14th. What they never mention is that their followers attacked PP party headquarters in several major cities on Saturday, March 13th, a day on which all electioneering was prohibited in order to give people time to "reflect" on their vote the following day. All the pro-Socialist TV stations - that is, the majority - repeatedly showed images of the disturbances, which were encouraged by text messages that apparently originated in the party's headquarters in Madrid. These tactics have not helped Sr Zapatero. In fact they may even have been counterproductive. The same old song gets boring eventually. The big question now is: Will he be able to change his tune?

TAGGING OR JAIL

The government will soon have to decide if convicted Basque terrorist Iñaki De Juana Chaos is to spend the rest of his last three-year jail sentence under police supervision at home or go back to jail. Doctors at the hospital in San Sebastian where he has been recovering from a hunger strike since March 1st say he is now well enough to leave. The government incensed ETA victims when it said it would allow De Juan to go home for "humanitarian reasons", after serving only 17 years for the murder of 25 people when he was leader of ETA's Madrid commando group in the mid-80s. De Juana has said he will not wear an electronic tag if he is allowed home.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

The President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, wants to put words to the country's national anthem. More specifically, he wants them to be about sports and not politics. Sr Blanco said many Spanish sportsmen have commented that they feel out of it when sportsmen from other countries belt out the words to their respective countries' anthems. He said: "They want to express their pride in their country, just as the English and the French do." Apparently the government has already given him the go-ahead and he is now looking for the right auteur.

THE OLDEST BREED OF HORSE IN EUROPE

The Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) has said that the wild horses known as retuertas which live in the Doñana Nature Reserve are the oldest breed of horse in Europe. The authors of the CSIC's genetic study said the 60-strong herd of retuertas which are found nowhere else but Doñana is the last wild horse population in Europe to live in complete isolation from other breeds. They said their study is drumming up support for the retuertas horse to be recognised as a breed native to Andalusia.

FISHING BOAT SANK IN HEAVY SEAS

Divers spent two days searching for the body of the third crew member of the fishing boat, the Nuevo Amadorín, which sank in heavy seas off the coast of Lugo in Galicia lat Monday. Oscar Blanco, aged 19, was the son of the boat's owner, Máximo Blanco Galdo, whose body was recovered not long after the boat when down, together with that of the other crew member, Peruvian Félix Armando Peña, whose body was flown home for burial.

TEACHER AWARDED LESS THAN 9 EURO A DAY FOR ATTACK

Cordoba's Juvenile Court has sentenced the parents of a boy who attacked a teacher at a school in Posadas to pay a fine of 2,000 euros. The secretary general of the city's Independent Public Employees' Association told reporters that it was not enough. He said the teacher had to take 225 days off work to recover from the attack, which worked out at a compensation of 8,.9 euros a day.

1800 VOTED FOR ELVIS LOOK A LIKE

Elvis impersonator Ariel Santamaría was elected councillor in the March 27th local elections in the town of Reus near Barcelona for the independent CORI party. A former postman, Santamaría gave a series of concerts around the town, to publicise his proposal to have marihuana planted in all the town's green areas. He also wants the Guardia Urbana to carry a GPS satellite system at all times so they can find people who have forgotten their lighters and give them a light for their spiff. If he has his way, the Town Hall will be painted pink and the town square will be converted into a swimming pool for nudists. To give his campaign more oomph, his press secretary attended to reporters dressed as a pirate, eye patch included. Despite these eccentricities, 1,800 people voted for Santamaría.

SPAIN HAS THE MOST BLUE FLAGS

Despite the fact that the European Commission has suspended the water quality of 14 beaches in Spain - five of them on the Costa del Sol - the country continues to have the most blue flags in the world, a total of 499 this year, or one in seven beaches. A total of 77 marinas have also been awarded the flag. Galicia, which has fully recovered from the Prestige oil tanker disaster of Novemeber 2002, is now the region with the most blue flags for beach quality - 127 - followed by Cataluña with 108, Valencia with 107 and Andalucia with 72. Of the islands the Balearics have 80 and the Canaries 30.

MADELEINES PARENTS VISIT SPAIN

The parents of abducted Madeleine McCann were in Madrid last Friday as part of a tour of several European countries to publicise their daughter's case. They met the UK ambassador to Spain, Denise Holt, and Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. The McCanns also appeared on a Spanish television programme called Los Mas Buscados (The Most Wanted) which appeals for help to find missing people. As well as making their own plea, they mentioned Spain's own missing child - seven-year-old Yeremi Vargas, who disappeared in the Canary Islands two months ago. Mr McCann said: "We do realise that there are other families in Spain who have had similar experiences, particularly the family of the young boy Yeremi from Gran Canaria. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and with other families going through a similar experience to us." Earlier, the couple met representatives from child welfare organisations, including the Associacion Contra la Pornogafia Infantil, an anti-paedophile group.

RICE VISIT SPARKS DEMO

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a her first lightning visit to Madrid last Friday for talks with Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos to restore ties between the two countries which have been frosty since Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq after he won the March 2004 election. But disagreements remain, notably over Cuba. While Ms Rice was visiting King Juan Carlos, Sr Zapatero and Opposition leader Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish government was holding talks with Cuba on human rights on the island. When Sr Moratinos assured reporters at a press conference that he believed the US would one day agree with Spain's policy on Cuba, Ms Rice was heard to mutter: "Don't hold your breath." Apart from Cuba, the US has expressed anger about an arms deal between Spain and Venezuela's leader, Hugo Chavez, a man the US regards as a destabilising force in Latin America. Meanwhile, Spanish Defence Minister Jose Antonio Alonso complained about "indiscriminate bombardment" carried out by US and Afghan forces, that killed civilians in Afghanistan. Ms Rice blamed Taleban militants for hiding among civilian populations. She also said she would like to see Nato allies do more in Afghanistan, "and Spain is included in that list". A `policeman cuts the chains of youths dressed like prisoners at the US military base in Guatanamo, Cuba. They had chained themselves to the fountain in Plaza Cibeles to protest Ms Rice's visit to Madrid.

FRENCH PRESIDENT VISITED SPAIN

Nicolas Sarkozy made his first visit to Spain as President last week, although he has visited the country several times in the past almost as a native son - his wife Cecilia is the granddaughter of the famous Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz. During his meeting with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the main item on the agenda was how to breathe life back into the European Constitution, which the French voted against, and the Spanish voted for in their respective referendums. They also agreed to continue to fight against terrorism, most notably against the Basque terrorist group ETA, in which the French police have been so successful that ETA members are now seeking refuge in countries further afield, such as Britain and Italy. Mr Sarkozy also met his old friend, opposition leader Mariano Rajoy, before having a private diver with King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and other members of the Royal family.

I NEVER THOUGHT IT COULD HAPPEN TO ME CAMPAING

In the Traffic Authority's latest campaign to convince people not to drink and drive, 110 people who have ended up in a wheelchair because of a traffic accident will be accompanying the Highway Guardia at breathalyser control points. Their message: "I never thought it could happen to me, but I had an accident and ended up in this wheelchair. Don't let it happen to you." Meanwhile, a judge in Logroño heard how a 58-year-old man killed two cyclists in two separate accidents 20 days apart. The man, who had a stroke a few months ago, told the judge he could remember the first accident but not the second, both of which happened on straight stretches of road. Police said he passed the breathalyser test on both occasions. The judge has not yet delivered a sentence.

SPANISH FISHERMEN SAVE IMMIGRANTS FROM CERTAIN DEATH

The Spanish sea rescue ship Clara Campoamar docked in Tarragona last Saturday afternoon with 26 African immigrants on board who had been saved from certain death at sea by the Spanish fishing boat Montfalcó. The immigrants' flimsy cayuco was adrift between the Libyan coast and Malta when it was spotted by the captain of the Montfalcó on May 26th, after having been refused permission to land at Malta. The immigrants, all men from the Ivory Coast, were attempting to make it to Italy, but their cayuco started taking in water near Malta. Montfalcó's captain, Rubén Vazquez Rey, obeying the law of the sea, went to their rescue. Speaking over the ship's radio after the rescue, Sr Vazquez said he had thought they were pirates at first until he saw how they were dressed. "They were obviously immigrants in distress and would have died if we hadn't passed so close to them," he said. However, the Montfalcó was built to hold a crew of three and their provisions comfortably and Sr Vazquez appealed for help to get the men safely ashore. The Spanish government sent the Clara Campamar to meet the Montfalcó to the south of Sicily to pick up the immigrants, who were packed "like sardines" in every available space on the smaller boat. The two vessels met up on Friday. The rescued men have been transferred to different Red Cross centres while the government decides to give them political asylum or not. It was not the first time a Spanish boat has rescued immigrants in danger of drowning in the vicinity of Malta, which claims it is too small to allow "illegals" to step foot on the island. There was a similar incident last year which led to a heated diplomatic exchange between Malta and Spain. Malta claimed on both occasions that the boats in distress were not in Maltese waters. As a result of last year's incident the European Commission and the European External Borders Agency started a joint study to determine the responsibilities of the countries involved in incidents of immigrants lost at sea. The study, which is nearly completed, aims to link maritime and humanitarian laws so that "everyone is clear about their responsibilities", said Friso Roscam, the EC's spokesman for Justice, Liberty and Security.

NO MORE CAGED ANIMALS

Three young men and four girls cooped themselves up in cages in Barcelona's famous Ramblas last week to protest cruelty to animals. In addition to the many book stalls located there, Las Ramblas - which runs from the city centre down to the port area - is also home to kiosks that sells poultry, a variety of rodents and tortoises. The protesters, who belong to AnimaNaturalis, also complained that the kiosk owners ignore municipal regulations for the protection of animals that are on sale to the public, especially the one dealing with the size of the cages in which they are kept. The protest had quite a high impact because Las Ramblas is one of the busiest thoroughfares in Spain. The broad central walkway is always crowded by locals and tourists alike, attracted by the books stalls and the Barrio Chino (red light district) that it passes near the port.

PMS ALLIANCE MAKES PROGRESS

The Alliance of Civilizations - an initiative presented by Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2004 - has cost 2.6 million euros to date, with Spain contributing one million. This covers the cost of three meetings of the working group of sabios (wise men) in Palma de Mallorca, Qatar and Dakar in Senegal. Despite the interest expressed by several Arab, African and Asian countries, only 12 countries have contributed money to the initiative so far. Last week Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said the Alliance's first Forum will meet in Spain in November to study how the wise men's reports can be translated into specific activities to the turn the Alliance into a reality.

EL CIDS SWORD DECLARED A FAKE

El Cid would never have believed it but his sword somehow got involved in the recent municipal elections. The sword, known as Tizona, was bought by the Castilla-Leon regional government and a group of Burgos businessmen for 1.6 million euros some time ago. Last week, the Culture Ministry announced that it was a fake. The ministry based its conclusion on reports by the National Heritage Department, the National Archaeological Museum and the Royal Academy History, all of which said the same thing: It wasn't El Cid's sword but could still be considered valuable because of its age and workmanship, and valued it at 250,000 euros. It was declared an Object of Cultural Interest by Royal Decree in 2002. Now the regional government, which is formed by the main opposition party, the Partido Popular, has accused the (Socialist) Culture Ministry of using the sword to sway voter intentions by highlighting the fact that it has chipped in with 600,000 euros to buy the sword. And if that wasn't enough an Asturian fisherman claims the sword was his, having been left it by the Marquis of Falces whose family have owned the sword since the 16th century. The fisherman said it was bequeathed to his family, who had served the marquis's family for generations. It is to be hoped all these problems are solved before the exhibition on "El Cid, del hombre a la leyenda (El Cid, from the man to the legend)" opens in Burgos Cathedral in September.

HEAVY RAIN WREAKS HAVOC

The Government on Friday approved a package of emergency measures,including a 300 million euro fund,aimed at alleviating the enormous damage caused across the country by last week´s heavy rains. Most of Madrid's road tunnels were flooded and the capital's train connections with the east of the country were cut off. The rains flooded several towns in central Spain and wiped out crops worth millions of euros. The Castilla-La Mancha vineyards, which play a major economic role in the region, were destroyed and wine growers said it would take at least two years to recover the vines. Alcazar de San Juan in Ciudad Real province was particularly badly hit. Located in the heart of La Mancha, the town's 30,000 inhabitants are more used to drought but in 24 hours last week it rained more than it normally does for a whole year. Some 240 litres per square metre of rain fell in just one hour, turning the streets into rivers with the water reaching the ceilings of the houses in the worst-hit areas. Over 100 people had to be evacuated from their homes. Further north, in Alava province in the Basque country, fog caused a multiple pile-up on the N-1 in San Millán, in which one man died and 19 were injured, four of them seriously. In the south, rain has damaged about 80% of the olive groves in Jaen province, while 25 centimetres of snow fell on the Sierra Nevada in Granada, trapping two busloads of senior citizens on an excursion to Monachil for several hours. The Cabinet approved emergency measures to alleviate damage caused in Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-Leon, Andalucia, Murcia, Madrid and Extremadura.

OWNER FORTIFIES JEWELLERY STORE

The owners of a jewellery store located on a busy corner opposite the Mosque in Cordoba have installed so many anti-robbery devices that it now looks like a fortress. The store has been robbed three times in the past year, twice by having a car driven into the window. On the third occasion the thieves smashed the window with a drain grill. In addition to the usual burglar alarm and "thief-proof" locks, bullet-proof unbreakable glass was installed last week, as well solid iron beams across the windows to stop the cars. The owner said the store had never been robbed during opening hours, only at night, but with all that extra protection, the thieves are going to have to change their working hours.

BASQUE FORM PARALLEL SOCIALIST PARTY

While the politicians were out on the hustings last week, a group of Basque intellectuals announced they intended to form a new party - the Basque Socialist Party - to counteract the Socialist government's policy of holding peace talks with the Basque terrorist group ETA, which many Basques do not agree with. The founders include two well known Basque philosophers - Carlos Martinez Gorriaran, an active member of the anti-ETA group "Basta Ya (Enough)", and Fernando Savater, a lifelong Socialist. The other founder member is Rosa Díez, the Socialist government's Euro-deputy, who is very critical of her party's attempts to make peace with ETA unless they group lays down its arms first. They said they hoped their parallel socialist party would have a nationwide coverage by the next general election in March 2008.

ABUSED PARENTS ON THE RISE

Abused children are often in the headlines but abused parents are only beginning to make the news. There have been several cases in recent months when parents have asked local authorities to take away their children because they can no longer put up with their abusive behaviour. Recently released figures show than 12% of minors - usually in their early teens - terrorise their parents and now that the subject is no longer taboo, the authorities warn that this figure can only rise.