Dawn

Dawn

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Pontevedra Pensées: 13.10.16

LIFE IN SPAIN

Cheap Properties: Looking for one of these in Spain? Then, click here for the site of Sareb, a large bad bank assembled from a pile of small bad banks. Those with a lot of over-valued empty flats and houses on their books. There's even some in Poio, not far from me.

Long-Distance Travel: I can't credit this but it's reported that twice as many people prefer the plane to the AVE high-speed train for this. And for 'middle-distance' travel as well. Which all rather endorses the accusation that the AVE is a vanity project and the huge sums of money would have been better spent improving Spain's 19th century rail network, nationwide.

Water: Despite living in a hot, dry country - well, most of them - the Spanish are profligate in the use of this. Click here for a chart which demonstrates this. Next door neighbour, Portugal, appears to be even worse. As does Italy.

SPANISH POLITICS

The Nelsonian Approach: Members of the PSOE have accused the acting-leader of their own party of consciously turning a blind eye to the institutionalised corruption of the PP party, now destined to spend at least the next 4-8 years in power. One wonders why. Could it be that any real investigation would be seriously embarrassing for the PSOE as well? One thing's for sure - When push gets to shove, most Spanish voters couldn't care less about the corruption they claim to see as one of the country's main problems. They're all as bad as each other seems to be the underlying sentiment. Would you believe that El Mundo has turned up what it claims to be a PP video sent to all their mayors, giving guidance on how to set about getting illegal finance? In how many developed countries would a party risk doing this?

THE SPANISH ECONOMY

Growth Projections: These continue to increase both for this year and next year, masking structural problems. Such as the 20% unemployment rate, for example. Meanwhile, it's reported that tourist numbers grew by 9% this year. It's an ill wind, as they say.

LOCAL STUFF

Pontevedra and Drugs:Visitors are always surprised to hear just how much of our local wealth depends on the importation of white powder from Colombia. Possibly because there's not a lot of talk about it, either on the streets or in the local media. So, it was something of a surprise to read an article  about smuggling in the Voz de Galicia a couple of days ago. See the end of this post for Google's machine translation of this.

FINALLY

Robins: Just heard the first one of the autumn/winter and have played my usual trick on it - putting on, at full volume, a snatch of robin song. So, that I can watch this most territorial of birds going mad outside the door. So far, though, I only seem to have attracted a visiting troupe of 7 greenfinches to the tree at the bottom of the garden. Perhaps the robin is deaf.

The 40kph Sign: Driving downhill last night, I noticed this had been removed from just before the 30kph sign and placed at the other end of the road works, up the hill. Where the existing limit is also 30kph. I guess this makes sense to someone, along the lines of: Ignore this sign telling you to slow down to a speed greater than you're permitted to do here and just regard it as a warning that there are some road works ahead. But that's rather a lot for the average driver to take in, I'd say.

THE GALLERY

More examples of Finnish/British nightmares:-















ARTICLES

THE VOZ DE GALICIA 11/10/16

ONE OF EUROPE'S ENTRY POINTS FOR DRUGS

Despite police blows, the drugs mafia continues to use the Pontevedra coast and ports

Periodically, the police deal blows to drug market, some operations that in many cases are settled with major seizures, which, however, does not seem to have laid siege to the mafias engaged in illicit drug trafficking.

Why Pontevedra?

It is one of the most frequent questions when it refers to the penetration of the drug in the Rias Baixas. Experts say that when the narcotics business began several factors came together that made the eyes of narcos networks were set in Pontevedra. On the one hand, the orographic configuration of the coast and, secondly, and perhaps more importantly, for existence and a vast network of clans who were engaged in smuggling[cigarettes]. Thus, many of these frames or clans were converted to a much more lucrative business.

What is the current situation?

Is paradigmatic of the fact that the Interior Ministry, in its latest annual report, only refers to Pontevedra, regardless of what the pure and hard figures to show that, in the field of cocaine seizures, "the provinces which have recorded highest amounts are Las Palmas, Valencia and Pontevedra. " Only in the last year, the National Police and Civil Guard practiced in the Rias Baixas a total of 309 arrests related to drug trafficking, while 165 knowledge of facts relating to this crime area were reported. This is somewhat higher numbers than last year when carried out exactly counted 300 arrests and 154 'facts'. Meanwhile, in the first six months of the year, at the provincial level there has been scarcely variation -77 criminal offences in 2016 against 78 in the same period of 2015, while in the vicinity of the city of Lérez [Pontevedra] the decline is more pronounced, approximately 33%, to have gone from 9-6 crimes.

How this drug reaches national territory?

There are two main ways, which a third, experts say, is employed less and brings fewer drug. The latter would be the route via intercontinental flights that normally do not call at Peinador[Vigo airport] but at Madrid's Barajas airport.

Thus, and saving the case of some very sporadic and mail-piece, cocaine reaches the Pontevedra coast via the sea. The two entryways are: the supply boats that move caches to the vicinity of the coast to be downloaded onto speedboats that cover the last stretch; and water containers arriving in port on ships that perform a trade route. In the latter modus operandi, it may be the case the charterer of the cargo is fully aware that he is carrying drugs or, on the contrary, has no idea of ​​the existence of the departure of narcotics. It is what is known as blind hook. The prominence of these two methods explained logically that 29% of the cocaine seizures have occurred during police operations "both in territorial waters and international waters' says the Dept. of the Interior, while a similar percentage - 29% - has been intercepted at container ports used in commercial shipping, try to introduce the drug between the goods or using the method of blind hook. "

What have been the last major anti-drug operations?

A dozen people were arrested Civil Guard last week who, according to investigators, were engaged in drug trading from 2 substandard houses in the barrio of O Vao in Poio. Thus, the clans of family and Joaquina were considered dismantled, especially considering that half of the detainees have entered the prison of A Lama. Meanwhile, late last year, agents of the Greco National Police in Pontevedra seized in the town of Barro three tons of cocaine that were to be delivered to a group of British narcos settled on the Costa del Sol. More recent is the operation that last April led the UDYCO to seize a shipment of nearly 60 kilos of heroin in Tui. As said days ago by Commissioner Manuel Bouzas Canosa, is "This the largest drug stash of the drug this year" in Spain and possibly in Western Europe.

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