At 15.00 today (Thursday) the Guardia Civil went to a house in the calle Vinillas in Arriate and arrested a 17-year-old in connection with the murder of María Esther Jimenéz. The youth will be brought before a judge in the coming hours. The 13-year-old went missing on the night of Wednesday January 19 and her dead body was found in a swimming pool pump house by a fireman searching for her 24 hours later. Tuesday, February 1, would have been her 14 th birthday. She had spent her last evening with friends at a bus shelter near her home and the youth is said to have been one of those in the group. First reactions in Arriate to the arrest were shock with locals says he was a normal lad from a normal family.
FORO GLOBAL 21 REJECTS RONDA TO SAN PEDRO MOTORWAY
Opposition to the proposed toll motorway between Ronda and San Pedro de Alcántara is growing. The latest to reject the scheme is Foro Global 21 which says the road is unsustainable ecologically and economically. The news was broken by Ecologistas en Acción which itself opposes the scheme.
The deputy for the environment and president of the forum, Miguel Esteban Martín, has presented this negative assessment to Málaga’s provincial authority.
Foro Global 21 forms part of one of the programmes developed by the province – the Agenda 21 of Málaga. One of its objectives is to investigate projects that affect the environment and land of the province.
The construction of the toll motorway of around 33 kilometres says the forum will inflict important and irreversible damage along the way. It argues there are serious errors in the scientific aspects of the project.
The composition of flora and fauna is badly reflected in the environmental studies. This says both the forum and the ecologists is an unforgiveable error in the report and the authorities did not bother to take the trouble to gather data from the area. This in effect invalidates the environmental impact study on the road.
Foro Global 21 is also of the opinion that the economic benefits stated for the region are not real. It says it would accelerate the disappearance of jobs from the inland region and see more workers try to travel to the coast although presently the labour market there was saturated. It would also open the zone along the route to urban development and speculation.
EARLY BLOSSOM, LESS ALMONDS
One of the delights of driving through the Serranía de Ronda right now is that the almond trees are out in full bloom. Whilst this is beautiful on the eye the association of young farmers in the area are worried. They say that in past years when the trees have come in too flower early they have suffered the effects of the cold, rains, snow, ice and winds then produced less almond nuts to harvest.
It is usual to see the almond trees in blossom in later February but many have been in flower for weeks. It is believed this happened because the winter temperatures have been warmer than usual but recently there has been a cold snap with snow in some places.
The full effects of this early blooming have been felt in El Burgo which is one of the major producers of almonds in the Serranía de Ronda. Here the owners of orchards of almond trees are very worried by the situation.
Rafael Cordero from Asaja Ronda explained that in the Serranía there are over 100,000 hectares assigned to cultivation of which 1,200 are given over to the production of almonds, around one per cent of the territory.
The trees are normally planted on land of low agricultural value with poor soil or difficult access. Many of the small producers harvest the almonds for their own consumption whilst others sell them to markets in the area.
REPAIR WORK
Twenty of the 60 social housing units at Olivar de Las Monjas in Ronda that were handed over at the end of December had defects including cracks, exposed power cables and pools of water in the garage. The project for 111 apartments is being funded with 5.07 million euros by the Andalucía government. Its delegate in Málaga is now going to supervise repairs.
ELECTRIC BIKES
Ronda’s local police have just unveiled a Nissan car which is being added to the forces fleet. In the past year four new cars have been acquired plus the existing two and an unmarked vehicle. It is planned to acquire new motorbikes this summer and the possibility is being examined to use electric engines to improve the police image and aid the environment.
GONE MISSING
National Police and Guardia Civil are searching for a 26-year-old from Puerto Real who went missing in Ronda on January 22. After a night out with his girl friend they had a row, he took cash from a bank machine and has not been seen since in Puerto Real, Ronda or Barcelona where he spent Christmas. He’s driving a red Seat León 0780DYG.
CHACÓN RETURNS
The Partido Popular’s Begoña Chacón is a politician on the move. She was the mayor in Benalauría for three consecutive terms. Then she became a councillor in Ronda - part of the coalition with the PA. She is still a Ronda councillor and is also an MP in the national parliament. However in May she will stand again as mayor in her native Benalauría.
NAUGHTY VIDEO
There’s anger amongst PSOE politicians in Fuengirola and Ronda. The PP has used municipal workers at the Fuengirola TV station to produce a slick election video for the party in Ronda. Fuengirola has a PP administration led by Esperanza Oña and other political videos are being made. To add insult to injury the station has been upgraded with funds from the Zapatero government.
MORE OLIVES
The campaign to harvest olives in the Serranía de Ronda has produced a bumper crop with 15 per cent more of the fruit. Around 6.5 million kilos have been harvested but a million kilos were lost through rain. Vitally the season has generated 10 per cent more working days for the rural workforce. In the Serranía there are 5,000 hectares of olive groves.
