By David Eade – Costa del Sol News
Within days of leaving office Ronda’s former mayor Antonio Marín has been accused of ruining the town hall and the State auditors have been asked to examine the accounts.
Marín has twice been elected as the Partido Andalucista mayor but during the last term he and his eight fellow councillors defected, sat as non-aligned but joined PSOE. At the May elections he headed the socialist’s list for mayor.
The town is now run by a Partido Popular – Partido Andalucista coalition and the PP mayor, Maripaz Fernández, last week held a press conference to announce the municipal coffers were bare and Ronda faced financial ruin.
She accused Marín over a three-year period of “ill-fated economic management” adding the accounts were being forwarded to the Tribunal de Cuentas for investigation. Fernández added that legal action could also be instigated against the former mayor and his socialist deputy, Francisco Cañestro, saying they had brought Ronda to ruin but had been so tranquil about the consequences of their actions.
It now appears the town hall has debts of 30 million euros, far more than was thought. The new mayor said there was no bank liquidity and it was not known how the salaries of the municipal workers would be paid for the month of June.
Around 10.5 million euros is owed on invoices to those providing services to the municipality. The balance is due on the various loans taken out by the town hall with financial entities. In addition Ronda owes 575,000 euros to social security plus 700,000 euros for the public cleaning company Soliarsa to keep running for this year. To make matters worse it appears all the municipal companies are running at a deficit.
CASE OF “LUCKY” FINALLY BEING INVESTIGATED
Ronda News has covered intensively the case of 24-year-old Luis Alberto Ramírez ‘Lucky’ who was anything but. He tragically died in April 2008 of peritonitis at Ronda’s hospital after twice being discharged by medical staff.
Since then his family have been pressing for an official investigation and finally four members of staff at the hospital and another from the health centre in ‘Lucky’s’ village of Gaucín have been called to give evidence in an enquiry in to his death.
Lucky’s sister says immediately after his death they issued a complaint over the actions of the medical staff but this was filed by a judge in September 2008. An appeal was lodged in March 2009 and now the Málaga prosecutor has started proceedings.
The four staff from Ronda hospital have all denied any negligence and insist that when he was admitted to the hospital he showed no symptoms for peritonitis. However this is denied by the first doctor who saw ‘Lucky’ at Algatocín health centre on March 31 who immediately diagnosed peritonitis and sent him to the hospital advising they would probably operate immediately.
However both the hospital and the health centre at Gaucín insisted he either had salmonella or a virus and treated him for those. On Saturday April 5 he returned to Ronda hospital, was given antibiotics and discharged. That night at 23.00 his sister called an ambulance as he was very ill. The ambulance was out on a call in Genalguacil and would have taken 90 minutes to arrive.
In the event the sister drove him to the hospital but he suffered a heart attack en route. He died in hospital from peritonitis at 16.00 on the Sunday. The family and village of Gaucín immediately held protests over ‘Lucky’s’ death and finally a full investigation may be held to determine the blame for this tragedy.
LONE DEATH
A lone motorcyclist was killed on the A-374 at km 15 in Ronda at 19.50 last Wednesday evening. No other vehicle was involved in the tragedy and the bike left the road with the biker dying immediately. Police, fire crews and an ambulance attended the scene. The victim, from Ronda, had been attending a bikers’ event in Villamartín to raise money for charity.
ROAD CLOSED
For about two weeks the A-367 that connects Ronda with Ardales will be closed. A section of the road collapsed in the winter rains and major works will be required to repair it. For the duration traffic will be diverted along the A-7278 until the crossing with the MA-5404 and from there to the junction of the A-357 Ardales to Campillos road.
HEALTH VISITORS
Children from infants’ schools in Cortes de la Frontera and Benaoján have visited their health centres. Organised by local social workers the pupils saw how the medical staff worked with residents and hopefully also instilled a sense of confidence and respect for the nurses and doctors. Also should the children need medical treatment they’ll be less scared and more familiar with the surroundings.
OFF SICK
In Cortes de la Frontera the Guardia Civil linked the theft of an official stamp from the health centre with the number of certificates handed to teachers saying a child was ill. Two pupils have now been arrested for the theft and for forging official documents. The theft in March coincided with a sharp rise in absentees who had bought the fake certificates.
EAR ARRESTS
As reported last week a young Ronda bull fighter recently lost part of his ear after it was bitten off during a fracas at the late drinking spot in the Blas Infante gardens. The National Police have now arrested a 21 and 23-year-old who live outside Ronda but came for the festivities. The victim was treated locally then transferred to a Málaga hospital.
ILLEGAL SOUNDS
The Guardia Civil in Ronda have been investigating a robbery from the culture centre in the nearby village of Arriate. Various items of musical equipment were stolen and stupidly their photos were posted on a social network website offering them for sale. Officers have arrested two minors for the offence and they have been released pending a hearing in the young people’s court.
