Madeira News Blog

(4th August). The main front page photo today shows a packed group of emergency workers : ‘Accident In Oeiras Kills Three Youths Of Portuguese Descent’. The children of emigrants from Ribeira Brava, aged 19, 15, and 13, died early yesterday morning in a car accident’. The two younger children, living in Venezuela with their family, were in Portugal on holiday when the head-on collision happened. The older teenager lived in Ribeira Brava and had gone to the continent to join the family holiday.

‘Câmara Delivers 64 More Allotments – The new plots are in São Martinho and in Ilhéus (Funchal). The fashion is catching on and there are still 140 signed up on the waiting list’. In the latter location, the council has had the land since the 1970′s, but never used it. Conversion is work still underway at both sites. The plots are given out by the council free of charge for agricultural use, and come complete with water access / irrigation, a fence, and a garden shed. All the tenant has to do is sign a contract of responsibility. Funchal council is keen on its policy to provide allotments, as it not only increases green zones in the city, but also provides work and therapy for people, as well as feeding their families.

And just when I thought the somewhat more serious fires in Santa Cruz were already forgotten … ‘Santa Cruz Council and Madeira government are to give assistance to families affected by the fire in Santa Cruz – The objective is to restore the houses and substitute damaged equipment’. The Junta de Freguesia of Caniço (town council) is also there to offer support. In a communication, the council headlined "the enormous effort" made by the fire brigade to protect homes, with the goal almost achieved, with just one house losing a door and windows. The message also notes the support given to the firemen in tackling the flames, with the supply of water and milk(?). The release also calls for the land to be cleaned up, particularly near to homes. Perhaps the firemen used the water on the fires and drank the milk, but more likely that’s a colloquialism that hasn’t yet arrived to my eager brain. Anyway, nice job all round! As for the ‘offer’, with just one house damaged, it’s not going to be a very costly offer of aid me thinks.

Today’s top football story : ‘Pepe Yields Another €900,000 To Marítimo – At a crucial time Marítimo sees its finances boosted with another €900k. It is the transfer of Pepe still making money’. The player left Marítimo some seasons ago, but his subsequent transfer from FC Porto to Real Madrid brings in further revenue due to future transfer contract terms.

‘Airport Accident Has Preliminary Report – The investigation has the objective of helping to avoid further accidents’. The Office of Prevention and Investigation of Accidents with Aircraft, an agency of the Ministry of Public Works for Transport and Communications, has made public a report of the investigation into the crash that occurred at Madeira International Airport on 24th of May. The aircraft involved was used for aerobatics, and crashed on landing bursting into flames. One of the two occupants died afterwards in hospital.

A 46 year old man was found dead in a river in sítio da Alegria, São Roque. He is believed to have fallen 25 metres, and was reported missing on Sunday.

‘Street Teams In Nogueira’. The well known social problems in the neighbourhood of Camacha are now being monitored by two teams of ‘technicians’ from social security (services?), who have been working the streets for the last few weeks, with the aim of diverting young people from unacceptable behaviour. The work is done at night as much as during the day.

An assessment of the situation of the smoking laws introduced over 18 months ago is that people accepted them and obeyed very well, and there are very few problems with smoking in public or prohibited places.

‘Chapel Of São Cristóvão Was Vandalised Again In Another Assault’. The chapel in Jardim da Serra  was damaged during the break in, and the donation box was robbed, the fourth time this year. Not much was stolen as the collection box is emptied daily. Just a thought, but perhaps a note on the front door of the chapel ‘The Collection Box Is Emptied Daily’, might be helpful.

As previously covered, the collection of separated organic waste starts today in a trial in Funchal. The residents in Imaculado Coração de Maria had to buy their own brown recycling bins to participate in the project.

The president of the organising commission for the Rali Vinho Madeira guaranteed yesterday that the rally here will continue to be part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), for three more years.

I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised to find today that there is little ‘normal’ front page news today, just the Spanish royal visit and the Madeira Wine Rally, with the royal couple getting the lion’s share.

(30th July). Main headline today : ‘Filipe Works Out Of The Royal Visit – The visit of the king and queen of Spain starting today on Madeira doesn’t include The Palace of São Lourenço, nor the Forts at Pico and São Tiago, works with a ‘Filipe touch’. Just the old Palace Espiscopal, today the Museum of Sacramental Art, make up the visit. The passing through Madeira is considered historic by the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon, but not so much for the historians. Together with various restrictions caused by the rally, the royal visit is expecting the closure of roads and parking along various parts of the course’. The visit today is seen as important for the exposure of Madeira, but what many might not realise that King Juan Carlos actually lived in Portugal (Cascais), he loves Portugal, speaks fluent Portuguese, and even when in Spain is a frequent visitor to a Portuguese restaurants(s). I am not really clear on the ‘Filipe’ issue, though the monuments mentioned were built in a period of Spanish influence around the time of Filipe II of Spain, something a little sensitive in Spanish-Portuguese history perhaps?

‘Emotion At The End Of The Afternoon – Vinho Madeira gets going at 7h30, with the technical inspections, but the emotion only comes with the super-special on the Avenida do Mar, that starts at 19h30′.  A small timetable then shows that roads in the vicinity are closed from 3pm until 21h45, and gives tomorrow’s route times and road closures. The article then discusses cars and drivers, so not much I can add here in terms of a summary of the article.

Then the Diário did save a small corner for three actual news headlines, one of which is in politics :

‘Electric Cars In 2012 – Inside of 3 years, Madeira will have charging posts for electric vehicles’. Nissan-Renault have already presented the first prototype of an electric car that is to be built in Portugal, but of course it is not much good without ‘juice’. Galp petrol stations and major shopping centres in Funchal will be the first equipped to refuel electric cars, with the buildings of Dolce Vita, Modelo, and Pingo Doce named, along with Galp filling stations. A protocol has been agreed with all parties, which includes 21 regions / cities of Portugal in phase one (until 2010), which includes Funchal but it outside of the timescale of the rest. The initiative will be extended after that. I may be a bit behind with technology, but pulling into a Galp petrol station to refill seems to me something to avoid at all costs. Petrol etc. takes a matter of minutes, but with recharging batteries it is a much longer process, so does one take a sleeping bag or portable hammock? What will the queues be like?

‘Abortions Increase – From 82 in the first 6 months of last year, the number rose to 130 this year, until June. An increase of 58%’. That’s according to data provided to the Diário by the Administrative Office of Health and Social Affairs (IASAÚDE). Likewise the number of consultations about pregnancy terminations was also up from 109 to 159  over the same periods, up 46%. The president of IASAÚDE explains that this could have several meanings. He says that women have more knowledge and confidence on the subject, and are now prepared to turn to the hospital for help, but also admits that there may be other reasons, "which are due to various causes such as economic or social condition of families and women". The abortion law has only been in place less than 2 years, so it is impossible to draw any conclusions. A hospital spokesman said that abortions are now a medical procedure like any other, and are part of the hospital routine in terms of both the consultation and the termination itself.

In other local news:

‘Airport Arrivals To Be Monitored For Gripe A – New arrivals will be checked with a body temperature measuring device’. The regional secretary for Tourism and Transport, Conceição Estudante, explained that the device will permit measurement of the body temperature of passengers landing at Madeira Airport, saying that since the cases for H1N1 swine flu to date were imported "if we identify the situations at the entrance door we reduce the risks and their impact". No start date has been announced, but she said that they are taking the steps for rapid acquisition and installation of the equipment needed.

‘Vinho Madeira With Financial Support From The Republic – The Secretary of State for Tourism makes €100 thousand available for the promotion of the competition’. The idea is to ensure Madeira receives the maximum exposure of the Madeira Wine Rally internationally with TV coverage in over 50 countries. Good idea from Secretary Bernardo Trinidade, who just happens to be Madeiran … strange that it is announced just hours before the event starts though, especially after all that fuss about changing the law to allow tobacco advertising to make up a funding shortfall.

‘More Than 800 Policemen On Duty For The Royal Visit And Madeira Wine Rally – Operation obliges extra controls over traffic movements and parking’. The visit of the King of Spain, added to the requirements to police the rally, is going to stretch the police force here, and the police commissioner has appealed to Madeirans to collaborate, particularly in the areas of Largo do Colégio, Sé, and Rua dos Ferreiros in Funchal.

‘Police Identify Stash Of Cannabis Plants In São Vicente – The investigation led to the arrest of two men’. The two men have been arrested for drug trafficking. Once the police had identified the site where the cannabis was being grown, they staked out the location until they identified the two men. 6 plants were seized with a height of around 70cm. The plants will be analysed in a laboratory and then destroyed. In these hard times perhaps they were just growing them for the hemp to make clothes?

’12 Firemen Extinguish Three Bush Fires -The three fires were in Madalena, Quinta Grande, and Lombo dos Aguiares’. The causes are unknown, but they started yesterday morning. The fire in Lombo destroyed a "vast" area of land, but in all cases no residences were affected. 

(27th June). ‘Drug Addiction Prevention Service (SPT) banks On Municipal Plans – Calheta and Porto Santo are the locations selected for pilot projects’. The way of thinking and working is set to change, with the director of the SPT looking to cooperate on a regional basis to create plans to control drug addiction. “We train the councils and local communities and they themselves respond by cascading the information amongst their staff”. While addiction prevention is a key objective, the effort will not be relaxed in treating and rehabilitating existing addicts.

A lot of good initiatives and announcements coming through from our leaders at the moment: measures to tackle child poverty and behavioural issues, more facilities to feed the poor, new initiatives for drug problems, tourism showing an upturn. All great news. By the way, anyone heard when the elections are? 

Airport access and exit roads will be closed / diverted whilst works are done to improve pavements(?). The dates given are 2 to 7th July for airport passengers, and 11th to 15th July for cargo / freight routes. I guess that means leave a bit earlier if you are planning to fly off somewhere.

Lucky university students that travel between Madeira, the Azores, and the continent during September will be allowed to carry an extra 10kg of luggage on TAP flights, free of charge.

I guess by now most people know that tonight is the final night of the Atlantic Festival fireworks competition. Macedo from Portugal provide the final display, accompanied by the Classical Orchestra of Madeira, in what is called ‘Concert of Stars’. That will see the last of €500,000 of public money literally go up in smoke.

‘Police Recover €45,000 from Robbery’. Thanks to a tip off, an investigation led to police recovering nearly all the money stolen from a residence in Câmara de Lobos. €50,000 was stolen. 2 arrests have been made. I am wondering, and perhaps the police are also wondering, why a resident in Câmara de Lobos had such a large amount of cash at home.

This was in the Welsh press today : Cardiff City and Blackburn Rovers had agreed to compete in a tournament in Madeira along with Portuguese League teams Nacional and Marítimo. But organisers made a shock decision this week not to go ahead with the four-team event and the Cardiff manager is now hurriedly arranging a trip to Portugal, which will include two pre-season matches against Vitoria Setubal and one of Benfica or Belenenses. City officials had spent months arranging their trip to Madeira and a spokesman said: “The decision not to go ahead with the tournament was out of the blue for both Blackburn Rovers and ourselves. We have talked through a number of options and the decision is that the team will be going to Portugal.” Cardiff had in-depth talks with Blackburn Rovers about going ahead with the trip to Madeira anyway with the two clubs covering costs for the tournament. I haven’t seen this in the Madeira press yet, but I found confirmation elsewhere. On another website it mentions the blow for many fans of both clubs who have booked at high season prices to come to Madeira for the tournament.

(27th June). ‘Government Sets Local Elections For 11th October – The decision has already been given to the President of the Republic’. The date was that preferred by all the political parties, that according to law, were consulted on the preferred date. So what happened to the last preferred option reported a week or so ago, that they will probably be held on the same date as the national ones? That means we have to put up with all the political garbage for another two or three weeks!