Madeira News Blog

(22nd September). Today’s main news headline : ‘Region Refuses To Pay President ‘Do MAR’ – Óscar Gonçalves went yesterday to complain to the Madeira executive, and to the representative of the republic’. It’s a new battle between Madeira and Lisbon. This time due to the International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR), and the choice of Oscar Gonçalves to chair the MAR Technical Commission. Normally it is the role of the Government of the Republic to nominate the president of the Technical Commission of MAR, but obtaining the agreement of the Madeira government as a matter of unwritten protocol. However, Óscar is little known in the world of shipping, but a well known collaborator of the socialist party PS-Madeira, and the government (PSD) here complained that it had not been consulted about his appointment in May, as had been customary in the past. As a result the government here have refused to pay his salary, as well as restricted his movements outside of Madeira. They argue that he is not qualified to carry out inspections and surveys for vessels registered with MAR, which they say is one of the legal requirements. The matter is now in the hands of the appropriate authorities in Lisbon. MAR has 157 commercial vessels registered, 14 of which are passenger ships.

‘Robberies In Garajau And On The Levada Dos Tornos – Youths steal the cash register and have the police waiting when they arrive home. Couple robbed at knifepoint in Camacha’. The first story is about a Café / Bar called ‘Brites’ in Garajau, that was robbed at around 4 am yesterday morning, when 2 young men smashed the shop front glass window, and took the cash register, containing just some change. The two robbers, who were regular customers in the bar, took the till to a car park to open it, where they were caught on video camera in the act, along with the registration plate of their car. Police were able to identify the owner of the car, the mother of one of the men, and when they arrived home the police were there waiting. They were taken back to the crime scene, where they apologised to the owner, returned the stolen money, and offered to pay for the damage caused, which included the €400 cash till, the broken window, an aquarium, and a fridge. It is possible that that the same two men had also tried to break into a bar in Cristo Rei, hurling a rock at the front window, which didn’t shatter as it was double glazed, but caused around €200 worth of damage all the same. The sophistication of the crimes and the intelligence of the criminals of Madeira never ceases to amaze me, and once again the police do a great job in cleaning up the mess. I have no idea whether the men involved here were charged, but often an apology to the owner and the payment of the losses and damages suffices, showing the forgiving and kind hearted nature of people here. Personally I would have wanted them strung up if they had done that to me, but there again there are men who have committed far greater crimes but still legally walk our streets. PS Dare not mention who for fear of reprisals.

The other story sounds much more serious, as two German tourists were robbed at knifepoint on the Levada dos Tornos, in the zone of Vale Paraíso, Camacha. He surprised the couple, and demanded the valuables that they were carrying. He stole the rucksack and about €100, but apart from being shocked, the couple were unharmed. The rucksack was later recovered by police, less the money. The police have a description of the suspect and are conducting investigations. I hate doing these stories more than anything, as levadas are supposed to be such safe and peaceful places … and of course still are. The police normally catch these thugs, but it’s best to be aware that there are occasionally problems in just one or two places. How people will obtain such information after next week I don’t know, but I hope they can ask at hotels or go on accompanied tours, or at least find out about any risky areas from somewhere.

’36 From The Savoy Refute Dismissal – The case started yesterday in court’. The collective dismissal of staff from the now closed Savoy Hotel in Funchal is in court, with 36 workers challenging the SIET Savoy Group decision to dismiss them. Their aim is to reverse the decision, and guarantee themselves future employment. The trade union representing the workers said it was the only option open to them once negotiations with the employer had failed. Win and they have their jobs back, lose and they will be entitled to compensation based on length of service. Many of the 99 workers have already accepted the termination and compensation package offered, when the hotel closed to be demolished, to make way for a new Savoy Hotel.

After yesterday’s story about the school of in São Martinho (Funchal) that failed to be ready on time because of building problems, it seems that São Martinho kids are stricken with bad luck, or good luck depending on the point of view. ‘Lombada School in São Martinho Fails To Open At The Start Of The School Year – A lack of staff has left parents and students at the school gate’. They turned up, but that’s as far as they got, as the school remained closed when staff didn’t turn up. The situation caught some parents off guard, along with 250 kids, even though there had been some communications about potential problems. Teachers weren’t lacking, except for the maths teacher, but one cleaning lady was on holiday, one was transferred, and the other one remaining refused to work alone. The knock on from that is that the catering staff and auxiliaries didn’t then turn up for work for fear of being put on cleaning duties. According to the government Education Department the situation has been resolved and the school is now fully operational. It wouldn’t happen in the private sector for sure, and if I had been in charge I would have had those parents in scrubbing the floors and doing the cooking, and sent the non-teaching staff off to meet those ex-Savoy Hotel workers.

‘Erasmus’ Sent Away 117 Madeiran Students In 6 Years’. The programme, according to funding available, allows students at Madeira University to study abroad. The scheme is growing in popularity, but as there is no specific funding for the purpose, applications depend on the general funding of UMa being able to support the applications received. The programme has proved particularly popular for students in physical education and in languages, with the countries most selected being Slovenia (23), Spain (32) and the Czech Republic (32).

Bit of a school theme going today, so here’s another : ‘Gripe A : Teachers “are not a priority risk group”. Contingency plans against the H1N1 swine flu virus in schools caught the attention of the Teachers Union of Madeira, this week. Coordinator Marilia Azevedo regretted the fact that the infection prevention plans have been made only with students in mind. A spokesman for the matter (I have no idea where from), said that the health services and Regional Secretary for Education and Culture had been working together for some time, “[teachers] are not a priority risk group in particular, as the groups that are in contact with the sick are health professionals. I do not see that there needs to be a special scenario for teachers”. What gobsmacking incompetence, as infected teachers are as much of a problem as infected children to start with, but absent teachers cause a different problem altogether, and without them to control the children, the risk of cross infection is highly elevated. Just imagine if one infected teacher in the weekly staff meeting infects the whole teaching staff group … chaos!

’224 Citizens Of Funchal Try Out The Services Of Horários do Funchal For Free – Bruno Pereira, vice-president of Funchal Council will be one of the participants’. The famous yellow bus company of Funchal wants to attract new customers to its regular services of public transport. With this objective in mind the company yesterday started the week with a promotional project ‘Ad personam’. Under the initiative, which is part of a wider European action called ‘Intelligent Energy of Europe’, over 224 people aged between 18 and 60 years can travel free for a week on the bus network of Horários. The lucky 224 were selected from 805 respondents to a survey undertaken in May, and addition to this weeks freebie, will be able to obtain discounted bus travel for the rest of the year through a monthly pass.

The headline I thought I would never see : ‘Marina At Lugar de Baixo Reopens – It will open, but not for boats to moor there’. No firm date has been set, but it is virtually certain that the marina infrastructure will reopen to the public sometime this year, with boats allowed back in shortly after the Winter. Clean up work is still ongoing, including partial clearing of a cliff face. The badly damaged car park has been demolished, and will not be rebuilt, but other parking is available. I can hardly wait for Uncle Bertie’s reinauguration (right!), and to go and enjoy the swimming pool and tennis court, or even just taking a coffee there. I have never tried hard-hat swimming before, but I presume I will need a strap-on-version, as well chastity-belt type swimming trunks. As for the coffee, will the café staff be trained to ask “will it be one lump or two?”

The sport / football headline : ‘Cup Takes Marítimo To The Azores’. Our team travels to Santa Clara to play on the 18th October, in the 3rd round of the Portugal Cup. Nacional will go to the north of Portugal to take on Varzim. Both opponents play in the Liga Honra (the 2nd highest level), and so should not in theory present too much of a challenge. There are still other teams from Madeira left in the cup, but as there are no big name opponents involved, I will leave it there.

Work on the new cemetery in Caniçal has been halted for three weeks. A digger started work, but after a couple of days was taken away. The main problem is with expropriations, or compulsory land purchases. The €1m project wasn’t in the council work programme for the current mandate, but the decision was made to proceed urgently because the existing cemetery is absolutely full. Aside from the purchase of land, how can a cemetery cost anything like €1 million to build? Aside from some ground levelling and boundary walls, what else is there. Will it be fully equipped with ready-to-wear tombs and blank gravestones, or am I just out of touch with today’s cemetery construction prices?

(27th August). Today’s main news story : ‘Forensic Medicine Deals With Two Thousand Examinations A Year – Of the 10 experts in 2005, only 4 continue in functions in the forensic office in Funchal and only as a second job. Only in October will the function be strengthened with a full time professional’. I thought we had flogged this to death on Sunday, but it’s back as the top story today. Amongst the annual workload are 300 autopsies, 1,500 examinations for personal injury (law), 150 carried out under employment law, and others in the area of civil law. In terms of rape and sexual assault it undertakes around two or 3 a month, with 21 so far in 2009. Other work includes evaluations of drug abuse and samples for DNA testing. 3 of the 4 forensic experts are currently employed with most of their time spent as family doctors, the other works in orthopaedics in Funchal Central Hospital. Anyway, the new addition to the ‘team’ will arrive in October and work on forensics full time. 

‘Summer Has 13 Gatherings Per Weekend – There are 268 festivals annually in the churches and parishes of Madeira. August is the champion month, with 70 great festas’. Or put another way, there are an average of 5 festivals a weekend, throughout the year. The Sunday following Santo António this year had the most with 19 (14th June). As far as the church goes, Santíssimo Sacramento (Holy Sacrament) is the most popular event with the church, with 12 celebrations. Most of the festivals on Madeira (201) are held between June and September, an average of 12 or 13 per weekend. This does not include other festivals, such as gastronomic events and ‘Dia do Conselho’ (annual day of the town / area). April has no festivals due to Easter. After that, February and March have the least festivals (both 3), as these months are associated with Lent.

The main photo today shows a JCB digger taking a first ‘bite’ from a piece of wasteland – ‘Future Cemetery Divides Caniçal – The machines move in to Feiteirinhas against a petition. Also there are those who defend the location of the project’. Work started yesterday on the Machico Council project, despite a 1,100 protest petition, from locals who believe that the new site will hamper future urban expansion in Caniçal, as it is the only expansion direction possible. The signatures collected represent nearly half the affected population and was led by a PS socialist counsellor. He believes the correct location would be on the lands of Zona Franca, which is already public property. He also says that the work yesterday commenced without completion of the expropriation of the lands being completed. The president of Machico Câmara, who is on the opposite side of the debate for the new Caniçal cemetery, said that this is proof that the majority of the population was misled when signing the petition. "I think people believed that the cemetery would be built right on top of the houses, right next to the neighbourhood of Feiteirinhas. That’s not true … that would be a bad option".

‘Woman Caught With 800 Grams Of Heroin At The Airport’. A careful search by customs led to the detection of the drugs hidden in the clothing of the passenger. Another drugs courier caught says the chief of customs. The woman, of African origin, aged over 40, was caught during checks on Tuesday, and she had her return trip booked almost immediately. The very pure heroin haul was enough for up to 14,000 fixes, and would not have been detected without a thorough body search. That’s the second arrest at the airport in a week for hard drugs smuggling.

Police units from Funchal and Câmara de Lobos have arrested 6 people in the last few days for drugs offences, including growing cannabis, when enough for nearly 6,000 fixes was seized. All 6 were foreigners. The police are said to be on a bit of a high after all their successes this week.

The search for the 76 year old man who went missing on Porto Santo on Sunday continues today, but the scale of the search operation is being reduced.

‘Kidnapping Of Another Madeiran In Venezuela Troubles Jardim da Serra’. The 64 year old emigrant was taken a week ago. In December last year the brother of the man from Jardim da Serra was also kidnapped in the same city, but was released 6 days after when a ransom was paid. It is estimated that more than one hundred Portuguese people and their descendants have been the target of kidnapping since the beginning of this year.

‘House Of Deceased Was Robbed Four Hours After The Death Was Known – Opportunist thief didn’t manage to take the stove because neighbours stopped him’. It is a case so ridiculous and immoral. A house in the neighbourhood of Nogueira was robbed four hours after it was known locally of the sudden death of the resident. The 61 man died, most likely from illness, not through crime. A police source reports that the thief was seen leaving the house of the deceased, carrying a small stove on his back. But the opportunist was caught by a group of neighbours of the deceased, who condemned the act and alerted the police.

(26th August). From the Jornal da Madeira : ‘PSP To Have New Police Station On Porto Santo – It will go in the area currently occupied by the firemen’. The area currently occupied near to the centre of Vila Baleira is due to be demolished in the next year.

UPDATE :

(27th August). The Gripe A count in Portugal has now reached 2,244, but as the minister for health said they were not doing the tests anymore, then I can’t see how this can be accurate. That’s the latest count up until 23rd August. Madeira has / had 30 cases, but this article takes it down to 27?

And in politics today :

(27th August). ‘Secretary Of State Reacts To Rui Alves And Refuses Invitation Of Nacional For Today’s Game’. (Sport or politics?) Bernardo Trindade (secretary of state for tourism) turned down the invitation of Nacional, having been angered by statements from Rui Alves, president of the football club. Trindade announced yesterday that he would continue his program of official contacts with tour operators in Russia, but will not attend the big match this afternoon against Zenit St. Petersburg in the Europa League, as was originally planned. Trindade told the Diário that he is surprised by the statements of the football club on Madeira, since it was a few weeks ago that the issue was triggered, of taking the opportunity to use the football match as an excellent means of promoting tourism to Madeira. Alves spoke yesterday in Funchal, making a severe accusation against the Government of the Republic, about taking advantage of the visit to Russia for national propaganda purposes. Trindade in response criticized Alves saying he was the one who initially raised the issue of using the opportunity. President Jardim is known to have been annoyed at the interference of Trindade, having ignored the opportunity to promote Madeira at the event through the regional government. "Now it looks like someone let the dogs out, and Rui Alves became frightened and reversed the position he had taken previously" said Trindade. Russians will be reading their newspapers today and seeing the new campaign, a beautiful picture of Madeira with the slogan "The land of Ronaldo and Danny’.

The daily interview with the head-of-the-list for the elections to the Assembly of the Republic : ‘Guilherme Silva Doesn’t Exclude Support To The PS Majority – The candidate of the PSD admits to giving support to a PS government, in the event that it benefits Madeira’. This guy is either giving us some serious BS or is not an ordinary PSD politician of Madeira. Asked if he wanted to see a crushing victory in the legislative elections next month, he said he didn’t like the work ‘crushing’, but hoped that most of the votes and 6 places go to the PSD. In fact if he hadn’t stated that constitution revision was an absolute social democrat priority in the new mandate, I wouldn’t have believed that he was in fact a social democrat. In the last 5 years, in the various elections, the PSD vote on Madeira has varied between 45.2% (2005 national) and 64.2% (2007 regional). It was in 2005, with the 45.2% share, that the PSD had to evenly share the 6 seats in the Assembly of the Republic with the PS socialists.

The last of today’s headlines : ‘Serrão Takes Place Of Leandro In The ALM’. Just a swopping of candidates in the socialist party. zzzzzz

(15th August). Today’s main photo shows a crowd gathered at night in a decorated street : ‘Crisis Cools The wager In The Festival Of Monte – The people turned up in numbers, but the recession determined the investment from the traders’. A festival that doesn’t weaken. At four in the afternoon there were those cooking their espetada (beef chunks) over a live flame. What might seem early for some, is not the case for those preparing for a night of Monte, the festival of all festivals. And to help the push, the fountain water and banished vinho seco (dry red wine) was not lacking. Customers for the traders are not lacking, with the Madeirans preferring the bolo do caco with garlic butter, whilst the foreigners prefer the bread with the chouriço (sausage). One trader selling meat to barbeque recalls better times for the traders, saying that he sold 30% of what he sold in previous years, adding that the money is still there for some, but in the hands of the workers it is each time less.

In a second article : ‘With The Crisis The People Ask More From Nossa Senhora (Our Lady) – A new flood expected on the Night of Monte’. 550 kilos of meat for espetada, 450 kilos of flour to make 900 ‘bolos do caco’, they are some of the numbers of the Night of Monte, that brings together the faithful and the devoted to Nossa Senhora do Monte. Last year, José Serafim Gomes, a candle seller (or maybe it’s spark plugs), gathered around a ton and a half of wax. This year he expects to sell more, "with the crisis the people ask more from Nossa Senhora", he says. He benefits from the crisis. Meanwhile José Figueira admits to have sold nearly 2,000 kilos of meat during the day, whilst Luís Figueira is very optimistic about how his bolos de caco are going to sell. Don’t ask me why the quantities of meat differ in the article, I just translate. Nice pic … it’s one of the few trades where you get to see the seller actually burning his stock. I wonder if he actually charges more or less for a lit candle rather than a passive one?

Not much mention of the other six festas ongoing alongside Monte, but there is a short article on the one in Porto da Cruz.

‘Taxi Drivers Of Machico 9 Years Waiting For The Airport. Cabbies forgotten by the Madeira government’. Since the opening of the extension of Madeira Airport on 15th September 2000, the taxi drivers of Machico have been waiting for permits to work out of the airport, alongside the taxi drivers of Santa Cruz, for they consider that their right. They believe that because the airport is also situated in Machico, not just in Santa Cruz. Dispirited, they were forgotten by the regional government. In 2005, a partial step was made, when the Regional Directorate of Land Transport published an order permitting 7 taxis to enter the airport each day, but that arrangement lasted just 11 days, when a court imposed an injunction after a complaint by a taxi firm in Gaula, but took another year to give its reason. It seems that the order exceeded the rights of the issuer. The matter has been batted backwards and forwards by politicians and courts ever since. There seems to be no reason why this story hit the front page today, as nothing has changed. The issue mentioned really is secondary, as Madeira just has too many taxis, around 700 if I remember correctly but it could be more, and the stupidity of the council boundary restrictions just makes the matter worse. It is very environmentally unfriendly too, as any taxi driver crossing council boundaries has to return to base empty, pretty much prohibited from picking up passengers in someone else’s territory.

‘Police Raid Causes Damage In Santo Amaro – The entrance into a house of the father of two suspects was by break-in’. PSP agents break doors in search of evidence. One man, whose two sons are suspected of drug trafficking, had doors broken, drawers turned upside down, wardrobe contents emptied, and windows broken. He is heartbroken, and has hired a lawyer to defend his rights. The police admit that that kind of operation can cause discomfort, but point out that the use of force is legitimate, and is a legal means of obtaining evidence. The father of the two argues that the search warrant had the names of his sons, and so the police had no right to break into his home. The police left with two bags of objects, including a mobile phone and a quantity of money. They questioned one of the suspects and threatened to smash the rest of the house, if he didn’t tell them where the drugs were (it’s not clear whose side of the story this is at this point). The use of force is a tough measure, but the Police Commissioner emphasizes that this only happens when the measures of prevention and deterrence fail.

Much of the same in the sports headline : ‘Big Game In Choupana With The Visit Of Sporting – With the statistics in their favour, Nacional receive Sporting of Liedson’. Liedson is Sporting’s star goalscorer. Also ‘Leixões - Belenenses Open 1st League With Zeros’, 0 – 0 in last night’s opening league game.

‘Man Scared Clients With ’11 Calibre’ Knife’. An individual entered a bar in Estreito de Câmara de Lobos, and placed a knife with an 11 centimetre blade on the bar. The customers, fearing trouble, scarpered and called the police, who arrived and arrested the man. He didn’t use the knife, or threaten anyone, but under new arms laws a blade of that size is illegal.

’30 Thousand Vaccines Against The Flu – There is no proof that the vaccine for normal seasonal flu protects against Gripe A’. The health authority here, IASAÚDE, has ordered 30,000 vaccines to combat flu this Winter. The annual vaccination programme has been running since 1996, and provides free injections for groups considered to be ‘at risk’. The number of vaccinations requested is 10% higher than last year, because the suppliers usually send less than ordered due to product shortages. The vaccinations should start next month. At present nobody has much idea when the vaccines against Gripe A swine flu will be available.

Petrol (95) goes up 1c. on Monday. That’s €1.20 a litre.

(14th August). The social democrats in Machico council want to convert the municipal cemetery into a public garden. The socialists have proposed that the remains be moved to the new cemetery, leaving a large common tombstone with the names of all the deceased be placed there. To meet legal guidelines and ensure that local people who still go there to visit graves are not upset, it could be ten years before the transformation takes place, but in the meantime it is intended to start by dealing with the neglected graves. The PSD rejected the socialist proposal, saying it was unworkable because the cemetery is over one hundred years old and the records are not complete, but they do intend to leave some sort of memorial there to remind people that it was once a cemetery.

For a change we managed a whole day yesterday without mentioning Porto Santo, but I cheated and held this one over from the Jornal da Madeira yesterday, just to give us a break. "Economic Activities" brings four cases – Porto Santo – Inspections during the Summer continue until late September’. The trade increases exponentially during the Summer, as the tourists flock there, and trade obviously soars, particularly in restaurants. Hence the Regional Inspectorate of Economic Activities is currently on Porto Santo making sure standards don’t slip. Since early Summer 4 establishments have been identified and entered into due process for non-compliance with rules and laws. The charges are : Not displaying a price list; Not having a livro de reclamações (complaints book); Lack of hygiene in the establishment; and, Thursday morning, the transport of food items in unhygienic conditions, brought the latest charge. A spokesman for the agency, Valentim Caldeira says he disagrees with those who say, "Porto Santo is a land where anything goes" and stresses that "in accordance with the experience we have had in recent years, Porto Santo is increasingly a destination for quality. Especially in the restaurants. There have been significant improvements and, hence, as is natural in these circumstances, the number of violations is becoming smaller, which leaves us satisfied, without prejudicing our ongoing duty to inspect in a preventive manner that avoids these offences". As for supermarkets, there have been no complaints. No price list … if that is an offence I am surprised there are many bars left open in my town … actually, now I think about there aren’t that many left.