Madeira News Blog

Today’s Photo : Thanks to Eiryl … a lava cave at São Vicente

Funchal : The island of canals and volcanoes

"Funchal is a nice little island that is a sovereign state under the Portuguese flag. It’s a very mountainous city with steep hills and hardly any shore line, all of the highways are built along cliffs and have bridges to connect them". AMERICAN CRUISE VISITOR’S BLOG

"Okay some stories about Madeira … Have we got a lot to talk about; There is the running the car out of fuel at the top of the volcano …" WILL & TAM’S BLOG

Once you get past the title, this article is actually pretty good : Visit Madeira for Canals and Vineyards

"Away from the coast and the lush world of the levadas, walking in Madeira will take you high into the mountains. The island is volcanic in origin, and the worn and weathered remains of huge calderas are everywhere. The walk between the two highest peaks of Pico Ruivo and Pico Arieiro is one of the greatest walks on earth, and not particularly challenging. Try to do it on a day when the peaks are above the clouds and you will think you are not walking in Madeira, but walking in heaven". A RAMBLERS BLOG

Elaine very kindly provided yesterday’s top stories again …

Continuing on from Der’s headlines yesterday.

Bad weather at sea diverts 4,000 tourists and looses Madeira 250,000 Euros. The Independence of the Seas en route between Southampton and Funchal had to cancel the visit which led to a loss of revenue for companies in Madeira. The vessel had to sail at a lower speed than usual to ensure a more peaceful journey for the 4,000 tourists on board. This led to a delay in the arrival time in port, the captain opted to cancel the visit and head directly to Tenerife, which was the next port of call after Funchal. Passengers normally embarking at Funchal had to fly to Tenerife. This cancellation, with less than 24 hours warning, has lost Madeira more than 250,000 Euros to companies providing services in the areas of tourism and restaurants. Smaller ships were still scheduled to arrive, the Astor with 550 tourists and the Sea Cloud II with 80 tourists. The AIDAluna arrived with 2,250 German tourists on board, as usual on a Sunday. Due to strong wind and waves, the docking took longer than normal and the boat moored at the South quay instead of the North quay. The Lobo Marinho remained at Funchal on Sunday morning unable to sail for Porto Santo but was able to leave in the afternoon. Two SATA aircraft from Dublin and Las Palmas to Funchal were diverted to Porto Santo at 17.00 due to wind, rain and fog.

Municipality of Funchal benefits from private management of car parking. Diário investigative reporters analyzed the statistics from different cities in Portugal, the Azores and the Canaries. According to the contract, Funchal Council take 48% of the total gross monthly revenue from car parking meters and the management company SEP transferred 635.121 Euros to the municipality in 2008. The Diário concluded that the business is worth a little over €1.3 million and SEP earns 688,000 Euros, the remainder going to the council. SEP invested €3 million and operating costs are more than 6,000 Euros a month, whereas the council has no outlay, just income. The vice-president of Funchal Council said, "We do not have a business vision (overview) of parking because revenue is not important. Our strategy reflects a concept of sustainable urban mobility, in that it is important to contribute to the planning of transit, in a logical environment." The council justify the high prices on the mobility policy aimed at encouraging the use of public transport and a high turnover of parking in the centre. A Funchal resident parking card which is for a place near the home is also expensive at €103,64 per year per car compared to 10 Euros per year in Porto or Setubal. This generates an annual revenue of 67.265 Euros. The car parks generate a guaranteed revenue of 340.563 Euros a year for the council with no investment which was €9.1 million paid by SEP.

Hospitalized after being hit by a go-kart. A woman was hospitalized in the Orthopaedic Department at Funchal Central Hospital after being run over by a go-kart at the track in Porto Santo. She was getting out of the go-kart when the accident happened.

Wine producers in São Vicente form an association. They feel unprotected and accuse the government of only remembering to support them when there are elections. The mission of the new association is to solve the problems that the government cannot; minimize the cost of the labour force, lower the cost of fertilizers, negotiate the alcohol content and protect the price of grapes. The main objective of the initiative is to "improve conditions for wine producers because of the difficulties they have experienced this year." The 20 growers at the launch of the association produce about 300 tons of grapes and they aim for 100 members, as well as trade contracts with wine merchants so they can get discounts and guaranteed marketing.

Seven Wonders of Nature 2011. In Portugal, the government has committed 7 million Euros and next year has to choose their candidates. These will come from the initial competition 7 Wonders of Portugal. On 7 March 2010, selected from 77 candidates, the 21 finalists will be known which will be at least one from each of the seven regions of Portugal. The public can then vote until the 7 September 2010. The categories are; Caves and Caverns, Forests and Woods, Great Reliefs, Marine Zones, Beaches and Cliffs, Aquatic Zones (non-marine) and Protected Areas. Details of the candidates are at 7 WONDERS.

Businessman claims to have been assaulted by the President of Nacional. Businessman António Araujo says he was assaulted by Rui Alves, the President of Nacional Sports Club. The alleged assault occurred in the early hours of yesterday at the Copacabana nightclub, an act which the victim calls "cowardly". He said he was enjoying a peaceful non-alcoholic night when Rui Alves suddenly approached him and slapped him. The police were called but as hospital treatment was not required, they would not prosecute and is a civil matter.

PSD has still not internally reflected. On the night of the last local elections on the 11 October, Alberto Jardim said that PSD would start quickly an internal reflection on the choices in the coming years. After a month, nothing has happened. The leaving of Jardim, scheduled for 2011, remains the big question among the Social Democrats. This party that won all the elections since 1976 has always had Jardim in charge. Jardim does not comment on continuity in the leadership of the PSD. Last week, the parliamentary leader of the PSD ensured that an ordinary constitutional review will only happen in 2011, after the presidential elections. Many said Jardim intended to leave the ‘housekeeping’ to his successor, which will not be possible with an uncertain constitutional framework. The leadership race continues with more questions than answers.

Porto Moniz has fewer young people staying. Porto Moniz is becoming another area where the young are leaving due to lack of employment and the remaining population is ageing. Interviews with the locals who complain of a lack of investment in the area and not enough help for the elderly in their own homes.

Plea to the Madeiran immigrants settled in Venezuela to support the island. A Funchal councillor at the opening of an exhibition in Caracas stated that the economy of Madeira is being affected by the international crisis and is not at its best. Currently there are no major public investments and the biggest investment now is to invest in the profitability of the large infrastructure which has been made over the years and that will need a lot of private investment, which he wants the Venezuelan population to contribute to.

— Off Rio de Janeiro, divers have just found the remains of a Portuguese ship which sank in 1722 and was carrying a cargo of 136 precious pieces of porcelain from China to London. The cargo is estimated to be worth 670 million Euros and it will cost more than 1.166 million Euros to bring the ship to the surface. British and Norwegian companies are already interested. (A lot in the press this week about the visit of the Bishop of East Timor here. I do not know how far East the Madeirans travelled.)

From today’s front page of the Diário de Notícias :

State turns educational centre operational – Minister of Finances foresees spending €3.35 million on the educational centre until 2012.

Today’s main front page news story : There are €21 million to brake the rural exodus – Applications for the money given by the EU are open until 4th December. ADRAMA is waiting for projects to combat desertification. The EU has decided to pump in €21 million until 2013 to help keep our rural communities populated, with the Association for Rural Development managing the distribution of the funding. A large investment is undoubtedly needed, but a paltry €21 million isn’t going to help much, unless the plan is to build fenced compounds to confine the locals. Anyway, hasn’t the proverbial horse already bolted? Shouldn’t this master plan have been introduced a little earlier in the recession? By 2013 it will be all over, and practically the whole population of Madeira will either live in Funchal or have emigrated, leaving Uncle Bertie an easy task in concreting over the rest of the island.

‘Educate for Tourism’ is another initiative to protect the future that ADERAM takes to five schools.

In politics : "I would be prepared to be leader of the Socialist Party of Madeira". An interview with Maximiano Martins (pictured), who spent 8 years in the national parliament before getting the boot. He says he was / would be interested in leading the PS-M, but his pals wouldn’t support him.

Diário Photo caption : It was not easy to manoeuvre in the harbour, but the ‘Lobo Marinho’ guaranteed return of 700 passengers. The mind boggles!

18 request retirement in a Radio and Television [company] in rupture – The dissatisfaction is growing in RTP Madeira. The administration comes this week to the region to select a new director. 12% of the company staff do not want to continue working for the company, and with a dissatisfied workforce, poor working conditions, and obsolete and inadequate equipment, the operation of RTP-M is under threat. So, it’s as much of a shambles on the inside as it shows itself to be on the outside, to it’s audience. I have said before it’s scheduling and fulfilling of it’s schedule is pretty poor, and nobody has a clue what’s on and when. I like to watch the Madeira news nearly every day,  but you turn on at the allotted hour, and it just isn’t there.

Secretary reprimands presidents – SREC distances itself from the fights between Carlos Pereira and Rui Alves. That’s not to mention the fight that Elaine mentions above. The presidents of our two football clubs, Nacional and Marítimo have been been in a spat since they were in nappies, but the stakes seem to rise year after year. In this story the Regional Secretary for Education and Culture, responsible for sport, gave the two naughty boys a ‘raspanete’, which while I have no idea what it actually means, I reckon it must be one of those things you blow at people in disdain. Unfortunately there is no photo, or even better a soundtrack, to prove my theory.

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(more…)

(12th August). Today’s main front page story : ‘Searches Of Suitcases Destroy Luggage – Passengers coming from Venezuela complain that at the Airport of Maiquetia the suitcases searched were punctured with ‘ice picks’ that damaged the luggage. Travel Agents were yesterday in the Venezuelan consulate in Funchal to condemn the situation. The consul Félix Mendez Correa confirms the complaints and has already asked the ambassador in Lisbon to intercede’. The passengers from Venezuela, whether travelling with TAP or SB Airlines, are finding a nasty surprise when leaving Madeira Airport, with their property damaged with an ice pick. There is some half-cocked theory that this is done to detect drugs, though nobody is quite sure why it is happening. As the origin of the problem is in Venezuela I am not clear why the good people at the Diário thought this should be today’s top story, but to be fair there isn’t much else of excitement. Anyway having selected it, I think they lost an opportunity to sell more newspapers today with that limp headline. I think I would have gone with ‘Madmen run amuck in airport with ice picks’.

‘Crisis Affects The Property Sector On Porto Santo – The purchases and sales of homes and lands on Porto Santo fall to levels that many have never seen on the island’. Somehow I doubt that latter part of the headline is true for anyone out of infancy, but the only public notary on Porto Santo does reckon that everything was 20 to 30% overpriced anyway. The Jornal da Madeira covered exactly the same story on Sunday, so I decided to turn to that one instead (believe it or not!).

From the Jornal da Madeira (9th August) : ‘Property Market Is Stagnant – Pedro Leandro says that the Madeirans and continentals are still buying, but …’. Porto Santo is still feeling the effects of not just the economic crisis, but also the lack of international flights. Last year flights from London and Italy gave estate agents some hope, but since those were cancelled everything stagnated. Pedro Leandro, vice president of ACIPS and president of the board of the real estate sector, confirmed that the slowdown is general and Porto Santo is no exception to the rule. "Especially as much of the building investment that has been done in recent years – we are talking about houses – was done mainly by continental and Madeirans (builders’)". Residents are also feeling the pinch, with increased difficultly in accessing bank funds to buy, despite of interest rates falling to record low levels. They used to lend 100%, but now there are few who lend over 80% of the purchase price, and they want guarantees to protect themselves against what happened in the past. English buyers have disappeared now, thanks to the drop in the value of the Pound against the Euro, and some are now trying to disinvest. Construction of course has also slowed, with so little demand, and with the price of materials so expensive (with increased transport costs) "it really is expensive to build here" he adds. Talk about a turn around of fortunes, up to around two years ago it was the ‘in’ place to buy for foreigners, exotic and exclusive, but it’s a sad situation now with such a glut of unsold properties and nothing foreseeable that might remedy the situation, short term at least.

‘São Gonçalo Doesn’t Seem A Community Of The Capital – Not even in the Diário series (Through Madeira) did one find a parish without a health centre, supermarket, and public conveniences. S. Gonçalo has a pharmacy, some grocery stores … and little more‘. Santa Maria Maior it turns out was not the weekly featured location in the Diário, it is in fact São Gonçalo in Funchal. In a parish that lacks almost everything, the list of aspirations of the people is very extensive and begins with the promised health centre. "This is of course the parish of Funchal where more things are lacking", the observation of Paulina Silva who works in the pharmacy. "It is easier for people to go to Funchal to live their lives" she adds, recalling that there is no supermarket, the biggest one nearby being in Cancela. When the only multibanco (ATM), situated in a restaurant, breaks down (as it often does) then one needs to travel, and there is not even a public garden for people to pass some time. It does have a crèche, and a day centre for old people, but still lacks the health centre promised for so long, that even has a site allocated. In the meantime if one is sick, they have to travel to the health centre in Bom Jesus. As for the public toilets, they used to exist but they "Closed the wc’s in the area and made into the headquarters of the scouts" says 64 year old housewife Margarida do Rosário. There is no police presence in São Gonçalo she says, though they do make patrols which does help, though the assaults are rising along with drug problems.

Today’s football headline : ‘Criticisms At Real Before Liechtenstein – Portugal plays tonight (7.30 pm) without Cristiano Ronaldo’. The Madeiran superstar was not released by his club, Real Madrid, because he has flu. The criticisms are about the way Real handled the matter. I don’t wish to be disrespectful to Liechtenstein, or upset it’s fine platoon of bin men, but I don’t think the absence of CR737 is really going to change the result, although the Portugal manager seems to think they are similar to Denmark … let’s hope they got on the right plane then.

During July the Portuguese Navy carried out 9 search and rescue missions around Madeira, and three support missions in the Parque Natural da Madeira.

‘Jardim Inaugurated The New Terminal Of The Port Of Porto Santo – The structure provides shelter before embarking’. The president of Madeira opened yesterday the ferry terminal which has a covered waiting and boarding area, and a ticket sales and administrative area, for passengers of the Porto Santo Line Ferry, the ‘Lobo Marinho’. BTW : The Porto Santo ferry is running behind schedule today due to an earlier fuel problem. Why has the news been taken over by Porto Santo so much in the last week? Is it ‘cos Uncle Bertie is off there very very soon for his freebie holidays?

Onto politics and the economy :

(12th August). The day’s top political story ‘PS Has The PSD Ex-President Of The Parish Council Of São Vicente As A Candidate’. Humberto Freitas was elected  president of the Junta de Freguesia in São Vicente in 1997 as a social democrat, but he has now changed his colours from orange to ?????, to stand for the socialists instead.

(11th August). ‘CDU Manages To Be In All The Parishes’. For the first time the coalition PCP/Verdes (Communists / Greens) are going to have candidates in all the local authorities on Madeira (câmara and parish levels). The CDU (also communists) will also have candidates in the 11 councils and 54 parishes. The effort requires an army of 800 candidates, more than half independents and people standing for the first time. The lists were delivered Monday in the various authorities around Madeira. A PCP spokesman stressed the importance of having "complete coverage of the coalition presence in the region", as in the rest of the country. The objective being to "end the promiscuity of the regional power in local government" to help end the "Jardim power". No doubt seeing the increase in the popularity of communism from the results of the European elections has encouraged the extra effort and the appearance of new candidates. 

(11th August). The final front page article from yesterday : ‘To Close Hotels On Porto Santo Costs €1 Million – When the prospects of closing hotels during the Winter is hanging in the air, the sums force one to think’. To close the hotels of Porto Santo during the Winter would cost a million Euros, in ‘lay off’ costs. The idea is not new, but unprecedented. It was first discussed in 2000, with the closures used to give staff holidays, training staff, and to undertake maintenance work. In the Azores it is done, with a state subsidy system that helps with 30% of the costs, and social security paying 70% of staff salaries. In the Greek, Italian and even Spanish Islands, there are schemes to ensure hotel workers are paid in low season. On Porto Santo, if the hotels were closed for 4 months from December to March, social security would have to pay out €1 million to workers, whilst businesses (or the government in the case of the Azores), would pay the remaining €433,000.

(8th August). ‘Banif Group Made €15.7 Million Profit In The First half Of 2008 – The result was positive but represents a fall of 64.6% compared to the same period in 2008′.

Tonight is the second of two nights for the ‘rain of meteors’, that happens this time every year. Last night was due to be cloudy so I didn’t mention it, but tonight should be better. The fireballs are actually dust particles (pea to tennis ball in size) from the comet Swift-Tutle burning up in the atmosphere. The event starts well before dark, and the moonlight may also interfere, but they should appear at an average of around one per minute. The article doesn’t mention where to look, so I asked the blog astronomy research team (thanks Alberto) to look into it and the answer is to look north, with the naked eye.

’32% Of Children Born Are To Singles – The number of children born outside of marriage increases year after year’. That includes unmarried couples and single parents. Figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) show an increasing trend in recent years and throughout the country. On Madeira in 2000, the total number of live births outside marriage, were no more than 20%, when the birth rate was quite high. In eight years, the total number of children born has decreased, but grown 12% to single and unmarried parents. Also in Portugal and the Azores there has been an increase of children born outside marriage. In 2000 there were only 22.5% in Portugal and 13.1% on the Azores, in that same situation, but by last year that had increased to 36.6% and 26.4% respectively. This is one of those stories that does the rounds every few months, usually accompanied by a statement from a church spokesman saying that family values are disintegrating, but not this time.

I was just talking last week about the ex-president of the Câmara of Ponta do Sol, António Lobo, wondering where he was, and today there is an article saying he is being transferred to a prison in Sintra in Portugal. The reason is unknown. The former president was sentenced on 7 March 2007, in Ponta do Sol, to serve six years in prison for corruption and related crimes. He has another case still outstanding, again for corruption and fraud. Did I mention that he was/is a PSD-M politician?

Yet another Madeiran has been kidnapped in Venezuela. The 55 year old man from Serra d’Água was taken on Sunday.

‘Balloon Registers Record Of 3.88′. A 41 year old driver arrested in Santa Cruz on Sunday, registered a 3.88 blood-alcohol count when stopped by police, beating the previous record this year. I repeated this because I was chatting about this in town last night, and we reckoned the guy was dead and the police haven’t yet noticed. I have tried several blood alcohol simulators on the internet, including the one at www.rupissed.com, and have been unable to create the same level of alcohol in the blood.

In a national politics story : ‘PSD gives citizenship to grandchildren of emigrants – The leader of the ‘orange’ accused the government of having mistreated the PS Portuguese emigrants’. (If the PSD gets into power) It wants to widen the net of nationality to the grandchildren of emigrants, i.e. to the second generation. Manuela Ferreira Leite, PSD leader, says her party "has always given great importance throughout it’s history to emigrants, with a fundamental concern of keeping together all those who are Portuguese". Smacks of something strange, but not sure what … world domination perhaps?

The minister for health in the republic was talking to journalists about cases of people deliberately trying to spread the swine flu, Gripe A. She specifically referred to adults who, at the emergency services, refused to wear a protective mask, and mothers who said they would take their children to hospitals in the emergency departments to infect other people, since their children were already infected. She refused to name those responsible, saying it was not her role to do so, and the police could not arrest such people. Even without an official complaint, the Attorney General is considering the possibility of investigating the cases mentioned by the Health Minister, of persons who refuse to comply with the control measures for Gripe A, or express the intention to spread the disease. Spreading a disease is a crime in Portugal, and can be punished with a prison term from 1 to 8 years if it is deliberate, and by up to five years in the case of negligence.

(16th June). ‘Revalue Emigrants – Strengthen partnerships with Portuguese Abroad’. The Secretary of State for Communities, António Braga, warned yesterday of the need for the entire government to engage in the "revaluation of the Portuguese living abroad", and converting that into "concrete actions". "I speak of a population estimated at around five million people, of businessmen, that already exceed about 120 thousand companies". He believes that there is an urgency to strengthen the visibility and recognition through programs and activities "in the field of economy, culture, and preservation of language". He adds "the programs devoted to stimulating investment in Portugal have to take into account those partners living outside of Portugal". That had never occurred to me before, but it makes a lot of sense in a country of 10 million, to rope in another 5 million emigrants to buy products and materials here through their businesses abroad. Now if Madeira were to take the same approach on it’s own, if successful it would probably be out of crisis in a month, there being so many emigrants, but there is one flaw in that plan … how does one export tourism, our main industry.

’73% Of Portuguese Do Not Trust Government Policies To Combat Corruption – The majority believe that government policies are ineffective in this area’. That’s according to an international agency that specialises in this area, and means in terms of confidence the Portuguese people have the 5th lowest opinion in this area in Europe, just behind Greece and Bulgaria, with Israel leading the corruption belief stakes with 86% of their public vote. The author of the study said "corruption is now a truly global phenomenon". Was it ever any different? I am surprised that only 73% were untrusting, but perhaps the other 27% had nice cars and houses, and worked in government.

‘Permits For Foreigners Limited From Yesterday – Until the end of this year only 3,800 new permits of residents will be issued to foreigners’. I already covered this a few weeks ago, and should mention that this does not include European Union citizens who have a right to live here. The justification for the restriction is of course the economic crisis. That limit itself imposes a maximum number of 89 permits for Madeira for the rest of this year. Last year Portugal allowed 8,600 non-EU foreigners to live and work in Portugal. Associations representing immigrants felt that this was "regrettable", "disturbing", "discriminatory", "protectionist", "immoral" and "incoherent."

The Employers’ Confederation yesterday warned Prime Minister, José Sócrates, that the ‘breath’ of Portuguese companies is coming to an end, and consider that there is an urgent need to strengthen measures to support business and to revive the economy. Also, the President of the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP), asked the Prime Minister to not reduce the measures to support business in the country, because they think that the crisis is now coming to an end.

‘The Government Will Order Vaccine Against Influenza A – Only 5 to 30% of the population will have access’. That was revealed yesterday by the Health Minister Ana Jorge. "This has to do with the sectors of society that we have to cover" she says, stressing that has not yet been defined the sector of the population that should receive the vaccine. "Today, the Ministry of Health and its team are in discussion to reach a decision within a few days" she said, and was expecting the World Health Organization (WHO) "to give some guidance on who should be vaccinated, with the certainty that there will not be enough vaccine for everyone in the world".  Currently, Portugal has confirmed three cases of patients with influenza A H1N1, or Gripe A as it is known here. Ok, let me try and help start the list off … Health Ministers, families of health ministers, politicians, families of politicians, senior civil servants, families of senior civil servants … that should be the 30% quota reached already.