Madeira News Blog

(29th July). Today’s main photo headline is of a part completed building : ‘Not Even The New Plan Saves Minas Gerais – The plan of São João that CMF wants to approve tomorrow leaves the building embargoed’. The story is more about an urbanisation plan for the Ribeira de São João (PURSJ) in Funchal, something covered here before in a recent blog. The zone of the plan includes the partly built offices of the company Minas Gerais, which had work stopped over a year ago when CMF (Funchal Municipal Council) noticed that it had two more floors than in the plan approved by the council. The plan PURSJ will go to public consultation next month, but includes major change to roads, a new roundabout, and defines residential and business areas and the green zones. The zone is huge and starts at the Rotunda do Infante going north towards São João, and incorporates the building mentioned, meaning that it stays in limbo whilst the PURSJ plan goes through the necessary approvals.

‘Parole For Father Of The Girl That Didn’t Reappear – The man served 5/6ths of his sentence and already has work’. Sofia Catarina Andrade de Oliveira went missing on 22nd February 2004, from the residence of her mother in Câmara de Lobos, taken by her father Luís Encarnação that evening. She is now 7 years old. The couple were separated after living in the Azores, and the mother moved to Madeira with her daughter. Only the father knows where she is, and he was sentenced to prison for nearly six and a half years in prison for his kidnapping act after being arrested back in the Azores, but he never revealed her whereabouts, only saying that she was well. He is now out on early parole for good behaviour, and has already found work.

‘Domestic Violence Gives Suspended Sentence To Doctor’. The court in Funchal sentenced yesterday a dentist for abusing his wife. The one year prison sentence was suspended for one year, with the aggressor achieving the minimum sentence, in what could have been up to 5 years in prison. He was also ordered to pay €13,500 to his victim in damages, including personal injuries, when the victim was seeking €50,000. The reports of insults, threats, and physical violence went back as far as 1996, with the victim spending several periods of up to 3 months in illness as a result. The man didn’t even attend court for the sentencing, and now has the option of appealing.

‘Prizewinning Fagundes Vasconcelos In Cerveira’. A work of the Madeiran artist was acquired by the museum in Via Nova de Cerveira for €3,600. It is called ‘Parade of Vanity’.

If you are interested in the Madeira Wine Rally starting tomorrow, it is worth buying today’s Diário to get the free supplement with maps and timetables.

‘Market Of Ribeira Brava Goes from Bad To Worse – Half of the commercial units are already closed. The others agonise’. Of the ten units available, just 5 have survived the crisis. The low movement of customers, the redesign of the sea front that reduced passing traffic, the high level of competition between the traders, and the switch from the escudo to the €uro, are some of the reasons given for the situation. The latest to close its doors this year, was the restaurant / pizzeria located on the 1st floor, where they also occupied the terrace area. The fruit traders on the same level complain that since that happened business has got even worse, as even less people go upstairs. Shame, but normally people complain about the high rent charged by the council, but no mention in this article. One of the fruit sellers is OK, but the other one, Senhor 3in1 repof, keep well away from if you value your money.

‘Police Vehicle Targeted During An Arrest On Porto Santo – No police were injured as shots were fired by a 23 year old man’. But the car was pretty messed up by fire from the shotgun. The man was arrested shortly after the gunfire. Need I mention that it was over charges of drug trafficking, and 390 doses of heroin were seized. I ask you … what idiot would open fire on police on Porto Santo … even if you did get away where would you run to, where would you hide? Lets hope the king of Spain doesn’t pick up a copy of today’s newspaper, as he is off to Porto Santo at the weekend.

‘Prohibited access to the sea at Lido – Presence of jellyfish results in cordoned access to the sea for swimmers’. Access to the sea in the Lido Bathing Complex was ‘closed’ to the public due to the presence of jellyfish in the water. I think that was on Monday, but a later article says that yesterday a yellow flag was raised, and there was restricted access to the sea. There were also jellyfish reported at Praia Formosa.

The programme for the visit of the King and Queen of Spain tomorrow has been released, and it is pretty much as already stated. Anyone into royal visits will have the best opportunities for a royal wave at the airport at 6.30pm tomorrow, or an a Funchal walkabout on Saturday. It is confirmed that the trip will finish with a visit to Porto Santo.

(28th July). This story came from the ‘dark side’ yesterday : ‘Autonomy frees us of ‘silly laws’ – Alberto João Jardim said the new law will not apply to the roundabouts of Madeira’. Jardim said yesterday that a new law that prohibits the placement of statues and trees on roundabouts will not be applied. He points out that our independence allows us "to get rid of silly laws", ensuring that we keep our values and principles. The new law was (I think?)made by the president of Funchal council, and Jardim dealt with him in the most diplomatic way he knew, by saying "whoever made this law on the roundabouts is mentally retarded, and the danger is that these retards try to treat other people as retarded". Uncle Bertie! … that is your most likely successor you are talking about … show restraint please.

(10th July). Today’s main news headline : ‘GR Has To ‘Invent’ New Funding – The development societies did 16 projects, counting on the contracts that the audit court did not authorise. The government of Madeira will have to find another solution to pay around €80 million’. The 16 projects, which include the new seafronts at Ribeira Brava (€9.7m), Porto Moniz (€15.8m), Porto Cruz (€3.2m), and Madelena do Mar (€6.8m), and various other works, pools, parks and leisure facilities, have all been rejected by the court and the transfer of public money has been refused, leaving Jardim and his government to find €79.5 million from elsewhere. The development societies that managed and executed the projects, used bank loans to finance the projects. The regional government was to liable to pay the costs starting in 2007, through to 2021, by paying the costs through the service contracts. The courts had already refused the projects, and the government appealed unsuccessfully. There are possible solutions, by restructuring the share capital, or selling off some of the assets (as was the plan in the case of the marina at Lugar do Baixo to the Pestana Group) where the projects are not considered improvements to existing public spaces. Another more drastic solution would be for the government to act as guarantors on the bank loans, and any repayments that become overdue. Many of the works, especially the sea front improvements, do not directly generate any revenue, and these may be particular problems. Wow! What a backward system that allows the development and completion of a project, which then goes for final approval after everything is complete at the risk of rejection. However, I assume that between now and 2021 there will be €80 million in the regional coffers allocated for these repayments, but now available for other purposes. Uncle Bertie always manages to squirm out of these tricky situations he creates, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we never hear about this again. FULL PROJECT LIST

Today’s main picture shows a pair of hands in handcuffs : ‘Police Went To Bring 200 From Home By Order Of Justice – It is what the law requires : Those who fail to attend hearings or fail to fulfil the measures required get a visit from the police. It happened to 200 people in the last 6 months’. The police served 200 arrest warrants in the last six months, but the number is not official, as the Diário has counted up the numbers from the daily press releases over that period. There were 4 served, just on Wednesday. A police spokesman, unable to confirm the numbers, said in most cases the warrants were issued by the judicial authorities because people failed to meet the requirements imposed on them. After that the most common reason was failure to appear at a hearing. Sometimes it is needed to ask around to trace people he said, as some try to avoid arrest by moving home without notifying the authorities, as required by law. Sometimes they run he said, citing one recent case of a man who ran from Santo Amaro and Pico dos Barcelos, chased by dozens of officers. I think we must be officially in Summer news time, as the serious news normally gets a bit thin on the ground this time of year, and the Diário team start digging around to try and fill up the pages.

‘Drain In Laranjal Pours Out Into The Stream For The Last Two Weeks’. The waste water polluting the Ribeiro do Laranjal in Santo António has turned the water brown and unbearably smelly with sewerage discharge. One resident said it started two weeks ago, and a break in a sewerage pipe is suspected of being the cause. But according to a spokesman yesterday at Funchal Council, no one complained, and so the problem wasn’t known about and dealt with. But the matter will now be resolved after officers were sent to inspect the problem yesterday afternoon, leaving with suspicions that someone has been illegally emptying a sceptic tank. That rates at number ten on my disgustingometer, the maximum possible, and if it is true then they would be classed as a true neighbour from hell.

‘Ceremony Reveals ‘Zarco Award 2009′ – Francis  Zino and José Cousa Câmara win. Zino, whose work is in ornithology, and Câmara in food and medical chemistry, were both distinguished on Friday, with the biennial award worth €150,000, after an unanimous decision by the adjudicators. The ‘Zarco Award’ exists to recognize the work, in artistic and literary fields, and in scientific research, of Madeirans born in the region, although the accomplishments can take place both inside and outside the Autonomous Region of Madeira. Câmara was recognised principally for his work on ‘Madeira wine’, whilst Zino concentrated on the preservation of bird species, purely as an unpaid ambition.

The sporting headline : ‘Controls In The Rally ‘Madeira Wine’ Are Going To Tighten – The organiser is going to monitor using GPS’. I don’t understand rally rules and terminology, so I will have to pass on this one. The rally ‘legs’ for the 27th and 28th July, are listed though, but I guess they will also be on the official website at www.rallyvm.com

‘Cinema In The Gardens of Santa Luzia – 8 films are to be shown in the Summer months’. Open air cinema is to be on Friday night’s, always at 9.30pm, starting tonight with ‘In Defence of Honour’. The event is organised by the Junta da Freguesia (Parish Council) of Imaculado Coração de Maria, who hope to attract more that the 1,000+ who attended in 2008.

’90 Exhibitors In The Agricultural Fair – The 54th edition of the exhibition take place this weekend’. 90 livestock exhibitors are expected in Porto Moniz, but also there are exhibitors of arts and crafts and other products present, as well as the organic market. Culinary activities and musical events are also arranged throughout the weekend.

(9th July). ’1,400 Students Don’t Want The ‘Magalhães’ – Schools stop accepting applications today, but it is possible to register online until Sunday’. 11,950 children applied for the small laptop computers in the government sponsored programme, that’s 86% of those eligible. The computers were given to the children free, or at a maximum cost of €50 (depending on family means), and the Diário says that some children did not apply as they already had computers, and for other ‘diverse reasons’. A bit tricky in schools then as this is intended to be a teaching aid, so how will they be able to use them if at least one in ten kids doesn’t have one?

‘Crisis Obliges Cut In Glasses And Trips To The Dentist’. The number of Portuguese that don’t buy new glasses, or no longer go to the dentist, has doubled in the last 7 years, a study has revealed about the state of health in the country. The study, to commemorate 30 years of the national health service assessed the economic access of citizens to health services in five areas.

‘Visit of King Juan Carlos is a "historic" event – The Ambassador for Spain in Portugal stresses that relations between Spain and Madeira are growing , especially in tourism’. The ambassador, Alberto Navarro, yesterday said that he considered the official visit of the King of Spain to Madeira as a "historic opportunity" to deepen economic relations between the two countries. Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia make a private visit here at the invitation of President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, 30-31st July and 1st August, which includes a visit to the island of Porto Santo. And I thought the King of Spain was called Cristiano Ronaldo … where on earth did I get that idea?

‘Navy Gathers Debris On The Coast’. This is the headline story I couldn’t find online yesterday, but eventually I got hold of a printed copy of the Diário and got the story from there. This is about a navy vessel, that found off the coast of Ribeira Brava debris that might have come from a plane, including a huge signalling buoy, that looked like a bomb. It also mentions that something was found nearer to Ponta do Sol. Inquiries to identify the source have not had any results yet.