Madeira News Blog

(26th July). A triple Gripe A news headline today : ‘Gripe A On The Loose At A Wedding – Victim in Câmara de Lobos violates recommendation’. The swine flue H1N1 remains infectious from the time of the first symptoms until around seven days afterwards, but the recommendations of the health authorities are being ignored. Despite the warnings about the infectiousness of the virus, even those infected are not taking warnings seriously, according to a hospital source, and ignoring instructions to stay at home. In a case of negligence, a family from the United Kingdom went to a wedding yesterday in Câmara de Lobos, along with two children infected with Gripe A, who were supposed to stay at home, along with the father who had given a positive result in a screening test. The health service has no authority to force anyone to stay at home, and nor can they post a policeman outside the house of an infected person, so anyone is able to ignore their public duty to minimise contamination risk. However according to a lawyer, anyone who ignores the advice given by medical specialists and puts others at risk can be held accountable for spreading a dangerous infection, and could end up facing charges. The section of the law has been reproduced in the Diário, and one could face imprisonment for between one and eight years just for creating a danger of infection. Negligence in the same area can result in imprisonment of up to 5 years, and the law covers the infected person, medical staff, and even pharmacists. What mind-blowing irresponsibility, to go along to a public place whilst still in a contagious stage of such a dangerous virus … unbelievable. However very unfair I feel to apply this one incident to Madeirans as a whole, but maybe the publicity given to this one case will draw attention to the matter, and do some good in the long run.

’5 More Cases Registered Yesterday Elevates The Number Infected To Eleven’. The Ministry of Health announced yesterday 5 new cases of confirmed infection of swine flu on Madeira, having now taken over that role from the regional health authority. A man of 23, a boy of 11 and girl of 4 from Venezuela, and a Spanish boy and girl both aged 14 that are scouts here on holiday, have all been confirmed as infected. In Portugal there are now 218 confirmed cases.

‘Pandemic Is Going To Cost €28 Million For Madeira And The Businesses’. Enough on Gripe A for one day? I think so.

‘There Are Many Singles Wanting To Adopt – The adoption of children appeals overall to single women. In shortage are the families of reception’. According to a spokesman in the Social Security of Madeira there are currently 15 people waiting that meet the necessary adoption criteria to proceed with their applications, and demand is increasing with a total list of applicants stretching to 79. The general profile for these people are single women, well educated, working, with their own homes, and aged between 30 and 40+ years. The law is the same for single and partnered applicants, and successful applicants have a file containing the information mentioned, as well as information on employment and emotional stability. In 2008 there were 24 completed adoptions, and 11 so far this year. There are currently 15 children in the pre-adoption programme, that lasts 6 months. Male applicants are treated in the same way as women, and will not be rejected if they meet the same criteria (yeah right!). There are very few babies up for adoption, and that is what most applicants want. Older children are more difficult to home. Host families, that take children on a temporary basis, are getting harder to find, and Madeira is judged "very bad" in this respect. A few years ago there were 50 such homes, but now there are just 30. In October there will be a nationwide campaign to find new host families.

‘Right Now There Are Few Who Stop In The Centre Of Camacha – The population of the parish where one still works the wicker and asks for conversion of the Largo da Achada’. Camacha must be the Diário’s featured location of the week. Camacha calls for the return of the police station, the an agricultural market, an indoor pool, and more water and roads. The wicker industry is a shadow of what it used to be, and is only continuing because of the will of some, who are ‘rowing against the current’. The zone of Nogueira concerns many in terms of safety and security, and the talk of a new police station in 2008 is still just talk, as is the construction of a swimming pool. An auditorium and farmers market are budgeted for 2011 at a cost of €3.6 million. The church needs restoration, and the drug problems are well documented. 

‘Wicker Has Seen Better Days – A weak market and raw material is scarce leaving the craftsmen of Camacha deflated’. Wicker baskets of various sizes and shapes take form in the hands of José Fernandes, and the technique of a lifetime is almost mechanical. In the blink of an eye a new one joins the pile of baskets already prepared in the workshop of José and his wife Lucia. For these artisans of Camacha, working in wicker has had better times. Today the market is weak, and even the raw material is running out. "If there is work, I don’t know if the raw material will last until the next harvest" says José. If it wasn’t for the low pension, José would have left the business, and just made the odd basket for amusement. The young flee from the art, and it is the older folk that guarantee that the tradition continues the hallmark of Camacha. At the sítio do Rochão, José de Jesus Freitas counts on his fingers the number of people that still cultivate the wicker material. He has grown it himself, but opted to quit. "There are no orders, nor they pay the value due to whom works", he justifies. Gathering hay to feed the cattle, José de Jesus Freitas doesn’t consider himself a farmer, "now I just plant to eat" he stresses. The lack of water and improvements to the roads are the priorities in the parish of Rochão in his opinion. There is no water for irrigation, and José asks for wells for agricultural water and street improvements.

‘Nacional Win, Marítimo Lose – Last seasons tendency repeats itself’. In pre-season warm up games, Madeira’s in form side beat Vitória de Setúbal 1 – 0, and meanwhile the off-form rabble lost 3 – 0 away at Leixões.

‘Couple And Son Convicted For Drug Trafficking – A family network that was operating in Nogueira was broken up by police in April 2008′. A man aged 45, and his spouse aged 40, were accused of several crimes, the more serious being drug trafficking, and were sent to prison by Santa Cruz court for 10 and 7 years respectively. 1,600 doses of heroine and cocaine were seized, as well as €45,000 in cash and various expensive household goods and vehicles. The son, aged 20, was given a two year suspended prison sentence for the same crime. I only mentioned this because I was curious about visiting rights?

It’s impossible to get through the newspaper these days without several mentions of Gripe A, and no exception today. The Madeira health institute IASAÚDE has created a website http://iasaude.sras.gov-madeira.pt/gripea/ to inform and advise on all aspects of the H1N1 swine flu. I only found one page in English, and that was for travellers (Viajantes), and the page of contacts was blank, but no doubt they are still working on it. There is also a national web-section available through http://www.dgs.pt/ but again, nothing for non-Portuguese speakers yet, surprising really as tourists are no doubt presenting the greatest risks so far.

‘Deadlock Leaves Curral Without A Cashpoint / ATM – No one wants to pay the cost of sheltering the multibanco machine’. Curral das Freiras (Valley of the Nuns) only has the one cashpoint, but in May rainwater entered and caused a short circuit, and it is has never been repaired, nor are there any plans to do so. ‘Banco Santander Totta’ bank is responsible for managing and maintaining the machine, but will only fix the machine when the protection is improved, and they say it is not their responsibility. EDITORS FOOTNOTE : Santander bank was this month nominated the best bank in Portugal.

‘Pollution At Praia Formosa Keeps Away The Bathers Out Of The Sea’. A large unpleasant brown floating substance kept swimmers not just out of the sea at the beach west of Funchal, but sent many of them packing to find somewhere else to go. The pollution was visible along almost all of the length of the Blue Flag beach on Friday. At the time of the report in the Diário yesterday, no authority had gone along to investigate.

Petrol and diesel prices drop again tomorrow.

From the Jornal da Madeira : ‘Madeirans Recycle Six Thousand Tons Of Rubbish In The First Six Months Of This Year’. The majority by weight was paper and cardboard at 2,898 tons, followed by glass at 2,587 tons, 463 tons of plastic, and 74 tons of steel. The article states that the system ‘Ponto Verde’ recycling is available to 99.7% of the population of Portugal. Me thinks that’s pretty misleading, as I have 10 minute walk one way to recycle anything, and if that was the case for every citizen, I don’t think many would bother.

(27th June). ‘Payments By Multibanco (ATM) Card Fall By 100 Thousand Transactions Per Day – The plastic money becomes scarce: the Madeira economy lost 14.8 million electronic payments in 5 months’.  The Diário believes that much of this is due to the scarcity of tourists, as Madeirans continue to use the cash points much as in the previous year. The value of each use of the cash point (ATM) card has decreased by an average of 8.7%, with the average transaction now being €42. I think that value may seem high as of course here many use their cards to pay utility bills, council tax etc.

Petrol prices go up again on Monday, one cêntimo per litre to €1.23. Diesel rises 2c to €0.96.

‘Tourism Resists Crisis On Madeira – At this point more tourists are travelling to the region, compared with same period of 2008′. It’s another one of those stories that changes with the wind, but it seem that thanks to Portuguese travellers, the hotel occupancy rate currently stands at around 70%. The numbers are provided by the regional director of tourism, who believes that the extra promotion of tourism, to the tune of €4 million is a contributory factor. There are also more visitors coming from the ‘east’, and the Atlantic Festival has brought positive results.

(26th June). ‘Cane Saccharin Exported To The Continent – The objective is to make natural juice to be sold on the beach’. A former restaurant owner from Calheta, now a farmer, is a pioneer in the export of sugar cane to Portugal. He has already sent a container load of 10 tons, and is preparing to send another. "I never earned as much money as now" he said.

‘A Major Franchising Group In Europe Invests In Madeira Forum – The European giant chooses Madeira as one of the 13 stores to be opened in Portugal’. The international clothes selling chain C & A aims to open a store on Madeira next year. The contract for the premises has already been signed. The group already has shops in 18 countries, and all together there are 35,500 employees. The letters C & A are the initials of the brothers Clemens and August Brenninkmeijer, who founded the company in Holland in 1841. 

‘The End Of Coopobama’. The Cooperative of banana producers of Madeira held their penultimate general meeting, with the last one planned to dissolve the organisation officially, 16 years after it’s creation. The reason given is that a new management company, GESBA, has been set up in the sector, which has taken on the assets and liabilities of Coopobama. After years of paying €1.39 / kilo on the odd occasion I buy bananas, I smell a price increase in the air.

‘Taxes Should Not Have To Increase’. The Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs (Portugal) said yesterday, that neither now, nor in future will there be a need to increase taxes, arguing that the loss of incoming tax revenue is cyclical and the financial system is adapted to the financing needs of the state. "Neither now nor in future will we need to raise taxes to stabilize the budget. Our tax system is very efficient in recovery of revenue that is currently falling short in the state", said Carlos Lobo at the end of the Council of Ministers. That was in the same article that says "Portugal does not need to further reduce civil servants", so I think I will take that tax statement with a large pinch of salt.

(25th June). ‘Five Companies In The Process Of Opening In The Free Zone’. The director of the tax advantaged facility in Zone Franca in Caniçal announced this on Wednesday, adding that dozens of new jobs would be created. The good news comes after a promotional initiative, that was presented both nationally and internationally. In the industrial zone there are currently 52 companies employing 820 workers, which in investment terms amount to €182 million. RTP News had a different take on the story, saying that now offshore structures elsewhere are being black listed internationally, companies are looking to move to tax advantageous areas such as the Free Zone of Madeira, to legitimise their operations.