Madeira News Blog

(2nd June). The main news headline and main front page photo for today : ‘Sexo À Solta / Sex On The Loose – Despite of extra police effort in Funchal downtown, the prostitution resists. Sex acts in public and the gossip staining the image destination. The indignation is already spreading on the internet’. The picture shows a young lady approaching a car driver in his vehicle at night. Police patrols are forcing constant movement of those involved in prostitution, as they move on prostitutes and customers when they see them, but the intervention lasts just a few minutes. In truth they have just spread out the prostitutes onto more streets, and they are now more wise to dodging police patrols. On one of the most well know travel websites worldwide ‘tripadvisor.com’ the area is identified and criticised as being a point of open prostitution at night and until the early hours of the morning. "This may start to attract tourists who come looking for attractions other than those that Madeira has always been known for offering", warns a hotel manager who asked to remain anonymous for fear of acts of revenge. "I am not for or against prostitution. Every one knows about it, but they must understand that they are damaging the lives of people and business" he says. The main streets involved now are ruas da Carreira, Alegria, Major Reis Gomes and Brito Câmara. A local resident says that prostitution now involves youngsters, male and female, saying "it is the crisis is driving these people to subject themselves to these things". The Diário calls it a cat and mouse game, and reading the stories from the streets in the articles, that sums it up nicely. It seems strange covering this after several years of reading the newspapers, with the subject almost never mentioned, but in just the space of a week it has become front page news. Maybe the police are not inexperienced in dealing with this or someone just hasn’t thought it through, but the authorities must be naive for sure, because you can’t just speak to someone and tell them to stop doing their normal job, and it’s pretty obvious they are going to carry on somewhere and somehow with more care and cunning. All this clamp-down has achieved is front page and unwanted internet coverage for something undesirable, but now for more than one reason.

‘Generic Medicines Free For 6% – Just 3,461 Madeira pensioners benefit from the new regime that entered in force yesterday’.  From yesterday certain generic medicines became free for pensioners who are on income below the national minimum wage. The new measure only applies to doctors prescriptions for holders of the health service medical card. Because of some communication problems some pharmacies were unable to implement the new measures on time, but it should all be resolved very soon. This was an initiative from national government, so applies to all of Portugal.

‘Children Invade The Market – The show united around 380 children from several Funchal schools’. Dancing, musical moments, and theatrical animation, marked the International Day of the Child. The stands of fruit and vegetables in the Mercado dos Lavradores (Funchal Fruit Market) became the stage and props for all sorts of acts, in an initiative organised by Funchal Council.

Lots of coverage about the missing French Airbus yesterday and today, but you can get these on any TV news station, so I won’t cover this.

‘Adjudication Contested – Rebuilding of the Marítimo stadium in Barreiros : Consortium led by AFA goes ahead with objection’. The tender process and result did not please all interested parties, but the work on redeveloping the football stadium is to proceed, but it may all end up in court.

(1st June). ’500 Kilos Of Support Delivered To SPAD – School children mark Day Of The Child with a campaign to help’. It was the idea of a teacher at the school Externato Júlio Dinis, which involved the entire school of around 100, resulting in 500 kilos of animal feed being delivered to the Society for the Protection of Domestic Animals yesterday.

A man fell around 10 metres on his way home from a drinking binge, near Levada dos Tornos. He suffered light injuries after the fall just a few meters from the house where he lives. He had to be rescued by seven firemen, after locals raised the alarm, and was taken to hospital in Funchal. One of those ironies of life : if he hadn’t been drunk, he probably wouldn’t have fallen, and if he hadn’t been drunk he would probably have suffered far greater injuries.

The Navy / National Maritime Authority will undertake, on 5th June, off the Ponta de Garajau and along Garajau beach, an exercise to combat sea pollution by oil, and a sea rescue. Named ‘MERO 2009′, the exercise will work around the scenario of a collision between a cruise ship, played by the Porto Santo Ferry, and a sand dredger (I think) played by a Portuguese Navy frigate. The simulation will include the evacuation of wounded passengers, as well as containment and treatment of the oil pollution. Other ships will also be involved, including a Galp oil tanker.

‘Scary Increase – In the first four months of this year 85 abortions were recorded on Madeira’.  That compares to 52 registered in the same period in 2008. The clinical director of the Regional Health Service considers this one of the reasons for the downward trend in birth rates on Madeira and Porto Santo Island, with 544 births during the same four months, compared to 622 last year. "Women do not get pregnant because there are inadequate economic conditions" he said, alluding that the crisis is the reason given by parents for not starting or increasing families, "There are now couple who at this moment of hard times turn away from the prospect of putting another child in the world, where money is short and there is now means to sustain one". Another source states that 25 to 30 years ago, there were 5,000 children born on Madeira every year, and that has now dropped to less than 3,000. According to my maths it is well short of 2,000.

(30th May). ‘There Are Gaps In The Tobacco Law – Portuguese Society of Pneumology launches an awareness campaign on the harmful effects of cigarettes’. To mark world ‘no smoking day’ the organisation is launching a campaign which will hit Madeira from Monday. The aim is to highlight the harmful effects of smoking, exposure to passive smoking, and gaps in the law which came in last year. In terms of the gaps in the law, a spokesperson says that there is lack of enforcement. In order to put people off smoking, aggressive images should be printed in cigarette packets, something that is not permitted on packs sold in Portugal. Also prices should be increased, and smokers should be given improved access to ‘giving-up’ consultations.

‘Neighbourhood Policing Comes To The Zones Of Sé And Monte – The Police also announce that night time police checks in Funchal are to be increased’. It has already happened in Santo António and São Martinho, and the PSP commissioner said that the reinforcements "will work exclusively patrolling on foot" thus allowing permanent contact with the local population. He also said that new measures would continue to be developed to prevent deviant behaviour, including prostitution. Operation ‘STOP’ will also be intensified in Funchal, particularly to target drink drivers.

(29th May). ‘Madeira Consuming Tuna From The Azores – The Azores are having a really good month for tuna fishing, but the problem is they eat little tuna’. A harvest "extraordinaire" of bigeye (species of tuna) is forcing the Azorean fishermen to market their fish in Madeira, where this species is "more valued" when sold fresh, and there are more guarantees of demand. "In the first fifteen days of May there were so many fish, and no capacity to absorb them in the Azores market, so our boats went off to Madeira, where the fish is more valuable", said Hélio Neves, President of the Producers Association for Tuna and Similar Things of the Azores (APASA). The catch has been high, "close to 200 tonnes this month alone" on the same boats that throughout the season last year, captured only between 180 and 220 tonnes. "In times of exceptionally high catches in a short space of time there is a difficulty in disposing of fresh tuna for sale in (the Azores), so the alternative is to go to Madeira" said the president. Hmmm! It’s probably a bit late for my somewhat ecologically friendly suggestion … just fish for what you need and leave the rest of the tuna to breed further, and then next season you will have a bumper harvest once again (or is someone going to tell me that tuna migrate to other waters?)

(29th May). In politics, and the main news headline of today : ‘Mendonça Launches Jardim Until 2015′. ‘The announcement of Albuquerque (president of CMF), about his candidacy for the leadership of the social democrats of Madeira (PSD-M), and the reaction of his adversary Coito Pita, served as a motive to eternize Jardim, that in a first move ‘promoted’ Manuel António to calm the pretenders. Now comes Miguel Mendonça saying that the internal divisions and the crisis require that Jardim continues in post after 2011. As always, there follows a period where the leader will show some reluctancy, even up until the completion of the current term’. In a nutshell, Miguel Mendonça who is leader of the legislative assembly (ALM) and a senior member of the PSD-M, is calling for President Jardim to serve another term as party leader and Madeira president, until 2015, despite Jardim saying he was finishing in 2011. Mendonça agrees that "nobody is irreplaceable", but adds that "there are those more difficult to replace, especially in times of great difficulties". Asked to comment on the physical shape of Jardim in taking on the load another four years Mendonça said "I am his doctor, and I am of the free will to to say that he is in shape to do this". The plot thickens … the leader of the ALM now also turns out to be Jardim’s doctor! Anyway, that’s a story for another day perhaps, but another 4 years of Uncle Bertie … I think I need a doctor!!!!!

Madeira News :

(29th May). ‘Baby Still-Born In An Ambulance – The birth happened 3 hours after the mother was released from the health centre in Porto Santo’. The 25 year old woman was at the end of her pregnancy and having contractions of 10 in 10 minutes, but was advised to go home and rest by the emergency clinic on Porto Santo, much to her surprise, deemed to be having a normal pregnancy. She was expecting to be sent to Funchal, as she felt was normal at this stage. The Diário reporter contacted the Health Centre on Porto Santo, but the director is absent because of illness. The clinical director of hospitals, health centres and a midwife with 30 years of experience, does not want to comment on the case now. "I do not know what circumstances occurred, many things can go wrong during a delivery, with many causes possible for the death of the baby. The only normal births are the ones that end well" he said.

‘Disused School In Curral Passed To Become The Shooters Lounge – It is a nightmare for the population of Seara Velha. The council of Câmara de Lobos promises a solution’. The school, disused since last year, has become a refuge for drug addicts, and as well as the usual filthy habits, windows and doors have been forced open and ripped off, glass broke, and even the toilets have been vandalised. The intruder alarm is deactivated, and does not discourage anyone who chooses to enter the old school in Curral das Freiras (Valley of the Nuns). The locals are understandably upset. but is this just a case of ‘not in my back yard’. These junkies are better off the streets than on. Anyway, rather in your back yard than my back yard.

‘Police tackle Prostitution – Many women aged between 17 and 45, of various nationalities, were identified’. The crack-down has been ongoing over 3 days, with police (PSP) using preventative measures against deviant behaviour, that might encourage crimes of sexual exploitation of minors, and prostitution. The focus has been on urban and sensitive tourist areas, where a larger than normal police presence has been visible.

(28th May). ‘Sea Front Of São Vicente In Works This Year – President of the council presents a project of €3 million’. He had promised that one day he would silence his critics, being the traders near the sea front, and Wednesday that day finally arrived. The work will start at the end of year to transform and upgrade the ‘downtown’ area. Poor conditions generally dissatisfied many, especially the lack of car parking, health and safety issues with customers, and exiting problems, to name a few. At the start of the meeting, some showed up reticent about what they expected to see. However, in the end everyone left the meeting in the Town Hall extremely satisfied. The work will take around one year to complete. The commercial area will be expanded, and the sea walks will take on "another dimension". Landscaped areas of leisure will also be added, and the number of parking places along the sea front increased. One detail of the improvement will be to mark the identity of the commercial units, with everybody having a different colour in order to distinguish their space, plus all the shopping esplanades will gain ‘comforts’. The sloping area will have sets of night lights, providing an interesting effect for visitors after dark.