Madeira News Blog

(3rd August). Today’s main news headline and photo today : ‘Thankless Weekend – The rally and the visit of the kings of Spain mobilize the police. Officers without time to eat and without even one word of gratitude. They were given no orders(?), and one officer finished up with a torn uniform after an altercation in Nogueira’. The picture shows an officer in deep discussion at a police barrier. ‘Police in the sun, thirsty and without lunch, agents work consecutive shifts to provide safety in the rally’. It was a tough weekend for officers, with both the royal visit and the Madeira Wine Rally to be covered. The Association of Police Professionals (ASPP) says that working conditions were, in some cases, inhumane and will discuss the situation with the lawyer who gives legal support to the ASPP. Officers working at the rally worked consecutive shifts, with just 40 minutes break in between, says Jorge Silva, and even worse they were working out in the sun, without shade, and without "even the right to have a bottle of water to kill the thirst and the heat". He criticises the organizers of the rally, for lack of concern for those ensuring the safety for the competition. "Our officers said that there was shade and water for those who were part of the rally organization, but no one thought about the police", and he continues "The organizers of the rally thanked everyone, but I never heard a word of thanks to our officers who were in service night and day during the week-end".

‘Quercus Says That The Wind Park Of Paul Should Stop As It Is – To many units would have negative effects on the environment’. The environmental agency Quercus says it recognises the benefits of ‘energy eólica’, but Paul da Serra "is at it’s limit", and it would prefer to see an offshore wind park, or perhaps a platform in the sea. The wind park at Paul da Serra is undergoing renovation, with new larger more powerful and productive units, and Quercus says that although the clean source of energy is welcome, it is at full capacity there. To continue expanding would have consequences for the environment, and the visual impact comes first as far as both Madeirans and tourists are concerned. The work of installing equipment is a problem, destroying the plants, and sometimes regrets Idalina Perestrelo, does not comply with the environmental impact studies. Although not specified in the initial projects, sometimes small roads are created to bring in materials, causing damage to plant life. Furthermore, when entering into operation, the fans disrupt the ecosystem and affect birds and bats. It is common to find dead bats near the towers. The national investment in renewable energy is seen as a priority, and the government of José Sócrates believes that renewable energy projects will create 23 thousand jobs in the next six years. The wish of Quercus to see platform wind farms out at sea would reduce environmental concerns, but would be far more expensive and time consuming to construct.

In football, in the weekends pre-season warm up matches : Académica de Coimbra 1 Nacional 2, and Rio Ave 0 Marítimo 0.

‘Carvalhal Doesn’t Abdicate On One More Striker – The manager of Marítimo already ponders on the ‘loss’ of Wanderly’. After the 0 – 0 draw on Saturday afternoon and other indifferent results, the manager of Marítimo admits errors were made, but they will not be repeated. If the Brazilian striker Wanderly does not stay with the club, he will be out to look for another.

‘Garbage Is Not The Result Of Sewerage Discharge – Plastic bags and waste cans are not passing through sewerage treatment’. The Regional Director of the Environment, João Correia, clarifies matters in response to a story published at the weekend in the Diário about the pollution on our beaches. The floating rubbish that appears around our coasts are not from sewers he says, as people do not flush metal cans and plastic bags in their toilets bowls. This rubbish comes from dumping or littering at sea, and from rivers or streams where people throw their rubbish. As for poor water quality, he says that the only bad case is at praia do Vigário, and that all the other beaches have satisfactory water quality, as confirmed by fortnightly tests, even at Madalena do Mar. The final clarification is into the removal of 4 Blue Flags, but he said that is only the case at Madalena do Mar, as the other 3 concessions opted never to use theirs from the start, so as "not to jeopardise future applications".

But the Diário decides not to let go … ‘Dirtiness Abounds On The Praia do Natal’. The beach at Ribeira do Natal in Caniçal, one of the biggest in Machico, is in high season without the minimum of conditions suitable for beach goers. Along the length of the beach there are uncountable glass and plastic bottles, paper rubbish, plastic bags, and bits of assorted metal. The promenade also is not properly maintained and cleaned, and it subject to the fall of stones. The president of of Machico council, Emanuel Gomes, said he was unaware of the situation are will get it all cleaned up quickly.

 ‘Are the preventive measures against fire the most effective? Fires near populated areas have put risk people and property at risk’. At the weekend, the area of Santa Cruz was literally hit by several outbreaks of fire. All of them originated in derelict land and close to residential areas. A fact that put at risk people and property. The Regional Director of Forestry says the phenomenon is due to the abandonment of lands that were once farmed, and which now are at the mercy of vegetation and are not being cleared. One problem that need solving. It can only get worse, as the old retire from farming, and the young move off to other things. I also picked up on the news that several times there was no water available to fight the fires, and I couldn’t resist showing the photo of this guy and his inadequate hosepipe tackling a raging inferno … perhaps that will be the enduring photo over there in Santa Cruz.

Four more fires reported over the weekend, but no more trouble from the big one(s) over in Santa Cruz. All were extinguished, one naturally by falling night rain in Machico.

‘Funchal has 29 closed arteries – Increasing the quality of life and benefiting the traders, says the council’. The 29 streets, closed to traffic, amount to around 4 kilometres dedicated to pedestrians, giving a significant improvement in the quality of life, says the vice-president at Funchal council. Bruno Pereira stressed that the measure when it began to be implemented in the Madeiran capital "was not consensual, as is any change involving the experience of citizens". "But now, in general, people agree that it is an advantage for the city, as it became environmentally cleaner, from the point of view of emissions, and become more secure, because there was a reduction in the number of road accidents and pedestrians run over" he added.  

(18th July). ‘Tripe of Aveiro’ gets its own space. "The real taste of Aveiro" is gaining market strength, and now has it’s own kiosk in the Centro Comercial Anadia in Funchal. After a year of tests, the sweet tripes with secret recipes went on sale on 2nd July, and is proving a success. Not even the employees know the recipes that make these animal stomachs so delicious. Amongst the flavours are chocolate, passion fruit, and strawberry, or they can be filled with ice cream or soft sweet(?) eggs.

‘Fatal Accident In Paul do Mar – A man died following a skid and the car turning over’. The third road death on the island this week happened at 7.40 am this morning in the tunnel going from Jardim do Mar. The 32 year old man was found in cardiac arrest and died later on in Calheta Health Centre.

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‘Bernardo Martins Rejects Candidature – The MP and former president of Machico Câmara already said to the local PS that he declined the invitation’. The socialists were banking on Bernardo to stand in the elections in Machico, but he refused at the last minute, highlighting more problems in the leadership of the party. He says he "does not feel prepared for a new political battle" and is said to feel a lack of support within his party, which may indicate is he preparing to quit his active political life.

‘Jerónimo And Portas Are The Only Certainties – Nacional party leaders want to include Madeira on their campaign trails’. With two elections in September and October, most of the leaders of the political parties want to cover all of Portugal, but normally Madeira is a secondary objective for most, but this year the six representatives in the Republic could make all the difference in what is seen to be a close battle. So far only the leaders of the PCP  and CDS-PP have confirmed they will be coming here for the official campaigns which start next month. However Manuela Ferreira Leite, leader of the PSD social democrats will be on Madeira at the end of this month (26th). She will speak at the festival (rally) in Chão da Lagoa which serves as the starting point for the PSD-M campaign.  Efforts are also being stepped up to bring Prime Minister José Sócrates to the Fonte do Bispo festival (rally) next month, the equivalent event for the socialists as Chão da Lagoa.

The environmental agency Quercus is not going to accept the decision to close the file on the inquiry into planning consent for the development at Quinta do Lorde (see Friday), and plans to appeal directly to the Procurador Geral da República (Attorney General’s Office). Quercus is very unhappy that it took so long to review the case, and still insists that the construction violates laws aimed at protecting the site from development.

Looking through the political section of the Diário has become a real chore recently, with election fever rife in the media if not in the population. It seems that normal political life has already gone out of the window, with just about every story containing the word ‘candidate’ or ‘election’. It probably seems worse than it actually is, as the other news is suffering a Summer shrinkage, which maybe is a natural phenomenon, or more likely is because reporters and newspaper staff are on holiday. Anyway, my point is that the names in the local articles probably don’t mean a thing to most readers, and the policies and manifestos are even more meaningless when all the political parties except one have absolutely no hope of coming to power. The Machico story above is a good example, but as it was on the front page of today’s newspaper, I included it. Anyway, bear with me, as I will continue to check the section each day, but will have less to report given the situation I have explained.