FREE COPY PROFILE

THE NEWSPAPER FOR

SOUTHERN SPAIN A local lad
Official market leader
with one foot
Audited by PGD/OJD
in space
January 3rd to 9th 2020
www.surinenglish.com

in English
At just 26, Malaga-born
News Health & Beauty
engineer Álvaro Soria is
developing systems for
2 26
Comment 14 Sport 28
Lifestyle
What To Do
16
22
My Home
Classified
30
34 the exploration of Mars
Food & Drink 25 Time Out 38 P10
:: SALVADOR SALAS

Revellers at Coín’s
traditional fancy
dress New Year’s Eve
party on Tuesday
MPs head to
night. :: REUTERS Congreso this
Saturday to start
vote on new PM
The way has been cleared
for the PSOE’s Pedro
Sánchez after deal is
signed with Unidas
Podemos for coalition
By next Tuesday, 7 January, Pedro
Sánchez looks set to have been cho-
sen to head the government after
two general elections and eight
months of stalemate. The Catalan-
nationalist ERC party agreed to ab-
stain at last and MPs have been called
back from their New Year break. P13

WHEN NEW YEAR’S EVE

BECOMES A CARNIVAL
After seeing in 2020 with grapes and even fancy dress, the
season’s festivities continue on Sunday with Three Kings parades P23

:: EFE

More rainfall was recorded

2019 was the driest

drought periods, however, as just
in inland areas than on the 140mm were registered in the 12
months from October 1994 to Sep-
coast, where the tember 1995. 2019 saw a significant
desalination plant is difference between inland and coastal

year on record on
running at full capacity zones, as the fronts that caused heavy
rain in areas such as Antequera, Ronda
The weather station at Malaga Air- and the Guadalhorce brought little
port showed at the end of December precipitation to the Costa del Sol.
that only 204.6mm of rain had fallen The lower reservoir levels mean

the Costa del Sol during 2019, half the province’s av-
erage. This makes the last 12 months
the driest calendar year recorded in
the province of Malaga since records
began in 1942. There have been worse
that the desalination plant in Mar-
bella is now operating at full capac-
ity, providing 40 per cent of the wa-
ter supply for the area between Tor-
remolinos and Manilva. P3

Age Care co-founder Adil, born at just six

Charles Betty, 95, gets an minutes after midnight Mijas pool tragedy
MBE in the New Year on New Year’s Eve in a
Honours list P11 Malaga hospital, is sister said the
Andalucía’s first baby of water “was
2020 P6 moving”
Sowing the seeds of
environmental The family of the two
awareness. Thousands of children and their father
volunteers plant 25 million who drowned last week
acorns around Spain P16&17 has not ruled out a
:: T. BRYANT
separate inquiry P4
2
NEWS January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH

Green homework for the Costa del Sol

Climate change experts are calling for urgent improvements to water ment. Salvo says this is one of the
biggest matters still pending and
management and want a strip of woodland along the coastline that the present state of sewage
treatment in the province has very
negative consequences.

treat and dispose of sewage, the re- Sewage treatment

Figures in degrees Celsius
construction of reefs, the preserva- “The Alboran sea can only take so

MATÍAS
Climate map Source: Observatorio de la
Sostenibilidad
tion of the beaches, the creation of
vegetation structures in urban com-
much. It can’t be turned into a sew-
age dump,” he said. “We’ve been
STUBER munities in the province, better warning about this since the 1990s.
public transport and a firm commit- At first it was because of the tour-
 mstuber@diariosur.es Rise in city temperatures ment from local politicians to re- ist industry, but what is happen-
duce greenhouse gas emissions. ing is that most of the dumping is
EARTH MATTERS Figures from the Spanish mete- through pipes on the ground. The
orological agency (Aemet) show that problem comes when there is a rise
Sewage treatment and 0.92
Malaga has seen an increase of 1.3 in the sea level. Many of these
0.63 degrees in its average temperature pipes will end up under the sea and
disposal is still an 0.54
since 1988. That is why Enrique that will result in the sewage back-
outstanding problem and 0.33 0.00
0.71
0.89
1.89 Salvo, a biology lecturer and climate ing up. That is already happening
1.03 0.99
public transport will only 0.79
1.21 1.09 change researcher at Malaga univer- around La Misericordia area,” he
be successful if it is 1.18
sity, argues for the creation of a green explained, referring to the beach
1.74
belt along the coast of the province, on the west side of the city.
comfortable to use 1.80
0.00 1.45
0.85
from Manilva to Nerja. He also pointed out another
0.27
1.75 “The most immediate objective problem in big towns in the prov-
MALAGA. Every year, just before is to create a forestry strip and re- ince: the creation of so-called heat
Christmas, the same thing happens: 0.43 1.17 produce Mediterranean woodland islands.
the governments of some 200 coun- 1.28 throughout,” he said. Due to the ur- “That’s something we are al-
0.71
tries get together for a climate sum- gency, he recommends using her- ready suffering from and it will get
0.81
mit which lasts for two weeks. This 0.87
baceous plants and shrubs: “We can’t worse. There’s starting to be a dif-
1.82
time it was in Madrid, and, as every 0.96 plant more pines because they take ference in temperature between
year, the conclusions seem similar 0.98
0.19 too long to grow. This green belt will the centre of Malaga and the out-
1.53
to the year before. Political leaders 0.66 also help to retain the soil when it skirts of as much as six degrees,”
express optimism and promise more 0.74 rains,” he explained. He calculates he said, pointing out that the green
0.47
ambitious plans to reduce CO2 emis- 0.59 MALAGA that creating this green belt would belt referred to earlier would help
sions. However, there is only con- 1.28 generate about 10,000 jobs. to mitigate this effect. “The little
sensus about one fact: if we con- Another fundamental aspect rain there is evaporates very
tinue with what has been on the ta- marked in red on the climate quickly. With that vegetation struc-
ble so far, the climate crisis cannot agenda for Malaga is sewage treat- ture, we would help to cool the at-
be avoided. mosphere,” he explained.
Of course, the world climate sum- Reducing traffic in towns is an-
mit has been an opportunity to cor- other subject which needs consid-
rect errors or criticise governments Evolution of the average temperature in Malaga (Airport) eration. Salvo wants local politi-
about their supposed ignorance. It cians to commit to increasing pub-
has also enabled us to observe how 19.9 lic transport, but starting from one
political leaders fight over the small 19.8 essential premise: comfort.
print. It is no wonder that the cli- 19.6 “People want public transport
mate discussions lead to arguments. 19.4 to be comfortable. For as long as
The man in the street perceives 19.2 it’s more comfortable to use the
19.2 19.1
these debates as being far removed 19 car, that’s what they’ll do,” he says.
19.04
from their everyday problems. Cli- 18.8
In Malaga he wants to see an in-
mate change is a latent phenome- 18.6
termodal system linking metro
non, not a specific occurrence. More and bus. “We need smart mobil-
18.4
like a succession of processes. ity,” he said.
18.2
To do something more palpable, 18.1
18 17.9
this newspaper has contacted dif- Lack of awareness
17.8
ferent experts from this area, who Figures in degrees C. So how aware are people of the im-
17.6
work in different fields and have de- Source: Observatorio portance of climate change? Al-
veloped their own climate agenda 17.4 17.4 de la Sostenibilidad berto Martínez is a doctor of Edu-
for Malaga. They recommend some 17.2 cation Sciences and an environ-
17
very specific measures: Malaga needs 17
1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2018
mental educator. He collaborates
a green belt along the whole coast, with and advises administrations
a system to completely and correctly such as the government and the
January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH
NEWS 3

2019 was the driest year in Malaga

province since records began
Junta de Andalucía on environ-
mental matters.
“The success of measures be-
ing designed to mitigate climate
change depends to a great ex-
tent on people’s knowledge, so
IGNACIO
we need to strengthen envi- LILLO
ronmental education in all
fields,” he said.  ilillo@diariosur.es
He agrees that sewage treat-
ment and disposal is a key fac- Malaga Airport’s weather
tor. “We are polluting the sea, centre collected only
and it is already full of plastics
and heavy metals. Sustainable 204.6mm of rainfall in
water management needs to be 2019, less than half the
one of the main objectives.” average
Martínez wants local authori-
ties to introduce new regula-
tions, including the use of rain MALAGA. By the end of 2019 the Tourists in December at a bar on La Malagueta beach in Malaga. :: SALVADOR SALAS
water in domestic toilet sys- rain meter at Malaga Airport, used
tems. by the Spanish weather agency Ae- figures are often quoted for the “wa- days, the equivalent of the entire plains why there is such a differ-
For the director of Aemet in met as the official statistic for the ter year” which would make Octo- year’s rainfall in Malaga city. ence between inland and seaside
Malaga, José María Sánchez- province, had collected 204.6 mil- ber 1994 to September 1995 the dri- According to the director of Ae- areas.
Laulhé, improvements are limetres of precipitation. This makes est 12-month period on record, met in Malaga, José María Sánchez- The meteorologist blames this
needed in the meteorological last year the driest since official re- when only 140.3mm fell on the Laulhé, this year has been particu- year’s lack of rainfall on the Medi-
agency’s early warning systems. cords began, in 1942. province of Malaga. Heavy rains in larly bad in Malaga because of the terranean climate’s natural variabil-
“The vast majority of natu- The total is less than half of the December 1995 prevented that year northeast winds. In fact this ity of drought periods, rather than
ral disasters are caused by high provincial average for a normal year, from taking the driest year title. autumn has seen several rainy on climate change.
impact weather phenomena. 534mm (taken from the climato- The inland areas of Malaga prov- fronts, which have even caused Nevertheless he did say that tem-
Climate change is going to gen- logical reference period of 1981 to ince also had a dry year in 2019 - as flooding in the Antequera and Gua- peratures are rising, which is a trend
erate even more extreme phe- 2010). Until 2019 the previous dri- La Viñuela reservoir figures show dalhorce areas. “With the ‘terral’ that can be put down to climate
nomena. It is essential for peo- est year had been 1985 with 267mm - but not as bad as on the coast. In wind the fronts have run out of hu- change. The average temperature
ple to have the best possible me- of rainfall. fact the wet weather just before midity by the time they get here,” in Malaga province in 2019 was 19.8
teorological and climate serv- These statistics take into account Christmas led to readings of 182mm he said, adding that the strip of degrees Celsius, while the average
ices,” he said. calendar years. However, rainfall in Pujerra (near Ronda) in just three mountains close to the coast ex- is 18.5ºC.

Forty per cent of the western Costa’s water Provincial authority to spend
supply comes from the desalination plant nearly five million euros on
improving inland water supply
The Marbella plant, which
backs up the supply from
Seventeen towns will drought, when some places have
Torremolinos to Manilva, is to live for long periods with fresh
benefit from a scheme to
running at full capacity water brought in by tankers
repair infrastructure There will be 34 separate ini-
:: NIEVES CASTRO tiatives that will focus on mak-
MARBELLA. The Costa del Sol’s :: FERNANDO TORRES ing more water fit to drink and
desalination plant, which backs up- MARBELLA. The Diputación improving existing infrastruc-
the local water supply by making provincial authority has an- ture to stop water seeping away.
sea water suitable for human con- nounced an investment of 4.9 One of the issues faced in the
sumption, is running at full capac- million euros to help a large area area is a concentration of nitrates
ity due to the low reservoir levels. The Marbella plant works around the clock. :: JOSELE of inland Malaga province im- from local farming in water
Operated by the public water prove its water supply. courses. The Diputación also says
company Acosol, the plant is now amount is supplied by the ETAP Campo de Gibraltar. The desalina- In total, 17 towns and villages that, in some cases, half avail-
providing 40 per cent of the water plant that converts reservoir water tion plant has a capacity to convert in the area around Antequera will able drinking water is lost through
supply to homes and businesses on into drinking water and the rest 42 million litres of water a day, benefit from the move. This area leaks. The different projects will
the western Costa del Sol, from Tor- comes from underwater reserves in enough to fill 20 Olympic swim- has traditionally had problems vary in size and scope according
remolinos to Manilva. A similar Fuengirola or is pumped in from the ming pools. with water supply during to the local need.
4 NEWS January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH

Plane to Germany sends out Fuengirola council

cuts out building
a mayday call minutes after licences for work
leaving Malaga Airport costing less than
30,000 euros
The pilot of the Lauda fic controllers, returned to
ground. Reports said the flight :: IVÁN GELIBTER
Air flight detected a
sent out the mayday call when a FUENGIROLA. Doing some
problem with an fault in a motor was detected. structural improvements or a bit
engine and safely The airport emergency procedure of building work at home should
carried out an was activated, meaning the Lauda be less complicated from now on
jet was given complete priority in Fuengirola. The final council
emergency landing to return. meeting of 2019 approved a
The plane was on its way to change to a planning bylaw that
:: F. TORRES / I. LILLO Dusseldorf (flight OE3225) and will allow people to start their
MALAGA. A plane from Lauda was scheduled to leave at 10.12am building work simply by declar-
Air en route to Dusseldorf made and should have reached the Ger- ing it to the council.
an emergency landing at Malaga man city at 12.30am. The rule change applies to work
Airport on Thursday morning. The aircraft taxied without dif- which has a cost under 30,000
According to official sources, ficulty to its stand and the pas- euros excluding IVA and where
There has been widespread media coverage of the tragedy. :: F. TORRES the maneouvre was carried out sengers we taken off the plane, any third parties, such as neigh-
safely and the plane asked the according to control-tower bours, who are affected have given
control tower for permission to sources. In more serious inci- their written permission first. The

Water “was moving” take off again a short time later.

The pilot had radioed a local
warning a few minutes before
dents, a plane is normally held
on the runway after an emer-
gency landing, but this did not
process, known as a “declaration
responsable” (responsible decla-
ration) requires certain documen-

says pool tragedy sister 11am and, guided by the air-traf- happen with the Lauda Air flight. tation to be in place to take effect.

The lawyer for the Diya ment last Friday through their law-
ESTEPONA LOOKS
family, who lost the father yer, Javier Toro, saying that the three FOR BUILDER FOR
did know how to swim and that the
and two children on youngest victim, the nine-year-old ITS FUTURISTIC
Christmas Eve at Club La girl who first got into difficulties in NEW TOWN HALL
Costa in Mijas, has not the water, had had swimming les-
sons before coming on holiday.
ruled out a separate “Something must have happened Estepona has put out to ten-
investigation to cause the drowning of three peo- der the contract to build its
ple in a holiday complex,” said Toro. new town hall. The total pro-
:: J. C./ Á. F. / F. T. In recent days more details of the jected budget is 14.9 million
MALAGA. The 14-year-old sister of police interviews after the deaths euros for the seven-storey
the two children who died with have emerged. According to sources, building which will also have
their father in a pool at the Club La the daughter who survived claimed underground public parking.
Costa World resort in Mijas on that her siblings had only been in The futuristic design will
Christmas Eve told investigators pools no deeper than their height. have a wrap around exterior
that the water was “moving” as the The design of the pool, which is to control the amount of
family members got into trouble. shallow at the sides and deepest in light inside and be designed
What was reported by Guardia the middle, has been questioned by to the highest standards of
Civil as an accident, where the vic- the family. The daughter said she accessibility and energy effi-
tims got out of their depth without slipped into the deep part like her ciency. Currently the council
knowing how to swim, has since sister but corrected herself and, with is spread over several sites
been questioned by the family’s effort, was able to get out. and the new building will be
lawyer, who hasn’t ruled out start- Mijas council reported this week in the Parque Central area, on
ing a separate inquiry. that its inspectors had found noth- the edge of the old town. :: SUR
The Diya family issued a state- ing wrong with the pool.
January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH
5
6 NEWS January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH

HERE AND THERE

The mango harvest is at its peak in September and October. :: A. P.

Thirty-five per cent ing reaches a peak September and

October.
drop in mango harvest The results are 35 per cent down
in 2019 compared with on 2018 when a record 36,000 ton-
2018 due to natural flux nes were collected. According to
growers’ associations this was in
part due to a natural flux in mango
MALAGA harvests in the province, meaning
:: A. P. Malaga province’s mango that yields are bigger and smaller in
harvest officially finished last week alternate years. Low temperatures
Nursing staff and family surround little Adil. :: ÑITO SALAS with 23,645 tonnes of the sub and other issues also contributed to
tropical fruit being registered since the smaller harvest. The crop has

Malaga claims the first birth of the season began in August. Pick-

Three arrested over

tripled over the last decade.

Belgian hikers found safe

the New Year in Andalucía El Playazo drug haul and well after search
NERJA NERJA
:: E. C. Police in Nerja arrested a :: E. C. A Belgian couple were res-
Adil arrived at the Spanish man from Almuñécar and cued by local police after becom-
Hospital Clínico at just six two Moroccans on Sunday after ing lost while hiking along the Río
catching them transferring a con- Chillar from Nerja to Frigiliana just
minutes past midnight signment of hashish, amounting before Christmas. Receptionists at
followed six minutes later to 2,000 kilos of the drug, from a the Riu Monica in Nerja, where the
by Francisco in Almería boat to a van on the town’s El man (53) and woman (50) were
Playazo beach. The Spanish man staying, alerted police when they
and thirty-three minutes is reported to have a police record failed to return to the hotel on the
later by David in Marbella for similar offences. In May 2019 evening of 22 December. After a
nine people were arrested in Nerja three-hour search police found the
:: ANTONIO JAVIER LÓPEZ / when 1,200 kilos of hashish were couple safe and well but tired in an
NIEVES CASTRO seized on El Cañuelo beach. area known as Lomillas del Chil-
MALAGA. For the second year run- lar, which is difficult to access.
ning, Malaga was the scene of the
arrival of Andalucía’s first baby of Man accused of sex
the new year.
Little Adil was born at six min- attack had police record
utes after midnight at the Hospi-
tal Virgen de la Victoria (also known VÉLEZ-MÁLAGA
as the Hospital Clínico) weighing :: SUR. A 46-year-old man from Vé-
4.025 kilos and measuring 51 cen- lez-Málaga was arrested last week-
timetres. He is baby brother to Nas- end for an alleged sex attack on a
sir (5 years) and Aimaar (20 Noelia and Óscar with their son David in Marbella. :: JOSELE woman as she walked home from
months). His mum, Jessica Ceballo, work on 16 December. The man had
hopes the rest of the year goes as Sol in Marbella. ing. Her partner took her to the allegedly gone to the woman’s place
well as his birth did: “Long but, in David, as his parents Noelia Gri- hospital and there she stayed un- of work earlier that day and offered
the end, easy,” she said. jota and Óscar Rodríguez have til David arrived the following money in exchange for sex, which
In the race to be first in Anda- named him, wasn’t due until 18 morning. the victim declined. He apparently
lucía, Adil beat Francisco, born at January but put in an early appear- Óscar wasn’t sure if he would then followed as she left work,
the Hospital Poniente in Almería ance arriving at 12.39am on New stay for the birth but in the end he forced her to the ground and tried
by just six minutes. Year’s Day weighing 3.16 kilos. was there throughout the contrac- to kiss her. She managed to escape.
The region’s third baby of the Noelia said she was asleep when tions and was brave enough to cut The man is in custody and has a
new year was also born in Malaga she felt her waters partially break the umbilical cord of his newborn Drugs on Nerja beach. :: SUR police record for similar offences.
province, in the Hospital Costa del in the early hours of Tuesday morn- son.
January 3rd to 9th 2020
SUR IN ENGLISH
GIBRALTAR NEWS 7

IN BRIEF
Attorney General appointed CMG Dates announced for The gardens, which are below

in Queen’s New Year Honours tours of the Alameda

botanical gardens
the Rock Hotel, were established
by Lieutenant-Governor Sir
George Don in 1816, and mainly
retain the original layout. They
GIBRALTAR fell into disrepair in the 1970s but
Michael Llamas was :: D.B. The Alameda botanical gar- were restored in 1991 and their
honoured for services to dens are one of Gibraltar’s main role was expanded to include edu-
attractions, and the dates have cation, research and conservation
Gibraltar, and is one of now been announced for the of flora. They contain plants from
three Gibraltarians to be popular guided tours this year. all round the world.
on the honours list this The tours normally take place on The dates announced for this
the last Saturday of the month year’s guided tours are: 25 Janu-
New Year and cost £5 for adults. There is ary, 29 February, 28 March, 25
no charge for children. The groups April, 30 May, 27 June, 25 July,
:: DEBBIE BARTLETT meet at the George Don gates at 29 August, 26 September, 31 Oc-
GIBRALTAR. The Attorney Gen- 10.30 am. tober and 28 November.
eral, Michael Llamas, is among
three Gibraltarians to feature on Performer dropped Gifts donated for
the Queen’s New Year Honours
List. Mr Llamas has been appointed from Reggaeton festival children in need
as a CMG (Companion of the Or-
der of St Michael and St George) GIBRALTAR GIBRALTAR
for services to Gibraltar, while Deb- :: D. BARTLETT After a public out- :: D.B. A campaign by the World
bie Borastero has been honoured with cry, Spanish singer Original Elias Trade Center to help underprivi-
an MBE (Member of the Most Excel- was told just hours beforehand leged children at Christmas re-
lent Order of the British Empire) for that he was no longer welcome to ceived a tremendous response from
services to the local disabled commu- perform at the Reggaeton Festival the local community. This annual
nity and Winifred Lane a BEM (Brit- last Friday. charity campaign resulted in the
ish Empire Medal) for services to the The decision came after the art- donation of 480 gifts from mem-
Gibraltar Health Authority. Michael Llamas (right) on a working visit to Brussels. :: SUR ist posted a video on social media bers of the World Trade Center and
In a statement, chief minister Fa- which included the comment that the public in general.
bian Picardo offered congratulations tar in a seminal way for our people humble, friendly and unassuming “Gibraltar is Spanish”. The com- On behalf of WTC Gibraltar
to the recipients and said the hon- in securing the vote in European way, Michael has been one of the ment was made by his cousin. Mariela Gancheva, said “We are so
ours were well deserved. elections, our membership of UEFA most effective advocates for Gibral- Original Elias and his cousin overwhelmed and grateful to all
With regard to Michael Llamas, and our membership of FIFA. Each tar’s cause in national and interna- later apologised and said it had just the people who contributed to the
he said his “massive contribution of those has had a seismic effect on tional courts. He is also Gibraltar’s been a joke, but it caused so much campaign this year. Thank you for
to the development of Gibraltar and the lives of people on the Rock and, first ever home grown Attorney bad feeling in Gibraltar that the your help in making this Christ-
the Gibraltarians is unparalleled by in parallel, has had a massive effect General and a lynchpin of the Gov- organisers decided it would be best mas that little bit more magical for
any other non-political figure. He in the international perception, re- ernment’s work on Brexit and to remove him from the line-up. those in need”.
has changed the landscape in Gibral- gard and status of Gibraltar. In his Europe generally”.
 January 3rd to 9th 2020
8 SUR IN ENGLISH