A.U.A.N and Candido's response to arrest

I had agreed to meet with representatives of the A.U.A.N. organisation this morning at 11.0am and duly did so. We had a productive meeting during which they offerred to address the expat community within the municipality to explain the importance of the various apects of building and planning laws. This is on the basis of the massive amount of time and effort that they have put in to understand the way these laws work and our ability to influence certain decision making processes.

I agreed to feed back to them our Councils response regarding the issue of the PGOU and the Sub Regional Plan which they infomed me was being discussed by the Junta in a new office in Oria and that this would impact all of the Almanzora valley.

I left this meeting and went up to the Town Hall and on my way  saw Candido in conversation with some of his supporters. They were all  enthusiastically welcoming him back and he also gave me a very warm greeting. As we started to discuss his recent incarceration he gently led Andreas and I down to the local bar where, it seems, most business is discussed. I was informed that Politicians using the Town Hall need to be careful in case any form of monitoring had been installed. I am happy to conduct business in the bar!

As we walked to the bar it was amazing to see how many of the villagers would rush across and throw their arms around Candido in obviously emotional support. This continued whilst we were in the bar with many people, one of the people who warmly greeted Candido was a politician from the Almeria Party and who has a influential position within the Diputacion de Almeria. 

One of the first comments Candido made was in relation to the demonstration and he said he was surprised and very pleased that so many expats had been in the crowd. He had watched it on TV (a recording) and was quite emotional about it.

He explained that on his arrest he had been told the reason for his arrest was corruption, by pocketing money from the Town Hall, allowing building on rural land and taking money for granting building licences. All of which he maintains is totally untrue. He also suggested that given the way his recent arrest was handled it was proved even more to be politically motivated. He was taken to Almeria at first where he decided that he would not declare to the Guardia Civil, whom he did not trust to accurately record such a declaration, but agreed to declare to the judge. He was therefore transported back to Huercal Overa and when he was describing the events which occurred there he almost broke into tears. The moment which made him most tearful was when he was explaining that the judge in H.O. would not hear his declaration until he had been allowed to wash, shave and have a visit from his family. This took place Friday morning and subsequently he was interviewed by the judge. He answered her questions and shortly thereafter he was released without bail or money being paid.

He said that the first thing he did was stand outside the Police Station and smoke 3 cigarettes one after the other. He does smoke far too much and I think he is a prime candidate for a heart attack. I should know! 

We then discussed what we should do next and he said that he was quite determined to go on the offensive against the other councils where PSOE are the controlling party and actions, much more contrary to Spanish law, have occurred and no legal action has been taken. He did say he was reluctant to do that, as he felt that all councils have the interests of their communities at heart, but given the time he spent in custody felt that we, as a council should discuss this and decide how to proceed.

I asked if we could have a meeting of all the councillors to agree a way forward and he said that that was his intention. I hope it is either tomorrow (Wednesday) or next Monday as I am away Thursday Friday.

 We had had another success today in that 'the order of secrecy' (apparently in Spanish law the forces of law and order can have an order of secrecy in a case which precludes anyone investigating or examining the grounds for the investigation and in this case they had one) which could have lasted until the 16th April but this  had been lifted this morning. As a result the councils solicitors were today examining all the evidence upon which the Guardia had mounted the arrests and, once we knew what that amounted to, we would be able to respond to the media. Apparently only one radio station based in Vera had been non committal on the arrests and therefore he would allow them the first interview.

I also again raised the case of Cuesta de los Pinos case and he said that as far as he was concerned nothing had happened. I showed him the copy of the court order given to me by one of our residents and he asked to keep it and liaise with his solicitor.They now have this document.

Finally I asked if he thought this event would assist or hinder the agreement of our plan and he said that he was unsure whether they(the Junta)  would take a conciliatory attitude and progress things or go after them even harder. He did say though that he feels  more confident that all the properties built in our municipality would be included in any urbanisation plan because of a) our numbers (the total population) and b) the processes they followed.

I will wait to see when we can get together to agree the best way forward for the Town Hall.