Welcome to the tuSPAIN weekly review of the Spanish media. Cristina Marquez Arroyo de Camihort has selected a wide range of articles covering general news about Spain, politics, business and culture. We also invite you to view the latest news from Spain (in Spanish) at the web sites of El Pais, El Mundo, ABC and El Periodico

NEWS REVIEW
16 - 18 December, 1996

• Cross-stitch and the Internet..
• Torrential rains in Jerez de la Frontera..
• Third runway for Barajas..
• Spanish Nurse killed in Chechnya..
• 2% Inflation rate for ´98..
• 1.6% of Spain now online..
• Basque entrepreneurs respond..
• Siemens linked to PSOE scandal..
• El Greco gets a lift..
• Gonzalez´speech "treachery"..
• Infoville, a digital city in Alicante..
• Two Spanish citizens in Peru Embassy seizure ..

Cross-stitch and the Internet..

Three Catalonian sisters are selling cross-stitch kits to Japan, Australia and USA, with incredible success. The patterns are reproductions of architectural jewels from Spain, such as the "Casa Batllo" from Barcelona, and the "Torre del Oro" from Sevilla.

Mercedes, Montserrat and Mar Carrasco are surprised that the pattern which really "drives the Japanese mad" is the ceramic dragon reproduction, Parc Güell and other works by Gaudi. The goal of the three Catalonian seamstress´, besides their commercial ambitions, is to spread the architectural heritage of Catalunya and Spain. To that purpose, they have formed their own company, "El Punto Bobo" (The Silly Stitch), which has been selling cross-stitch kits through the Internet since the beginning of this year, at prices which range from 2 dollars (about 250 pesetas) to 43 dollars (about 5,400 pesetas) for the more elaborate patterns.

The Japanese are particularly interested in reproductions of buildings such as Casa Batllo or "La Pedrera", while Australia and USA are definitely fans of the traditional ABCs, the paella or the collection on architectural heritage, like the "Torre del Oro".

Torrential rains in Jerez de la Frontera..

A strong whirlwind of water resulting from the torrential rains during Tuesday morning, left Arcos de la Frontera practically isolated with all roads entering the city being closed. The damage was extensive, especially a landslide which caused the loosening of a cliff where the city is settled. Additionally, the landslide brought with it vehicles, furniture and other domestic items. In spite of the storms in Huelva, Cadiz and Cordoba, the Andalucian Government ruled out the possibility to decree a state of emergency, although the weather forecasters are predicting rain for the next few days.

In Cordoba, the overflowing of some streams provoked serious traffic problems when several highways had to be closed. Even when the situation was getting under control yesterday morning (Tuesday), Arcos, which is a small town with thirty thousand people, remained completely isolated as all the access roads where closed. The spell of rough weather also affected other towns in the area, in particular Jerez and Villamartin. Due to the force of the water and the strength of the wind, which reached 150 miles an hour, a vehicle was thrown into the Salado River, the fire Department of the town succeeded in rescueing its occupants, who were uninjured.

Third runway for Barajas..

The Council of Ministers authorised yesterday (Tuesday) the construction of a third runway in Barajas. This project, which was assigned to a group of corporations, will take approximately 22 months to be completed. The new runway will help avoid the chaotic situation of recurrent delays, which caused an average of 30 minutes delay per plane yesterday morning (Tuesday), due to the work being done to remove the Iberia MD87 aircraft damaged in an accident two days ago. The approval given by the Council is the green light necessary for the construction of the runway 18 R-36 L and its corresponding beacons, phase II of the lighting project category II/III, for runway 18R-36 L, the power plant included in the project.

Spanish Nurse killed in Chechnya..

The Spanish nurse who was shot last night in Chechnya is Fernanda Calado, a native of Sevilla. Se was gunned down together with 5 other foreign aid workers, while asleep in their beds on Tuesday. This is the most violent incident of its kind in Russia's region of Chechnya. They were killed in an early morning attack on a hospital compound. Their coffins were later loaded onto a truck bearing the Red and White logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The attack was described as an assassination by Red Cross officials in Geneva, some Russian leaders described it as "political" . The attack aims to disrupt the local presidential and parliamentary elections to be held on January 27. The Russian Foreign Minister said he hoped the peace process would continue in the region, which Moscow wants to keep as part of the Russian Federation. The hospital where the attack took place was inaugurated in the village of Novie Atagi during August by the Red Cross Norwegian branch, who guaranteed the security of their employees based on the statements by both Russian and Chechen officials. The hospital was clearly marked with the Red Cross signs.

Besides the Spanish nurse, the other 5 workers came from Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain and New Zealand. The Red Cross is now pulling all its workers out of Chechnya. According to the people from Chechen, this is an attack perpetrated by the Russian intelligence, as the villagers knew all the Red Cross workers and were very thankful for the extraordinary job they were accomplishing and the services they were providing to the community. Thierry Meyrat, who is the Red Cross official in Moscow, said that the organisation underestimated the strength of regional groups which are "obviously out of control", but recognised that they had no clue to who might have committed the murders.

2% Inflation rate for ´98..

The Bank of Spain has set forth an anticipated inflation rate during 1998 of 2%. According to bank CEO, Luis Angel Rojo, the "strict environment" in which the new Spanish economy is functioning will allow them to reach this goal. To this purpose, the Governor of the Financial Committee of the Congress has stated that the annual inflation rate should be around 2.5% by the end of 1997. Rojo has described the environment of the Spanish economy as "extraordinarily demanding", considering that the actual inflation rate presented by a high number of European countries is in the range of 1 to 2%.

At the same time, the private deficit has been reduced to 12% during the first 10 months of this year, and 39% during the month of October. The actual amount reached was 2,203 billions of pesetas up to October, when it reduced to 166,000 millions. These figures show a sharp fall with respect to the same periods during 1995. According to a newsletter from the Department of Finance, the commercial balance of October is the lowest since January 1995. During October, exports reached 1.29 billion pesetas, and imports reached 1.46 billion, figures that represent a strong acceleration of sales to overseas markets (23.5%).

1.6% of Spain now online..

On December 16 and 17, The Spanish International Congress on Communication Media through Internet is being held in Pamplona. The objective of this congress, organised in conjunction with the University of Navarra and New Media Publishing, is to gather the most prominent professionals in the field to discuss the impact of new technologies, particularly the Internet, in the communications Process. The Spanish Internet user base has doubled during this last year. The last survey undertaken by the Association for the Research of Communications Media (AIMC) has revealed an astonishing increase in the number of Internet users in Spain. More than 600,000 people, over the age of 14 years, representing 1.6 % of the population, have access to the net. According to Rob Fixner, director of CyberTimes, the Internet edition of The New York Times, "a journalist on the Internet has to be a 3D narrator". According to Vicen Giuliano, president of The Electronics Publishing Group (journalism consultants), the secret of making money on-line rests on the vertical information services, which he defined as the "services that help professionals in their decision making process, by offering updated and specific information on their specific fields"

Basque entrepreneurs respond..

Many Basque entrepreneurs have joined forces to request the "batasunos" or members of the Herri Batasuna terrorist command, should be brought to Justice, where they should be convicted as criminals, not as political activists. In response to the Batasuna demonstration in Guecho, where flyers were given defending the collection of a "revolutionary tax" to be paid by the Private entrepreneurs, the Circle of Basque Entrepreneurs asked that all those who are threatening the CEOs in the autonomic community to "be prosecuted to the full extent of the Law", especially if "they already have the guns behind their words". In addition to the morning demonstrations, some members of the pro-etarrean group repeated their violent actions on the streets by burning a bus of the cycling racing team "O.N.C.E.". A little earlier, Hernani was the site of another street battle which resulted in the damage of several vehicles.

Siemens linked to PSOE scandal..

Financial experts have confirmed that SIEMENS paid a thousand million pesetas to corporations linked to the PSOE political party. The company was the successful bidder of the AVE high-speed rail project. This conclusion was stated in the report prepared by experts from the Department of Finance on July 4 and ratified yesterday in front of Teresa Chacon, the Judge investigating several sources of illegal funding of PSOE. The report also states that there was an excess of expenditure in the works related to signal code systems, telecommunications and electrification.

El Greco gets a lift..

The Museum of El Prado will restore the portraits by El Greco for an upcoming exhibition. Fernando Checa, Director of the Art Gallery, announced yesterday that the portraits by Domenico Teotocopulos will be restored in order to be part of an exhibition which will take place as soon as possible in the Prado. He made the announcement during the course of the presentation of the "Gentleman with a hand on his chest", a famous painting that has been restored. Mr. Checa stated that "this is finally a Renaissance portrait" and commended the restoration of the painting, which has refurbished one of the most famous paintings in the Museum. The painting will travel to Barcelona where it will be included in the exhibition on El Greco and the Catalonian Modernism opening on December 20.

Gonzalez´speech "treachery"..

The two most powerful unions in Spain, the Workers Committee and the Workers General Union, have threatened another general strike if the government of Jose Maria Aznar does not retract from its promise to freeze all government salaries starting 1997. Gonzalez choose to speak about this subject during his visit as Leader of the Opposition abroad. He criticised Aznar for this attempt to make economic ends meet during a speech to a surprised audience. Aznar decided to emulate his opponent, and replied during a welcoming speech to the Prime Minister of Jordan. He referred to Gonzalez’ speech as "treachery", stating baldly that Gonzalez will sacrifice the stability of Spain, before giving up his desire to return to power. The President of the Government added that the Socialists froze all salaries for two years in a row, a step that made little difference to the inflation rate at the time they were implemented. Instead, Aznar hopes that this time, his decision will reduce the national debt and inflation. He also stated that he has no intention whatsoever of withdrawing this decision.

Infoville, a digital city in Alicante..

The Society of the future passes by Villena. This is not a simple statement, but the official launching of the first digital city in the world, which will be located in this Alicante municipality . The experience will be a platform for the troubleshooting of the system, which will allow the spread of a new style of living to other cities and hopefully allow the rest of the world to know how Society will communicate during the next century. Today, when the Infoville Project will be officially inaugurated, more than a thousand citizens in this important industrial city (where several state of the art manufacturers of children’s shoes are located), will be able to set an appointment with their personal physician, or request their children’s last semester report card using the system. They will also be able to make Tax payments in the Town Hall, to access job offers or to travel electronically through the most important Spanish Museums. All these activities will be accomplished without leaving their homes. The start button will be pressed by Eduardo Zaplana, the President of the Generalitat Valenciana, thus launching this important experiment. The novelty and scope of the enterprise has received an extraordinary response from the people of Villena, to the point that requests to participate in the CyberCity have exceeded all expectations. Initially, there will be about 1000 PCs installed in the town of approximately 31.000 inhabitants. Selected members will have to pay 92.800 pesetas (US $745) for a Pentium PC with 100 MHz, 14" Graphic Display, 16MB RAM, 850 MG HD, 8-X CD-ROM Drive, 16-bit SoundCard, Speakers and Mike. The dealer’s price for this equipment is approximately 300.000 pesetas (US $2400).

Two Spanish citizens in Peru Embassy seizure

There are two Spanish citizens held as hostages in the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, Peru. The group who took responsibility for the action threatened to kill their captives yesterday, but the deadline passed without any developments. The guerrillas are asking Alberto Fujimori, the president of Peru whose ancestors are from Japan, to release up to 500 jailed comrades including Victor Polay, the leader of the leftist command. They also want a safe passage to the Amazon jungle. They have stated that Francisco Tudela, the Foreign Minister of Peru, will be the first to be executed. However, there seem to be some injured individuals inside the residence, as one of the rebel spokesmen asked for medicines to treat wounded captives.

The guerrilla group, called Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) stormed the building during a reception last Tuesday, taking hostages from all over the world, who were attending the social gathering. In Madrid, Spain's Foreign Ministry confirmed that rebels had asked Spain to act as a mediator in order to get medical supplies in. Spain is considering to ask Peru to allow medicines in for the wounded. It’s estimated that about 250 hostages are being held, after the release of about 80 women and some elderly people. All countries with representatives held in the siege asked for calm to handle the situation. Spain has warned the authorities in charge that the use of force could lead to a massacre. Jose Maria Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, contacted Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian President, asking him to use "psychological tactics" to persuade the guerrillas to withdraw. Manuel Torrado, the Spanish entrepreneur, is one of the hostages together with Ambassador Estanislao de Grandes, charge d’affaires. The Spanish Embassy in Lima stated that there is a possibility that other Spanish Citizens might be held captives as well. Hostages included Ministers and political personalities from Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Cuba. Poland, France, Germany, Japan, Panama, Peru, South Korea, Spain and Uruguay.