Giles Brown
THE campaign to save the Almoraima estate from being turned into an ‘elite tourism resort’ continues to gather support.
Over 100 protesters blocked the entrance to the exclusive estate, near Sotogrande, to publicise its plight.
Protesters included veteran environmentalist Paco Casera, who has started a hunger strike, calling for a series of measures to be implemented.
Casera has taken this drastic move due to what he sees as the failure of the most recent measures of the Common Agricultural Policy to implement organic initiatives.
He believes that organic methods are the key to increased production and that these methods also reduce pressure on physical resources such as soil, water and biodiversity in region.
Meanwhile the Junta’s Minister for Tourism, Rafael Rodriguez, has sent a letter to the government asking for a meeting to discuss the future of the estate.
In the letter Rodriguez stated that the ‘possible sale of the property has caused major concern in the Campo de Gibraltar area’.
He said he wanted to see the government working together with the Junta to help make it profitable.
“The tourism opportunities are extraordinary and require only careful planning to make conserving the ecology the largest ??of its selling points.”
There has been no news from the actress Salma Hayek and her billionaire husband Francis Henri-Pinault who took a flying inspection trip of the estate by private helicopter last month.
Perhaps the Junta de Andalucia want them to build something on it so that they can revoke the building licence in 10 years’ time and order a demolition.
OP: I hope you are not trying to put a positive spin on this crowd by trying to show us the their touchy feely side. They want to demolish the houses belonging to a large percentage of your readership. How about running a series of articles about their plight?