Laurence Dollimore
GREENPEACE activists who defaced the controversial hotel Algarrobico have been absolved of all guilt by Spanish courts.
The 28 campaigners painted the words ´hotel ilegal´ on the complex in giant black letters in 2014, but the courts in Vera ruled they would face no punishment following a Supreme Court ruling calling for the hotel´s demolition.
That ruling, in February of this year, found that the hotel was built on illegal land that belonged to the Andalucian Junta.
It reversed a 2014 ruling allowing for the hotel to restart work at the 411-bedroom complex.
Forget for a moment the emotional debate about what is good or bad about this hotel. The question really is whether or not Spain has a judicial system that makes it’s decisions based on the law, or based on ideology? I submit that a judicial system that swings with the wind of the current ideology in power, is a danger to all of us. In this case, how is it that the developer of this project, who had received the full legal permissions from the Junta and local authorities prior to construction, is then penalized afterwards and loses millions despite having all legal approvals in place? This is not much different than the expat family’s often defended here, who had proper been granted proper permissions at the time, but then were told later that their home was suddenly illegal now and must be demolished? Just on a grander scale. Meanwhile, the apparently corrupt government officials who granted the developer said legal authority to build, are not held accountable? And now the Greenpeace activists who clearly trespassed, defaced and damaged private property are also let off scott-free?
The difference between the Priors (for instance) and this aberration on the beach, is that the Priors and others, didn’t put in a bung to gain their permissions.
Well said Rubicon, the whole thing is a complete basket case. Spanish property laws are not fit for purpose and need to be radically reformed. The PSOE led Junta de Andalucia are to blame for the entire situation but do absolutely nothing to even try and rectify the situation and bring the so called illegal property situation to an end. Where were they while this hotel and the 300,000 so called illegal houses were being built? Are they blind? Basically it is a massive stitch up whereby the Junta de Andalucia sat back, did nothing, watched and waited while all the building was going on and then when they thought the time was right, they decided to pounce and declare everything illegal having taken millions of Euros in tax revenue. They still continue to move the goal posts and DAFO is yet another case in point.
I don’t know the ins and outs of this hotel but it smacks of sheer incompetence as usual and it begs the question, why did they give permission for it to be built? I wonder if they realise what a dreadful image and reputation they have – it must be very embarrassing.