NEWS IN SPAIN This months update
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pain’s first openly gay referee has walked away from the game, insisting he “cannot take any more”. Jesús Tomillero, who has been a referee from the age of the 11 and was working near the foot of the Spanish football pyramid in the Andalucían regional league, took the decision after he was subjected to abuse following his decision to give a penalty during a match between Portuense and San Fernando Isleño on Saturday Tomillero came out publicly last March as he presented a formal complaint against a kit man from Peña Madridista Linense in the under-19 league in Andalucía, which resulted in a nine-game ban and a €30 fine. He told the newspaper El Español he has been subjected to abuse since and that weekend he reached breaking point. Soon after Tomillero gave a penalty, he says someone from among the visiting supporters shouted: “That’s that poof who was on the telly,” adding, “you can stick the goal up your arse, you f*****g poof”. The referee said the worst thing was that “everyone in the crowd laughed”. He communicated his decision to quit football to the Andalucían football federation soon after.
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he Florida Supreme Court has dismissed a prosecution appeal against the decision to order a new trial for a Spaniard who has been on death row for 15 years. Pablo Ibar, who has been behind bars for nearly 22 years at Rainford penitentiary in Starke,
8 The Grapevine
Florida, has always maintained his innocence in connection with a triple murder that took place in 1994. In February of this year, the high court ordered a retrial on the basis that mistakes were made during the first trial. The key piece of evidence in the prosecution’s case was a grainy, soundless home security video. With this new decision, 45-year-old Ibar could be transferred from death row “in 15 days at the outside,” according to the Association against the Death Penalty.
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he EU warned Spain and Portugal to quickly meet the EU’s rules on public deficits but delayed any decision to slap fines against the countries until July. The unexpected reprieve from the EU for Spain delays a potential embarrassing decision against Madrid until after elections on June 26. Inflicting penalities against an EU member state for public overspending would have been an unprecedented step by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm “We have concluded that this is not the right moment economically or politically to take this step,” European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told a news briefing in Brussels. For the eighth consecutive year, austerity-weary Spain has overshot its fiscal targets, making it one of the worst performers in the eurozone. Spain’s acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he was eyeing more tax cuts if reelected, in defiance of the EU rules
on running up public deficits. Spain’s deficit came in at 5 percent of gross domestic product last year, far higher than the 4.2 percent initially promised to Brussels and vastly above the 3 percent limit set by EU rules. Madrid has also raised its public deficit target this year from 2.8 percent of GDP to 3.6 percent, which means Spain will once again overshoot the limit set by Brussels. Spain is gearing up for another election on June 26—the second in just six months after bickering parties failed to reach an agreement on a coalition government following inconclusive polls in December.
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ix donkeys and one mule that made the television news last weekend are now safe in a refuge in Fuente de la Piedra. The organisation, El Refugio del Burrito, took responsibility for the animals this week, following a rescue operation in Vélez-Málaga involving National Police officers and various animal rescue associations. A total of 26 animals, including horses and four dogs, were found to be in “pitiful” condition at a farm in the town. The remaining animals, which weren’t registered with authorities, are now being looked after by a number of animal organisations. The owners of the farm, who don’t have licences to keep horses and donkeys, have been arrested and are being investigated by police.
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he American hamburger giant McDonalds will return to Torremolinos after a fouryear absence, and the new restaurant is expecting to open its doors to the public in the next few months. The restaurant will occupy the same premises as the old McDonalds, only this time there will be a 93 square metre terrace, instead of the 15 metres available previously. Even though McDonalds has franchises in Playamar and Los Álamos, the centre of the town has been “happy-meal” free for more than four years, following the closure of the previous restaurant in January 2012.
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