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Vol. 8 Issue 212 www.theolivepress.es November 29th - December 12th 2023
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November 2023
SOUL MATES: Hemingway and Ordonez became close friends
Love letter
of the best places y described it as one editor A century ago HemingwaTwo decades ago Olive Press in the world for romance.so much, he moved there Jon Clarke loved Ronda
GOYA-STYLE: Ordonez’ grandson Fran Rivera today
up of soldiers Tolls, when a line below, it is Bell hurled into the ravine to their of the Tajo gorge are actual Spain’s most abyssa series of wrought iron railings deaths - an event related to T is easily one of Civil War. the mo- only events during the ward off the panic. memorable sensations; hits as you thatbreathtaking geographical fea- And Hem, of course, should know… a A ment the adrenaline the location of ledge at the top page Continues on next look down from a Puente Nuevo ture, this was in Ernest Heminghaunting chapter of Ronda’s famous For Whom the way’s seminal novel, bridge. foot drop into the A staggering 400
I
Terror probe hell Ronda’s Come and try with a tapa amazing wines 146 TEL: 672 284Monday
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‘Full on and stressful’ ordeal for British family after daughter is dragged into terror probe A BRITISH expat family has been torn apart after their ‘vibrant’ and ‘model-esque’ daughter was accused of helping to carry out a terrorist attack in Spain. On the surface, Sasha Brooks is a typical young woman enjoying life in the sun, regularly posting selfies on nights out in Marbella and Granada with her friends on Instagram. With holidays in Ibiza, Mallorca and Australia, she wears stylish clothes and is the ‘life and soul of the party’ on frequent nights out. But her world came crashing down when she was arrested alongside her Spanish boyfriend, Naraya Gomez, at a home they share in the quaint town of Lanjaron, Granada, just an hour inland from the Costa del Sol. They were sequestered to Madrid
LOVELY COUPLE: Naraya and Sasha are being investigated
her passport taken off her after being released on bail. before facing a judge, where they She must apwere charged with aiding the assas- pear before the sination attempt of far-right politi- court every 15 days and is forcian Alejo Vidal-Quadras. from The 78-year-old was shot in the bidden face by a hitman on a motorbike leaving Spain outside his home in the posh neigh- as the investigabourhood of Salamanca in Madrid tion continues. - which boasts football players, Pe- Various Spannelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as ish newspapers reported that residents. Last night Spain issued an interna- both Sasha and tional arrest warrant for the sus- Naraya were still pected shooter, named as 37-year- being investigated in connection old Tunisian Mehrez Ayari. Following Sasha and Naraya’s ar- to the attempted rests, Lanjaron, a tiny town of just murder. 3,000 people, was turned into a Naraya was refused bail and media circus. Before Sasha was dragged before a sent to prison judge, her mother, Angie Brooks, due to the overa financial advisor, told the Olive whelming eviPress: “Spanish reporters have dence against WORRIED: Mum Angie been hounding us, banging on my him. while (above) Naraya’s He is said to dad Sirio door all night and morning. recently “They have reported so many lies have about my daughter.” converted to Islam, specifically fol- killer, who After her court appearance her lowing the Shiite sect favoured by is also mother said Sasha was ‘exhausted’. the ayatollahs of Iran. wanted for She added she had been through Vidal-Quadras is convinced the a murder an ‘ordeal’, branding the episode Middle Eastern nation is the mas- in Paris, ‘stressful’ and ‘full on’. termind behind the hit, after its rul- d u m p e d ‘EXHAUSTED’: Sasha Brooks was dragged to “I’ve had to come up to Madrid to ing elite listed him as a ‘terrorist’ last his motor- Madrid following her arrest in Granada help her as much as possible,” said October due to his years of harsh bike and Brooks, who runs a an anti-fraud criticisms against the country. set it on fire, before being picked parked in Lanjaron this week, leadadvice company, Pension Life, Naraya, 26, is accused of hiring the up by Gomez in his car to make his ing to the couple’s arrest. where her daughter and boyfriend contract killer before travelling to a getaway. Naraya’s father Sirio Gomez, a Naraya had been working. hotel in Madrid with him on the eve According to police, Naraya’s blue yoga master who lives in a new “It’s been pretty full on and it’s now of the attack. hire car was seen on CCTV in Ma- age commune just outside Lanup to the judge to decide whether to According to police, Gomez fol- drid’s Barrio Salamanca in the weeks jaron, insisted the charges were charge them or not.” lowed the Frenchman in his car on running up to the attack, tracking completely false. While her mother later insisted she the day of the shooting. Vidal-Quadras’s movements. He told the Olive Press: “My son had not been charged, Sasha had After the deed was done, the alleged The same car was found illegally is completely innocent, he is not a terrorist. “He is a good boy, a vegetarian, spiritual and a pacifist.” SPAIN’S foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares has He said he last spoke to Naraya a agreed with his UK counterpart David Cameron to refew months ago and that he was start EU Treaty talks ‘as soon as possible’. excited to introduce his girlfriend Albares had a telephone call with Lord Cameron on on ice since Spanish Prime Minister Pedro SanSasha to him. November 27 before meeting the former UK PM chez called a general election. He added: “He was not related on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels. The issue will be back on the agenda after the to politics, he worked for Sasha’s It came just weeks after Cameron, who ironSocialist leader was finally able to form a govmother’s business. ically initiated the Brexit referendum, was ernment in November. “He never converted to Islam, that sensationally brought back into government as He faces a turbulent term, however, after being is a lie, he is not a Muslim. He has Rishi Sunak’s new Foreign Secretary. forced to secure an amnesty deal with Catalan judeo-Christian beliefs and an af“Many months ago Spain put on the table a balseparatists that sparked weeks of protests finity with Israel!” anced and generous agreement and that is where in Madrid and across the country. we are going to go,” Albares said. Sanchez will likely be placed under Alternative He once again said that ‘what Spain wants the microscope when he reopens is for this agreement to be the Brexit treaty negotiations Sirio lives in the so-called commusigned tomorrow’. particularly from the conservanity of Benificio, just a 20-minute The negotiations have been tive Partido Popular and far-right drive from Lanjaron. party Vox. It’s known by locals as an ‘alterIt comes after Gibraltar and the native community’, where people UK have stalled on the finer defrom across Europe come and go. tails of the Spanish proposal folThe theory put forward by police lowing 13 rounds of talks. has left expats and locals in LanjaIronically, Cameron, who lost ron in shock. the 2016 referendum after visOne local Brit told the Olive Press: iting the Rock, will now have “They were a lovely couple, no one See page 13 to sort out its consequences for can believe it or understand it. Gibraltar. “There is no motivation for them TM to do something like this, Sasha Opinion Page 6 comes from a good family.” The investigation continues. EXCLUSIVE By Laurence Dollimore
EU treaty hope
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