The Mayor of Almuñécar, Trinidad Herrera (PP), sent out a press release from the Mayor’s Office lamenting the accusations made by four dismissed town-hall staff; Ibarreche Truchero, Roldán Fontana, González Pavesio and Rodríguez Passolas. They have accused her of taking reprisals against them over the Camping Carambolo affair, even going so far as to accuse her of “corrupción urbanística,” which requires no translation.

Many readers will probably have no idea who the Fired Four are, but it should be suffice to point out that two of them, Sr González Pavesio (one-time Councillor for Urban Development) and Sr Rodríguez Passolas (ex-Head Municipal Surveyor) were hand-picked strongmen for consecutive Benavides administrations. They are both serious right-hand men of the previous mayor, although the former gave up his councillor post and was promptly taken onto the municipal payroll as a highly paid consultant: Gerente del Plan de Urbanismo; in other words, ‘Manager’ of urban planning, rather than ‘Councillor.’

This is, in effect, a power struggle between the ex-Mayor and the present Mayor, even though Mayor Trinidad Herrera would not describe it as so.

Referring to the accusations of urban-development corruption, the Mayor says, “The situation in which El Camping Carambolo (whose part-owner is the IU councillor, Fermín Tejero) situated on the N-340, run by the companies Colibrí C.B. and Karanda S.L., is no exception to the regulations that are imposed by this office every day: it abides by the laws and law-court decisions.”

Trinidad Herrera Lorente points out that in January 2012, “Law Court Nº3 in Granada upheld the appeal made by the lawyers of the campsite, meaning that until the main case is resolved by the Tribunal Supremo the campsite can remain open.” Sr Benavides’s party strongly rejected the reopening of the campsite in July, but keeping it open was one of the first decisions made by the new Mayor, backed by favourable municipal reports and judicial findings.

Getting back to the dismissal of Emilio González Pavesio, he was fired for “Incumplimiento de objetivos,” or, in other words, failing to meet objectives. This was highly controversial because under Benavides, he was pretty efficient, but this does not necessarily mean that he maintained this attitude under his new boss.

Watch this space…

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Andalucia)