ISSUE 33Santa Cruz de TenerifeSaturday 14 April 2012

www.diariodeavisos.com/thesupplement

“Human beings are the only creatures that allow their children to come back home” Bill Cosby

FEARS VOICED AT NEWAIRPORT CHARGES

◗The Spanish government’s decision to raiseairport taxes for airlines flying to Tenerifewill have a significant impact on passengernumbers, according to the island’s Cabildo.Tourism councillor Carlos Alonso said thisweek that the hikes, between 18 and 26%

depending on routes, will make flights toTenerife more expensive and could wellcause airlines to rethink their schedules. The2012 Budget unveiled by the new govern-ment includes general increases in landingcharges, passenger duty and security tax for

all airports, but Tenerife North and South areparticularly badly hit, say the authoritieshere. ‘An 80% full Airbus 320 landing in Tene-rife South from a European city will have topay around 2000 euros, which equates toalmost 14 euros per passenger’ said Alonso.

Rises announced by Spanish government will hit Tenerife hard

LA LAGUNA

◗La Laguna’s attempt to regu-late the growing number ofstreet performers has raised aneyebrow. Pending detailedrules governing the activitiesof the mime artists, magiciansand musicians who populatethe city streets, the councilissued a statement saying itwould allow their presence aslong as they give advancenotice to the corporation andprovided that their performan-ces are ‘not for profit’. Puzzledartists are wondering how theyare to earn their living.

Streetperformerspuzzledby order

BUSINESS

◗The recent spate of BargainFairs in Tenerife continues thisweek-end with a big event onthe quayside at Los Cristianos.Thousands of bargain huntersare expected to descend onthe resort on Saturday andSunday in search of clothesand other items at knockdownprices. 41 shops and firmshave registered for a stall atthe Fair, as well as 6 bars andrestaurants who will be offe-ring tapas especially for theoccasion.

Bargainhuntersset forLos Cristianos

FASHION

◗Local firm M&M have been chosen asSpain’s representatives for the WorldFashion Exhibition which will tour theworld during the coming year. Part ofthe Cabildo-sponsored Tenerife Fas-hion group, M&M will also open NewYork’s World Fashion Week in 2013.

Tenerife firmcelebratesfashion honour

MUSIC

◗Fans of the late MichaelJackson are in for a treatnext week-end. The Gui-merá Theatre in Santa Cruzis hosting Moonwalker, thepopular musical tribute to

the King of Pop, from 20-22April. The musical, which iscurrently in Madrid, starsFrederick Henry, the bestJackson impersonator inthe world at present.

MICHAEL JACKSONMUSICAL COMESTO TOWN

The recent upturn in tourism in Tenerife is likely to be hit by the airport charge increases. / DA

Moonwalker opens in Santa Cruz on 20 April for three days. / DA

WATER DRILLING TRIGGERSSTORM AT PRIMARY SCHOOLDiario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

A small school on the outskirts ofLa Laguna is at the heart of a bit-ter dispute over drilling, althoughthe controversy has nothing towith the ongoing political rowover the search for oil in Canarianwaters.

Parents and teachers at the LasMercedes Primary School, whichis considered one of the best inthe area due to the quality of tea-ching and its experienced staff,are up in arms at the decision bythe city council to allow themunicipal water company totake over a chunk of the schoolplayground to carry out explora-tory drilling to see whether alarge pocket of water lies under-neath.

The company, Teidagua, hasidentified a number of potentialsites in the fertile plane at theentrance to the Las Mercedeshills and says it is to invest over300,000 euros in tests. Drillingequipment and heavy machineryare being shipped in from Spainfor the job in the coming daysand, in preparation, workershave erected a wall around thechosen spot to prevent the chil-dren from going near.

Both the water company andLa Laguna council say the inves-tment is needed because the dis-covery of water will reducedependence on private wells, aswell as ensuring availability tofarmers in an important agricul-tural area which -like other partsof Tenerife- has suffered from

serious drought in recent months,with the situation only slightlyimproving as a result of the rainthis week and last.

However, the arguments havefailed to convince the schoolcommunity, which is angry at theprospect of 15 months of noisydrilling in the school grounds.The councillor responsible forthe project, Javier Abreu, visited

the school on the first day backafter Easter to oversee the wall-building and give assurancesthat the drilling will not disruptschool life. ‘All the requiredsafety measures are being takenand I am satisfied there is no riskto pupils’ said Abreu.

Rumours are circulating in thecity that the water company hadidentified other, better sites

nearby but the council preferredto avoid trouble with the pro-perty owners affected and gavepermission for the drilling in theschool instead. Meanwhile, theparents association says the spotwhere drills will descend hun-dreds of metres into the groundwas to be used as an allotment toshow the children how to growtheir own fruit and vegetables.

Parents at the primary school are furious at the new wall that has sprung up in the playground area. / DA

DA Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Puerto de la Cruz’s popularStreet Art Festival is returningthis year after a two-yearabsence. The local town hallhas confirmed that the festivalwill run over three days (Fridayto Sunday) between 11-13May, at a third of the cost ofprevious events. Known asMueca, the festival features abroad range of acts, includingstand-up comedians, acrobatsand singers.

The reinstatement of the fes-tival is seen as a massive vic-tory for local supporters, whohave been very vociferous intheir criticism of the council’sdecision to cancel Mueca twoyears ago. A mass demonstra-tion was staged outside thetown hall in 2010 when newsof the cancellation wasannounced.

For this year’s festival, stagesare to be set up at several out-door venues across the town,including the Casa de la Adu-ana, Plaza de Europa and theharbour, to ensure maximumexposure and big audiences.Programme details will bereleased later this month.

Puerto festivalback on aftertwo-yearabsence

DA Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Monday’s opening day of theperiod for on-line consulta-tions of annual tax returnsproved a frustrating expe-rience for many here due tothe delays experienced in get-ting through to the Hacienda(Tax Office) website.

The government has admit-ted that the flood of Internetrequests to check the calcula-tions prepared by Haciendasaturated the latter’s compu-ter system throughout the daybut it expected things to calmdown as of now.

The unprecedented level ofenquiries is interpreted as adesire by the public to processtheir tax rebates much earlierthan usual due to the effectsof the current crisis.

Tax advisers have warnedusers to check the calculationsvery carefully for possibleerrors before accepting therebate figure proposed byHacienda given the high rateof mistakes detected in recentyears.

Haciendacaught shortby tax returndemand

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

The mother of two children whowere denied boarding access byRyanair on a flight from theCanaries has won her batle forcompensation against the low-cost airline. The case is one ofseveral brought against the Irishcarrier for its refusal to adhere toSpanish legislation governingidentification requirements foryoung passengers on its flights.

Although Spain allows theLibro de Familia as sufficientproof for under-14s travellingwith a parent, Ryanair insists ona photo-bearing document suchas a passport or ID card and haslanded itself in trouble with theauthorities on various occasionsfor the rule, the repercussions of

which often make headline newsin Spain.

In this latest decision againstthe airline, a mother who tried totake a flight from Fuerteventurato Madrid with her two youngs-ters, aged 3 and 6 months, wasnot allowed to board and had tomake other travel arrangements.She filed for compensation notjust for the denied boarding butfor the inconvenience and hards-hip caused by the refusal.

Her case, supported by a con-sumer rights group, was heard bya court on the mainland, whichordered Ryanair to pay her 3200euros for breaching Spanishlegislation. The consumer groupcalled the decision ‘a great vic-tory for the rights of those whoare prepared to stand up to thebig boys’.

Ryanair ordered topay compensationover child ID refusal

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

A Tenerife lawyer has called onthe Spanish government to setup a DNA bank to help resolvecases of babies allegedly stolenat birth decades ago.

As the demand grows for for-mal investigation of numerouscases of babies taken from theirparents in hospitals and givento other families in recognitionof their support for the Francoregime, lawyer Natalia Domín-guez says that a DNA bankwould be a quick way of esta-blishing genetic links betweenpossible relatives.

‘The State should do all it canto help resolve these cases and abank would be of great help’explained Domínguez, who has

taken on almost a dozen stolenbaby cases in Tenerife and a fur-ther two in Las Palmas. The law-yer is highly critical of the atti-tude of the authorities in someof the applications she has alre-ady filed.

‘It is heartbreaking to see a60-year-old woman, who is ada-mant that she was lied to whenher ‘stillborn’ son was takenfrom her at birth, be told afterjust a month of checks thatthere are no grounds to pursuethe matter’ added Domínguez,who has already helped reunitetwo families with their ‘lost’children thanks to exhaustiveinvestigation of the births.

Thousands of cases of allegedbaby-stealing between the1940s and 1970s are currentlybeing investigated across Spain.

Lawyer in DNA bankcall to resolve stolenbaby cases

2 Saturday14 April 2012The Supplement

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Amid all the euphoria surroun-ding the record-breaking achie-vements of the double-winningIberostar Canarias basketballteam is a keen awareness of thedilemma posed by promotion tothe ACB league after over twodecades.

The return to the elite of Spa-nish basketball, which was cele-brated in style last Sunday with awin over Lleida watched by thebiggest crowd in the history of theclub (almost 5100), presentsCanarias with a wonderful cha-llenge but also a massive heada-che for chairman Félix Hernán-dez and his directors.

Canarias must come up with asmall fortune to be able to taketheir place in the ACB alongsidethe likes of Barcelona, Caja Labo-ral and Real Madrid next season.Conservative estimates put thefigure at around 8 million euros,which includes the 3.5 millioneuro minimum player budgetrequired by the league to ensuresides are competitive and a fur-ther couple of million as the bondwhich has to be deposited in thesummer to formally take up theplace. With local and regionalgovernment cutbacks already hit-

ting sports grants badly, Hernán-dez will almost certainly have toconcentrate on business sponsorsbut he can build on the impres-sive work done in recent years torecruit firms across Tenerife tothe cause.

One piece of good news hasalready come from the mainsponsor, the Iberostar hotelchain, which held a reception forthe Cup and league championsthe day after the Lleida game andhinted that a significant contri-bution might be available nextseason, although the final say lieswith the chain’s headquarters inMajorca.

An equally big headache liesahead for coach Alejandro Mar-tínez, who for all his protesta-tions that he wants to finish thecurrent season before thinkingabout life in the ACB will be hardpushed to avoid his thoughts

straying to his squad needs fornext year. The age of several pla-yers is a worry: some of the stal-warts of the team are in theirmid-late 30s (Chagoyen, Yañez,Guillén) and may not survive therigours of one of the toughest

competitions in the world. More-over, although younger, crowdidol Levi Rost holds a US pass-port and Martínez may feel obli-ged to fill the non-EU placeswith bigger forwards to guaran-tee points and rebounds.

Canarias are celebrating their return to the big time after 21 years. / DA

Promotion to theACB is certain tobring headachesfor the IberostarCanarias bosses

ned to the dressing room and notaired in the media’. Rumours havebeen rife that influential playersmade it known they did not wantto work under García Tébar, anattitude reflected in the paltry 4points from 12 picked up duringthe last month.

However, the sacking mustrank as one of the ultimate ironiesin football, at least here. GarcíaTébar had been widely praised byall, including the chairman, forhis no-nonsense approach andstraight talking, which were con-sidered the ideal antidote to theplayer problems that made life amisery for his predecessor Anto-nio Calderón.

Even more ironic, the club nowsays the time has come for a localmanager to steer the side to theplay-offs and Medina fits the bill.As many have pointed out, Con-cepción had ample opportunity to‘go local’ back in the summer. Ins-tead, he brought in Pedro Corderofrom outside as director of foot-ball and, on his advice, signed Cal-derón and García Tébar.

Another Tenerife managergets his marching orders

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

The old expression ‘the morethings change, the more they staythe same’ could not be more fit-ting as a description of the currentturmoil at CD Tenerife. This weeksaw the arrival of yet anothermanager, although new incum-bent Quique Medina did not haveto travel far given that he was pro-moted from reserve team coachto take charge until the end of theseason.

As almost every local newspa-per has been quick to point out,Medina is Tenerife’s 8th boss inaround 18 months, and clubchairman Miguel Concepción ison track to take over Chelsea’sRoman Abramovich as the biggest‘manager-eater’ of recent years.

Medina replaced Andrés GarcíaTébar after only three months incharge following what the chair-man said was an ‘irreparable riftwith the players’.

Unveiling the new manager,Concepción made it clear thatGarcía Tébar’s forthright criticismof certain players who did not givetheir all ‘should have been confi-

New boss Quique Medina is the club’s third manager this season. / ACAN

‘Easy’ job done,but hard partnow begins

CD TENERIFE

◗Tenerife have launched afresh bid to attract fans for thelast home games of the season,despite the latest managementupheaval at the club. A 3-match package is on sale at pri-ces from 20-55 euros for theall-important fixtures againstLugo (this Sunday), Oviedoand Alcalá. A club spokesmansaid he was confident of a mas-sive response by fans for thefinal play-off push.

Tenerife issuecut-price packagesfor final games

MOTOR RACING

◗Rally fans have a wide choiceof activities this week-end inthe Canaries, with races pro-grammed for Tenerife, LaPalma and Gran Canaria. TheTegueste rally in Tenerife hasattracted almost 40 cars andpromises to be a spectacularevent, taking drivers throughthe small town as well as LaLaguna, Santa Cruz, El Rosa-rio, Candelaria, Arafo, Güímar,Fasnia and Arico.

Busy days forCanarian rallyingthis week-end

FOOTBALL

◗Barcelona star Eric Abidal isrecovering well after his livertransplant on Tuesday. TheFrench player received a liverfrom his cousin in the lengthyand complicated operation,which went smoothly accor-ding to club chairman SandroRosell. In a reference to hisshirt number (22), Barcelonafans chanted Abidal’s name inthe 22nd minute of the mid-week game win against Getafe.

Barcelona’s Abidalrecovering afterliver transplant

TENNIS

◗Canarian player Carla Suárezhas been left out of Spain’swomen’s Federation Cupsquad for the tie against Slova-kia next week by captainArantxa Sánchez Vicario. Des-pite being ranked much higherthan the players included inthe side, Suárez’s ‘poor form’was cited by Sánchez as thecause of the omission.

Suárez left out ofSpanish FederationCup team

CD TENERIFE

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SPORT

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