madrid kid

Bush crony Vazquez Botet convicted in federal Superaqueduct case

2006-11-04T21:23:00.000+01:00

One of President Bush’s biggest fundraisers in Puerto Rico was found guilty on Friday of seven federal counts of conspiracy, extortion and fraud in connection with a $372 million public works project built in the mid-1990s called the Superaqueduct. Dr. Rene Vazquez Botet, 51, faces between seven and 10 years in prison. A former Republican Party committeeman, this pediatric ophthalmologist was appointed by Bush in 2001 to serve on the president’s Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans Commission.

He was indicted in 2004 along with lawyer Marcos Morell Corrada for comprising a scheme in which they both received $2.4 million in kickbacks from private firms which wanted to secure and preserve their contracts to build the water pipeline in 1995. Morell Corrada, 58, was also convicted on eight similar counts. It took a jury 14 hours over three days to hand down its verdict.

Although he said he was inclined to revoke their bail and send the two immediately to prison, U.S. District Judge Jose Fuste instead placed Vazquez Botet and Morell Corrada under 24-hour house arrest and ordered them to wear electronic monitoring bracelets.

Because of the two defendants’ political connections and issues surrounding the inquiry, the case had turned into a high profile investigation in which officials from the U.S. Justice Department’s Public Integrity Division flew down from Washington to prosecute both men. Vazquez Botet was campaign manager for former Gov. Pedro Rossello (1993-2001) of the New Progressive Party. Both had been close friends until around 1997 when they had a falling out -- the reasons for which are still unclear. Rossello, a former pediatric surgeon who now serves as senator in the Puerto Rican legislature, had been under investigation by federal authorities in several corruption schemes that the U.S. Attorney’s Office broke wide open, but he has never been prosecuted.

For his part, Morell Corrada served as secretary general for the pro-statehood New Progressive Party from 1991 to 1996, until he resigned under pressure after corruption allegations surfaced. He received more than $125,000 in payments from contractors in the form of appliances, cash, car rentals and donations to a local basketball team he was managing.

“Defendants, with their actions motivated by greed, betrayed not only their families and the community, but also a large constituency of law-abiding persons that belong to the political party the defendants worked for,” said US District Judge Jose Fuste after the jury convictions. “The public and private sectors in Puerto Rico are infected by corruption, to the point that the community wonders whether we have reached the point of no return.”

The two men and their lawyers – Howard Srebnick of Miami and Francisco Rebollo and Edgar Vega of Puerto Rico – tried all types of legal maneuvers to keep the defendants from going to trial. Even the federal judge who was first assigned the case and is known to be a local NPP supporter appeared to have sided with the defendants by trying to derail the criminal indictment. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston took the case away from him and gave it to Judge Fuste who immediately ordered Vazquez Botet and Morell Corrada to stand trial. After the convictions, Trial Attorney Mary Butler of the US Justice Department publicly "encouraged" the two men to cooperate in her ongoing investigation.

Spaniards give Greeks a tragedy

2006-09-04T01:01:00.000+02:00

What more can be said about the Spanish team's upset against Greece on Sunday for the gold medal at the World Basketball Championship in Saitama, Japan? A stunning 70-47 win was dedicated to Memphis Grizzlies star Pau Gasol, who sprained his ankle during the final seconds in Spain's bout with Argentina on Friday. The Spaniards fought hard to show the world that their team could perform without Gasol, which many doubted.

King Juan Carlos and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are expected to greet the team upon their arrival. It was Spain's first gold medal in the World Basketball Championship.

Above in this AP photo, Spain's Carlos Jimenez, in red, goes after a rebound along with Greece's Antonis Fotsis, center, and Konstas Tsartsaris during Sunday's incredible match.

The night Luis Muñoz Marín fueled Richard Nixon’s thoughts

2006-08-26T00:16:00.000+02:00

After a disastrous “goodwill tour” of Latin America in 1958, Richard Nixon, before returning to Washington, stopped in Puerto Rico – home turf for the badly beaten and emotionally shaken vice president who was attacked, kicked and pelted with eggs in Caracas and called “corrupt” during hostile demonstrations in Lima. Welcoming him with open arms was Washington-devotee Luis Muñoz Marín,the island’s first popularly elected governor, who invited him to spend the night.

Both hearty imbibers in their heyday, Muñoz Marín and Nixon stayed up chatting and drinking until the morning wee hours. In 1971, President Nixon in a phone conversation with then UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan described what happened. The following transcript is part of a collection of recorded phone call conversations during the Nixon White House years compiled by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The purpose of the Oct. 7, 1971 phone call was for the president to discuss with the ambassador whether Africans have the capability of leading their nations.

Nixon: I'm not saying that Blacks cannot govern. I am saying they have a hell of a time.
Moynihan: Mm-hmm.
Nixon: Now that must demonstrate something. Now, having said that, let’s look at Latin America. Latin America has had 150 years of trying at it and they don’t have much going down there either. Mexico is a one party government; Colombia, they trade it off every two years; Venezuela is tip tee-toe, and the rest are dictatorships except for Allende, which is a communist dictatorship – elected, but communist. Now, let me come back to another point. I think you may have heard me tell of my conversation with Muñoz Marín who, incidentally, was capable of governing.
Moynihan: Yes.
Nixon: In ’58, after Lima and Caracas, I stopped there. And he and I talked all night… and he, drinking his scotch and all, and he really lived it up… [laughing] And I, trying to keep up with him – practically dead! But he made a very interesting point, very late – in the early morning hours. He said, look, he says, I shouldn’t say this, he said, “But Mr. Vice President, my people have many fine qualities, I mean, they’re courteous… they’re, they’re family people…in the arts… and you know, philosophy, et cetera.” But he said, “I will have to admit, my people” – speaking of Latins generally – “have never been very good at government.”
Moynihan: Yeah.
Nixon: Now let’s look at that. The Italians aren’t any good at government. The Spanish aren’t any good at government.
Moynihan: Yeah.
Nixon: The French have had a hell of a time, and they’re half Latin. And all of Latin America’s not any good at government. They either go to one extreme or the other. It’s either a family – well, three extremes: family oligarchy, or a dictatorship – a dictatorship on the right or one on the left. Very seldom in the center. Now having said all that, however, as you compare the Latin dictatorships, governments, etc. and their forms of government, they are – they at least do it their way. It is an orderly way which works relatively well. They have been able to run the damn place! Now what I am getting [at] is this: Asians are capable of governing themselves, one way or another. We and the Caucasians have learned it after slaughtering each other in religious wars and other wars for many, many years, including a couple in the last – this century. The Latins do it in a miserable way, but they do it. But the Africans just can’t run things. Now that’s a very, very fundamental point in the international scene. See my point?

When the US embassy predicted the failure of Pinochet’s ambitious Voice of Chile shortwave project

2006-06-14T02:34:00.000+02:00

Just days after dictator Augusto Pinochet inaugurated the powerful Voice of Chile on January 15, 1974, a U.S. diplomat told his superiors in Washington that he had reservations about the effectiveness of the shortwave radio station and predicted that it would fail because it wouldn’t be able to attract enough listeners.

This revealing appraisal is contained in a recently declassified cable sent by an American Embassy official in Santiago and obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive. The diplomat, who signed the missive using only his last name Villarreal, described Pinochet’s plans for his station as “grandiose.” Just four months earlier, Pinochet, with the U.S. government’s backing, led a bloody coup that toppled Marxist President Salvador Allende.
“This is a major propaganda effort by the government of Chile,” Villarreal wrote Washington on January 17, 1974. “Junta seems determined, however, to fight critics abroad and attempt to correct what they see as a distorted image of Chile peddled by former Allende supporters and fellow-travelers.”

On the morning of September 11, 1973, Allende was cornered inside La Moneda Presidential Palace in downtown Santiago just less than two hours after broadcasting an emotional last-stand speech on Radio Cooperativa. In another part of the city, a faction of the Chilean army was confiscating new Soviet-made transmitters that had been supplied to the Communist-backed Radio Recabarren and Radio Magallanes, Villarreal’s cable explained. The powerful 70 kilowatt transmitters were then set up across the street from the Defense Ministry and put to the Junta’s use at Radio Nacional de Chile. During the inauguration ceremony, Pinochet said the station’s purpose was “to let world know of heroic Chilean struggle to save the country from the totalitarian claws of Soviet imperialists,” the diplomat summarized.

With domestic transmissions on 1140 kHz, Radio Nacional would begin broadcasting as the Voice of Chile in several languages including English on shortwave throughout the 1970s from Radio Cooperativa’s studios. Villarreal identified Col. Eduardo Sepulveda, “the Junta’s prime communications man” who would later become the Chilean consul in Miami, as head of the station’s board of directors. Station manager Gabor Torey and press officer Francisco Barahona were both hired from Radio Mineria by the Junta’s secretary general. “Although plans for Radio Nacional are grandiose, knowledgeable radio contacts doubt efficacy of international broadcasting effort pointing to high costs, limited listening audience and past failures to mount shortwave efforts from Chile,” Villarreal reported.

Villarreal’s observation was correct. By the mid 1980s, the Voice of Chile suspended its international broadcasts and in 1990 Pinochet was voted out of office in a referendum. The eight 100 kilowatt Harris shortwave transmitters that once belonged to the Voice of Chile were purchased in 1998 by Christian Vision, a religious broadcaster, for its Radio Voz Cristiana and are in use today.

Shortwave radio and Hollywood just don’t mix

2006-05-17T02:49:00.000+02:00

Except for a brief mention here and there, shortwave themes seldom pop up on the silver screen. Last year’s acclaimed “Good Night, Good Luck” –- about an episode in the glorious life of journalist Edward R. Murrow, the CBS newsman who later became VOA director –- failed to mention his career as an international shortwave pioneer. “Pump Up the Volume” did have Christian Slater in 1990 as a teenage pirate broadcaster giving his schoolmates some sobering thoughts on life. But still, films about shortwave are rare if non-existent. So with a little help from IMDB, here is my list of movies I have compiled throughout the years in which shortwave –- or something alluding to it –- shows up on screen.

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) – How can we forget the poignant scene of the Franks and the Van Dammes huddled around a shortwave receiver in their hiding place listening to the BBC announce the landing at Normandy? Or their faces of despair when they tune to Berlin radio and hear Hitler’s ranting and raging. But my favorite scene is when the viewer is treated to hearing the carillon in the nearby Westerkerk tower playing Merck toch hoe sterck, the same tune used today by Radio Netherlands. If you visit Amsterdam, you can still hear the 47 bells of the carillon, which was restored in 1959, playing Merck toch hoe sterck.

Johnny Shortwave (1996) -- Pirate broadcaster Johnny Shortwave (Emmanuel Mark) transmits his ideals for freedom and offers encouragement in a totalitarian fascist state depicted in this low budget sci-fi movie from Canada, which was sporadically shown in some US cities.

Overboard (1978) – This made for television movie starring Angie Dickinson (in her post-“Pepper” days) has an interesting opening scene. Most of the film takes place in the south Pacific on board a yacht where Dickinson and Cliff Robertson air out issues concerning their treacherous marriage. The first spoken words in this film come from a radio receiver on deck with an announcer in English identifying the station as Radio Tahiti!

Munich (2005) – Daniel Craig disagrees with a Palestinian terrorist staying inside a safe house in Cyprus over which station on a large multi-band portable they should tune. The terrorist wants to hear Arabic music from a distant station in his land while Craig wants more contemporary Israeli music. Although they cannot communicate in their respective languages, they settle on a rock and roll station.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961) – Although no reference to shortwave is mentioned here, there is an interesting shot of a contemporary Grundig receiver sitting on a mantelpiece during a torrid scene between Warren Beatty and Vivian Leigh.

Intervista (1987) – Federico Fellini’s autobiographical movie has Marcello Mastroianni walking into the film studios of Cine Citta in Rome. For a brief moment, as if it were meant to be a subliminal message, you can hear RAI’s chirping bird interval signal played as he enters the gates.

Stamp investing scandal in Spain

2006-05-15T16:47:00.000+02:00

Top executives of the collectibles trading dealers Afinsa and Forum Filatelico are in custody after a Spanish investigating judge determined that there is probable cause to charge them for defrauding an estimated 343,000 people in an alleged scheme involving postage stamps. Clients of the two companies were promised high interest returns in exchange for purchasing the stamps. Spanish authorities believe the conspiracy bilked these small-time investors of more than 5 billion euros.

The investigation got underway about a year ago after a complaint was filed with Spanish prosecutors. Authorities believe that the heads of Afinsa and Forum Filatelico laundered hundreds of thousands of their clients’ money. Last week, investigators said that both collectible trading dealers are on the verge of bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the directors lived in fabulous estates, bought purebred horses, traveled extensively, and owned homes in different countries. Even when police carried out their raids during a nationwide sweep, authorities reportedly uncovered 10 million euros in cash stashed in a concrete vault in one of the directors’ homes.

When the arrests were announced, clients stormed the offices of both trading dealers through Spain demanding their money but the police had closed the doors. Philately experts had warned that the stamps sold by Afinsa and Forum Filatelico were highly overpriced.

After Christie’s and Sotheby’s, Afinsa was the third largest trading collectibles dealers in the world. Spain’s guaranteed deposit insurance laws don’t cover investments made by these non-financial entities so clients of Afinsa and Forum Filatelico may have lost millions. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zaptero promised changes to the existing laws, and said that the government was studying ways how to help the investors get back their money.

Puerto Rico's mentally ill leaders

2006-05-03T13:20:00.000+02:00

There is a sickness in Puerto Rico. Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila ordered a near shutdown of all government and public services because the executive and the legislature cannot get together to come up with a solution to cure an estimated $740 million budget shortfall.

More than 95,000 public workers are without jobs and probably won’t be able to receive a paycheck until the beginning of July, when the 2007 fiscal year begins. Students, with just two weeks to go from finishing their academic year, cannot go to school because teachers have been told to stay home. More precarious is the lack of public health services in this island of 3.9 million. Because many islanders do not have health insurance, they have to rely on the fledging public health system. And the crisis is affecting those with chronic diseases, such as AIDS/HIV patients who may not be able to get their much needed prescriptions filled on time.

This amazing, unprecedented chapter in Puerto Rico’s history occurred when Gov. Acevedo Vila challenged the opposition controlled legislature to introduce a 7 percent sales tax to alleviate the financial woes in the public coffers. The governor maintains that the sales tax would enable the government to seek loans from private banks to keep the public services rolling for the next two months. However, opposition lawmakers, controlled by the embittered former governor-turned-senator, Pedro Rossello, won’t budge. They claim that Acevedo Vila has done nothing to stop run away public spending that goes to paying government salaries and maintaining the enormous bureaucracy. Meanwhile, Rossello, who supports statehood, has been in Washington trying to knock out a deal about the island’s future political status. With his actions far off in left field, he appears to be telling his constituents that the fiscal problem isn’t his problem. If that is the case, then he should resign as senator.

This indeed is a sick situation because of the mentally diseased politicians on this island who insist on putting their egos before the needs of their people. There are too many good citizens living in this U.S. commonwealth who should not have to go through this. Puerto Ricans took to the streets of San Juan last Friday demanding an end to the impasse but their voices went unheard. If the enfeebled elected leaders – such as Acevedo Vila, Rossello and House Speaker Jose Aponte – cannot come to terms and set aside their insolences, then it is time for the federal court to step in and demand that peace and tranquility return to paradise.

RTVE striking employees disrupt newscast

2006-04-05T19:00:00.000+02:00

A one-day strike called on Wednesday by employees at the state broadcasting conglomerate Radio Television Española forced the national newscast Telediario to suspend its transmission after 14 minutes on the air. The newscaster said she could not continue because of the noisy strikers outside the studio.

RTVE workers walked off the job to protest proposed government cutbacks to save money at the fledging broadcaster. According to press reports, some 3,000 jobs are at stake. For years, RTVE has been a money-loosing operation as television viewers and radio listeners prefer tuning to private broadcasters. In February, the government board that oversees RTVE as well as other state holdings said that the austerity measures were necessary to stop the broadcaster’s soaring debt, which is estimated at more than 7 billion euros.

Employees who called the strike said that they would disrupt all programming except the newscasts. However, this was not the case on Wednesday as you can see in this link to El Mundo.

Marbella rocked by corruption arrests

2006-04-01T21:13:00.000+02:00

The resort town of Marbella was rocked this past week when police officers arrested 23 people, including the mayor and three councilors, in a multi-billion euro money laundering and conspiracy scheme involving the selling and purchasing of prime real estate along Spain´s famed Costa del Sol.

Authorities said that they confiscated more than €2.4 billion in cash, art objects, jewelry, properties and other goods allegedly purchased by the defendants with profits they made through influence peddling.

After holding separate hearings, investigative Judge Miguel Angel Torres ordered the immediate incarceration of Marbella Mayor Marisol Yagüe (being led to court in top photo), councilor Victoriano Rodríguez and urban planning aide Juan Antonio Roca. They will be held without bail until their trial. Hearings for other defendants will continue next week.

Authorities claim that Roca (on left with Yagüe), a shadowy figure in Spain´s southcoast, was the "brain" behind the conspiracy. Living lavishly in different homes across the country, Roca allegedly ran 120 ghost companies through a Madrid law office that sold and purchase property. He also decided who received building permit authorizations in this resort town of 250,000, investigators said. Police had him under surveillance for years, videotaping his business dealings and social affairs.

Yagüe, who was elected to office in 2004 promising to clean up corruption left over from the previous government, was arrested at her villa on Wednesday as she was recovering from plastic surgery. Her deputy mayor, Isabel García Marcos (left, in photo below with Yagüe, in middle holding staff), was arrested at a local airport when she arrived from a honeymoon trip to Russia.

In all, the 23 face charges of conspiracy, influence peddling, money laundering and receiving kickbacks and bribes.

Marbella has long been a magnet for the rich, attracted by sun and fun as well as intrigue. Royality and dubious characters have always mixed well here. But the people of Marbella appear to be growing tired of their town´s reputation as a font for illegal activities. Following the arrests, thousands of residents marched in the streets demanding an end to corruption.

ETA announces historical cease-fire

2006-03-22T14:58:00.000+01:00

The Basque terrorist group ETA announced on Wednesday a permanent cease-fire to its wave of bombing attacks throughout Spain. In a communique broadcast on Radio Euskadi and repeated in other Basque media outlets, ETA said it would incorporate itself into the democratic process to seek peaceful means for an independent homeland.

The cease-fire, which will take effect on Friday, puts an end to the violent struggle embarked four decades ago by one of Europe´s long standing terrorist organizations.

The Spanish government welcomed the announcement but urged caution, saying that it had to verify whether the offer was genuine. Speculation that ETA was ready to lay down its arms had been circulating for weeks. Even Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said that he was confident that the separatist group would renounce violence in the coming months.

Since the late 1960s, the group has terrorized Spanish society by waging a series of bombings that has taken the lives of more than 800 people in an effort to carve out an independent country in Spain´s Basque region and parts of southern France. The last fatal attack came in 2003 when a bomb killed two policemen. Since then, ETA had been staging small bomb attacks aimed at certain Basque businesses.

"The aim of (the cease-fire) is to promote a democratic process in the Basque country and to build a new framework in which our rights as a people will be recognized," the statement said. "ETA also calls on the Spanish and French authorities to respond positively to this new situation, leaving their repressive ways behind."

M-11: A warm day, a quiet remembrance

2006-03-14T14:05:00.000+01:00

Two years ago this past Saturday a chain of bombings at a Madrid train station ripped through the commotion of a bustling commuter morning killing 191 people, injuring more than 1,500 and shattering forever Spain´s social and political fabric. The bombs placed in knapsacks at four sites inside the Atocha station were reportedly planted by Moroccan extremists sympathatic to Al Qaeda´s cause and angry about Spain´s involvement in the Iraqi War.

The incident days later cost the ruling center-right Popular Party a reelection victory. The PP´s blunder: Placing the blame on Basque separatists and accusing ETA terrorists of reneging on their promise to renounce violence. The Socialist Party, which had campaigned on a platform of far-reaching social and political reforms and, more importantly, promised to bring Spanish troops home, was swept into office. Disgruntled by its loss, the PP embarked on an dirty war offensive even at one point accusing Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of taking advantage of the Atocha tragedy to win the 2001 election. Taken aback by their victory, the Socialists have now been obligated to introduce their series of controversial reforms that have divided some sectors of society and made the EU politicos in Brussels a bit nervous. These include introducing gay civil marriages, limiting the Catholic Church´s role in public education, giving carte blanche residency to some 600,000 illegal migrants, and proposing more powers to the country´s autonomous regions. These reforms have propelled a once conservative Spain to become one of the most progressive countries in Europe. As for M-11, the row over the incident is still being aired in the press. The PP-favored El Mundo has reported that judicial authorities allegedly manipulated their findings concerning the Al Qaeda connection while the biggest daily El País has published internal memorandums that purportedly demonstrate that officials in the previous government of José María Aznar were warned of a possible attack and did nothing about it.

It was an unusal warm pre-Spring morning during Saturday´s wreath laying ceremonies for the victims of M-11. The day was marked by a large group of Moroccan citizens who arrived in Madrid by bus caravan to pay homage to the victims and offer solidarity. Most of the 29 still jailed alleged co-conspirators are Moroccan nationals. As low keyed ceremonies continued throughout the day with a lone cellist playing a solemn piece at Retiro Park, the surrounding pink blossom trees served as testament that life is a perpetual cycle.

Blogger problems

2006-03-13T11:30:00.000+01:00

Because of the recent technical problems with the Blogger server, I haven´t been posting any new columns. I shall be posting shortly. Thanks for your interest.

Radio Exterior saved from budget ax

2006-02-28T11:41:00.000+01:00

While public broadcasters throughout Europe are facing cutbacks, it appears that Radio Exterior de España for now will continue operating under a proposed restructuring of Radiotelevision Española that was unveiled on Monday. During a news conference, officials in charge of implementing the controversial overhaul of the fledging public broadcasting network announced that cutbacks will be made, including the closure of Radio 4, which broadcasts in the the Catalan language.

The RTVE viability plan is an answer to demands by the EU in Brussels to curtail costs in Spain´s state run industries and the Socialist government´s order to push back more than €500 million in annual expenses, officials said. Last year, RTVE´s accumulated debt was estimated at €7.5 billion.

Although REE will continue to transmit its programs, its news service will no longer be produced separately for listeners overseas. All newscasts will be combined for Radio Nacional de España´s Radio 1, Radio 5 and REE.Radio 1 will continue operating as the flagship for the RNE network throughout the country.

It wasn´t clear whether REE will continue broadcasting in foreign languages. However, Radio 4, which has been broadcasting for the past 25 years in Catalan, will be shut down after officials determined that it cannot continue to underwrite the cost of maintaining the station for only 8,500 listeners in Catalonia. "It´s not doing us any good to spend so much money for such a small audience," said Enrique Martínez Robles, head of SEPI which oversees state run industries.

On the television side, restructuring in program content, news production, and advertising will take place in an effort to make the 50-year-old Television Española more competitive with the growing number of private stations. RTVE will cutail operations at its 16 stations across the nation, including Madrid. Its station in the Canary Islands will no longer produce regional programs but will continue to serve as a repeater. Regional newscasts will be reduced to 30 minutes Monday through Friday. Carmen Caffarel, president of the board that oversees RTVE, said "it doesn´t make sense" to compete with regional stations. Over the past few years, there has been a surge of private television stations in Spain´s autonomous regions and communities, such as TeleMadrid.

The viability plan has worried the nation´s unions, who have been working with the government to ensure that the least number of jobs are affected. It wasn´t immediately clear how many jobs will be cut or how much money the government plans to save with these new measures.

Remembering Spain´s failed complot

2006-02-24T14:55:00.000+01:00

Twenty-five years ago, Lt. Col. Antonio Tejero led a band of fellow Civil Guard officers inside the Chamber of Deputies in Madrid, pulled out a gun and pumped a round of shots into the air. Tejero announced that he was leading a golpe de estado or coup and urged deputies not to interfere or they would be shot.

The complot had been organized by a group of military men who were disgruntled with the way the six-year-old constitutional government was running the country. These right-wing officers were keepers of dictator Francisco Franco´s memory. Among the issues that put them on edge were the continuous terrorist attacks by the Basque separatist organization ETA, proposals to give greater autonomy to the Basque and Catalonia regions, and the legalization of the communist and other leftist parties.

Tejero and a group of his men stormed the Chamber at around 6:30 p.m. Feb. 23, 1981 as deputies were voting to elect Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as the new prime minister. While most of the deputies fell to the floor when a guardsman pumped a submachine gun into the air, acting Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez and Santiago Carrillo, leader of the Communist Party, didn´t budge. In Valencia, Gen. Jaime Milans del Bosch rose up, put tanks on the streets, and declared a state of emergency. But he failed to convince other generals to rebel.

Monitoring the situation, King Juan Carlos called in his closest advisors who assured him that the incident was an isolated one and had no popular support. Dressed in a military uniform, the king went on live television to order the armed forces to respect the constitutional order and assure Spaniards that democracy would prevail. Milans was arrested that evening and Tejero gave up the following day. Thousands of Spaniards took to the street in support of democracy and the king.

The only leader of the failed coup who still survives, Tejero, 73, now resides quietly in a beachfront apartment in his native Málaga. He was released from prison in 1993. To this day he declines interviews and shuns publicity. However last month, he wrote a letter to the Melilla Hoy newspaper warning that the current events in Spain -- especially the movements to grant more power to Spain´s autonomous regions -- are not dissimilar to what brought on the 1981 attempted coup in the first place.

Vatican Radio celebrates 75th

2006-02-13T12:02:00.000+01:00

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Vatican Radio´s anniversary on Sunday by reminding those who attended the papal audience in St. Peter´s Square that the international radio station has helped the message of the Gospel “reach all peoples more rapidly.”

It was 75 years ago when Pope Pius XI asked communications pioneer Guglielmo Marconi to build a radio station for Vatican State. Today, Vatican Radio broadcasts in 40 different languages on shortwave, satellite, local medium wave and FM to and in different countries around the world.

There is a complete history of the station, including excepts of news reports taken when Pope Pius XI made the first historical transmission, at Vatican Radio.

Bad press—a leaked e-mail, a newspaper story, a suicide

2006-02-10T14:33:00.000+01:00

What responsibility if any should a newspaper take when it reports on one man´s private correspondence to an elected-official that leads to his suicide? That is the journalism debacle that is being debated in San Antonio, Texas following a tragic incident that involved a resident, a city councilwoman, a powerful international contractor, and the Hearst-owned Express-News.

Earlier this month, a reporter with the newspaper put together a story after receiving a leaked private e-mail sent by George Dickerson to city councilwoman Elena Guajardo complaining about the noise at a nightclub called Graham Central Station near where he lived. “The entertainment Graham Central Station provides for their customers,” he wrote, “is of a lude (sic), lascivious, low class, debaucheristic, criminalistic, riot insistic, anarchist nature.”

Although the complaint could be seen as a valid one from a constituent to his city representative, Guajardo she called it racial and discriminatory because it appeared to pit the non-hispanic community against Mexican-American residents. She denied that she was ths source of the leak.

Dickerson used an office computer at the H.B. Zachry Construction Corp. to send his e-mail. But because this was allegedly the second such racially charged e-mail to a city representative to come out of Zachry´s computer server, the Express-News viewed the e-mail as public record and decided to publish it.

Dealing with the bad press and uproar in the community, Zachry fired Dickerson. Two days later, the 52-year-old man took his own life.

Speaking on behalf of the newspaper, columnist Bob Richter wrote on Sunday that there was no one to blame for the suicide but Dickerson himself. Another columnist Ken Rodriguez went to the nightclub and reported on Friday that there was some truth to Dickerson´s complaint. But he gave a startling revelation – some of the club´s patrons were off duty police officers who supported Dickerson´s claims by acknowledging that they recognized many customers who are former prison inmates and others who are wanted on various criminal complaints!

This sad, sorid story is not a first. Unfortunately, bad press coverage has led and will continue to lead to tragic incidents. These are news stories that are the products of outrage, poorly thought-out conclusions, and an editor´s rush to get the story out. As journalists, we have the obligation to report the truth but we cannot forget that we too are human beings and sensitivity over one man´s death should not be overlooked.

Putin in Madrid; Aznar dines with Bush

2006-02-09T15:12:00.000+01:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a two-day visit to Spain Thursday by calling for increased economic ties and broader cooperation in the fields of technology, space and transportation. Speaking in parliament, Putin said that Russian trade with other EU member countries is far greater than current economic transactions with Spain, which stands at US$3.7 billion. "Certainly, the quality and amount of our [economic] relations need to be improved," he said. "We have great capabilities, but we are not working at full [capacity]."

Terrorism issues and democratic guarantees in Russia were subjects that dominated Putin´s visit. Spain believes that Russia can act as an important mediator in the Middle East, especially following Hamas´ victory in the recent Palestinian elections. Putin has told reporters that he doesn´t view Hamas as a terrorism organization and believes the group will stand by its word in renouncing violence.

During a state dinner on Wednesday night, King Juan Carlos reminded the Russian leader that administering his country´s rich energy reserves carries "a great responsibility," and that terrorism could only be beaten by "the determination of a state bound by the rule of law, defense of rights and fundamental freedoms."

As Putin was courted in Madrid, the Bushes at the White House were wining and dining with former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and his wife Ana Botella. Aznar, who served from 1996-2004 under the conservative Popular Party, described the encounter as a "dinner between old friends." He declined to say what was discussed but a source told the daily El País that Aznar praised Bush for his tough stance with Venezuela´s government in Caracas.

No one to blame for Windsor building fire

2006-02-03T16:24:00.000+01:00

After months of speculation and suspicion about the fire that destroyed a 32-floor office building in one of the city’s busiest financial districts, an investigative judge has decided that no one will be blamed for crimes in connection with the so-called Windsor building caper.

One of Madrid’s premiere skyscrapers, the Windsor caught on fire the Saturday evening of Feb. 12. Images of the edifice engulfed in bright orange flames and the firefighters who tried to put out the blaze were broadcast live on Spanish television throughout the early morning hours. They eventually made newscasts around the world. It was widely compared to the fires in the World Trade Center skyscrapers on 9/11/01.

Luckily, no one was injured in the fire because all of the offices were closed. But arson suspicions were fueled when a resident in a nearby condominium complex shot a video that purportedly showed silhouettes of two persons inside the building against a backdrop of flames. The footage was repeatedly played on international television, including CNN.

In its own private inquiry, Asón Properties, the building´s owner, concluded that an employee of the U.S. accounting firm Deloitte & Touche acknowledged leaving a cigarette burning before she left the office. Asón’s investigation also stated two security guards on duty that night failed to take immediate steps that would have otherwise saved the building in the Nuevo Ministerios sector.

But nearly a year later, Instructional Judge Mariano Ascandoni dismissed the criminal investigation ruling that “there are no indications” that the fire “was intentional.” In his written opinion released on Tuesday, Ascandoni considered it “irrelevant” on whether shadowy figures could be seen in the grainy amateur video. He also added that it was difficult to prove that the fire was caused by a cigarette but gave no explanation for its causes except to say it started on the 21st floor. Security personnel and firefighters acted accordingly and should not be held accountable for negligence, Ascandoni concluded. Nevertheless, the judge left the civil route open so that office renters could file lawsuits to see who should be held financially responsible for the losses, which by some accounts are expected to ascend to more than US$55 million.

(Photo above courtesy of www.skyscraperpage.com)

Review – WRTH 60th: ‘The one to buy’

2006-02-02T12:32:00.000+01:00

The 2006 edition of the World Radio TV Handbook is out, and we cannot agree more with reviewers in other forums that this is probably one of the best ever. The WRTH is celebrating 60 years of bringing shortwave listeners ample and concise information on world broadcasting. But what makes this 704-page edition of the “DXers’ bible” special are the feature articles and extensive frequency lists section.

As has been the traditional format since last decade, the first section is dedicated to articles, maps and advertisements on 96- magazine slick-style pages. The features begin with a brief history of the WRTH and how the annual started out as a frequency list in a Danish newspaper. Then, veteran SWL, author and lawyer Jerry Berg gives us a nice trip down his own memory lane as he relates “50 years of DXing.” His article is nicely illustrated with QSLs from “the good old days” of shortwave listening. Antique radio collectors will love the “60 years of reception” feature as six top receivers, one for each decade beginning in the 1940s and ending in the 1990s, are profiled. Although the WRTH editors admit that many will “violently disagree” with their choices, this is a poignant survey of why these selected rigs were special in their day.

But for those who are more anxious to find out what the future might bring instead of dwelling in the past, WRTH editors questioned four international broadcasting professionals who give their opinions on where they believe radio is headed. The experts dish out their predications concerning shortwave broadcasting and digital technology. The content, style, and information in this features and review section remind us when the WRTH would close its 1970 and 1980 editions with the sorely missed “How to Listen to the World” section. We hope the WRTH will continue to generate more features – maybe even station profiles – in future annuals.

The broadcasting directory continues to be top quality and concise. However, one minor complaint could be lodged against how listings of the domestic radio frequencies in the United States are presented and why the editors selected those cities to make up their list. There are 20 cities under the United States section but not all represent the top 10 cities in U.S. population. The television listings in some countries are also incomplete, for example, Spain and Puerto Rico. We can only guess what omissions have been made in other countries.

However, we are pleased to see that after many years of oversight, the WRTH is expanding its shortwave broadcasting listings by time and frequency in the Spanish, French, Portuguese and German languages. A short list – because at the moment it is limited – of DRM broadcasts is also a welcome.

I have bought the WRTH about once every two or three years since 1977 (the last edition I owned was the 2004), and since then it has been my premiere listening reference. If you have never before owned a WRTH, then this is one to buy.

Radio Tirana is back on shortwave

2006-01-28T20:53:00.000+01:00

Weeks after abruptly suspending its foreign broadcasts, Radio Tirana has returned to the international shortwave bands. The station from the capital of Albania was heard Friday Jan. 27 on 7,110 at 2230 UTC in English for North America and Europe. Reception here in Spain was SIO444.

No official reason has been given why Radio Tirana was off the air, but Andy Sennet at Media Network blog wondered if Albania’s frequent power shortages had something to do with the suspension of broadcasts. During its off-air period, the station could still be heard via Internet Podcast. In any case, it’s good news that Radio Tirana is back transmitting fascinating Albanian music as well news about the emerging Balkan states. By the way, Radio Tirana has a tongue-and-cheek fan club.

While stations in the some former Soviet republics, such as Radio Tashkent, are resorting to Podcasting instead of shortwave for economic reasons, Radio Bulgaria wants DXers to contact them.
Listeners can now download a reception report form from the Bulgarian radio station at its website.
Filling out a form is a lot quicker than writing a full letter and coming up with your own reporting format. During the Cold War years, the station, when it was called Radio Sofia, was a favorite for many DXers offering prizes for contests, booklets, calendars and stickers (like the one above). It also sent out dozens of reception report forms to listeners who wanted to compete for a series of QSL cards and obtain a gold listeners’ certificate. Radio Bulgaria is one of the few European stations that still have a DX program. Those who cannot tune in every weekend can still read a transcript from the Radio Bulgaria webpage.

VOA announced that it will carry President Bush’s State of the Union Address live at 0200 UTC Feb. 2 on all its frequencies in use to Africa and Asia at that time, plus an additional frequency of 7,285 kHz to the Middle East. The president’s address will also be carried live at VOA.

Stations heard daily with good reception under usual noisy Madrid circumstances and monitored with a Realistic DX-440 and Sony ANLP-1 antenna:

·Radio Jordan, 11,690 kHz 1525 UTC Jan. 28 Music dedication program with popular contemporary Arabic and American music, including “Love was made for Me and You” by Al Jarreau and “My Everything” by Barry White hosted by female followed by news at 1600 UTC. Parallel broadcast of domestic 96.3 FM in Amman SIO434

·Voice of Croatia, (transmitter in Germany), 7,285 kHz *2315-2330* UTC Jan. 27 Fast paced newscast (much like in the U.S.) with reports about Croatia and the Balkans followed by sports and weather. A Spanish broadcast followed at 2330UTC. SIO544

·Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 7,320 kHz *1930 UTC Jan. 26 Readings from the Qur´an followed by news and commentary with suggestions that Iran would use short range missiles to defend the country from U.S. backed rebels in the southern provinces. SIO444

El País to enter U.S. radio market

2006-01-27T11:52:00.000+01:00

El País, Spain´s leading daily, announced that its parent company Grupo PRISA has acquired the rights to programming on XETRA-AM, which broadcasts in Spanish to listeners in southern California. The Federal Communications Commission has approved Grupo PRISA´s petition to take over the station´s programming, which had been under control since 1980 by Clear Channel Communications through its affiliate Citicasters.

Grupo PRISA paid $28 million or €22.8 million for the programming rights, according to El País and XETRA´s website. "This operation represents for Grupo PRISA, publisher of El País, a major step in its proposal to develop a radio network with a presence in the U.S. hispanic market," the newspaper reported Friday.

XETRA, which broadcasts on 690 kHz, is located in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico but serves Spanish-speaking listeners in San Diego, Calif. Last year, the FCC determined that broadcast stations that operated in Mexico´s border front and transmitted programming to the United States are to be considered part of the U.S. market. Under the rules, no U.S. company or its affiliate can control more than eight stations in the same market and no more than five broadcasting on either the AM or FM band. At the beginning of 2005, Clear Channel controlled eight stations in the United States and five in Mexico that were serving the San Diego/Tijuana market.

Reporter in hot water for calling Spain´s military mothers ´prostitutes´

2006-01-26T14:25:00.000+01:00

Spanish Defense Minister José Bono asked for the prosecution of a journalist for allegedly suggesting that mothers of enlisted service men practice prostitution. Bono told members of the Army Ground Forces Superior Council during a private meeting that "as a citizen and defense minister" he filed the complaint with an investigative judge against reporter Iu Forn for penning the alleged calumnious column in the Catalonia daily Avui.

In an answer to a military officer´s threat that the Army may have to intervene if Catalonia is given greater autonomy, Forn wrote a Jan. 12 column entitled "A guide for a good coup plotter" in which he dished out tips for would-be rebels who want to invade the region.

"Remember that the civil ordinance in Barcelona on its face prohibits the practice of prostitution. Therefore, it´s better that you [the military] come without your mothers," Forn wrote.

Although Forn later apologize for the remarks, Bono said it wasn´t enough. The defense minister explained that the columnist may have violated the Spanish Penal Code which protects the military from "injurious attacks." If convicted, Forn could face between one year and 18 months in prison.

UPDATE JAN 28 -- The Spanish judge investigating Bono´s charges dismissed the complaint ruling that the column was "irony" and "satirical," and wasn´t meant to insult the military as an institution because it was address to those who want to break the law in the first place.

Report: Spanish troops were not authorized to use force in Iraq

2006-01-24T13:07:00.000+01:00

Spanish troops dispatched to Iraq from August 2003 to May 2004 were ordered to "avoid or minimize collateral damage" and required to obtain authorization from the Defense Ministry to use letal force, documents obtained by El País reflect. The contextual nature of an internal memorandum published Tuesday by the newspaper shows that the previous conservative government of José María Aznar limited Spain´s role in Iraq and didn´t give full cooperation to the coalition led by the United States and Great Britain as he otherwise portrayed.

Aznar´s party the Partido Popular continually criticizes the current Socialist government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for withdrawing the troops, which was one of the prime minister´s 2004 campaign promises. The pull out also strained relations between Bush and Zapatero.

In his recently published memoir, former U.S. Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer criticized Spain for what he considered the country´s "passive" approach in the war against Iraqi insurgents. "It's unworthy. They're sitting on their tanks....without doing anything. This is what I call the 'Coalition of the Absolutely Unwilling,'" Bremer wrote.

The published memo supports Bremer´s observation but explains what the rules the Spanish troops had to follow. It stated that "the use of force, when authorized, will always be governed by the principle of the minimum... including that of lethal force..."

Television Española´s (TVE) distorted, misleading portrayal of Puerto Rico in documentary

2006-01-21T16:21:00.000+01:00

With much interest, I tuned to Television Española´s documentary on Puerto Rico which was broadcast here Friday night on TVE Channel 2 network. While I was impressed with the video footage and the quality of the interviews, I was really disappointed how TVE tried tried to portray Puerto Rico and its relationship with the United States.

Entitled "Puerto Rico and the United States -- A marriage of convenience," it contained interviews with educators, students, historians and political leaders from the three political factions in the island -- the statehood, commonwealth and independence parties. The reporter began by detailing how Puerto Ricans during the 1950s and 1960s embarked on a mass migration to New York concentrating in the Bronx. However, the reporter blamed the tidal wave of migrants on U.S. big business that came to the island to repatriate capital and offer few jobs. The fact is that Operation Bootstrap in the 1950s created thousands of jobs that were not available in this once agriculturally dependent island. It was indeed a soaring high cost of living and outside competition from manufacturers in foreign countries that led to some industry closures, which resulted in unemployment.

She theorized that the U.S. government for decades overlooked Puerto Rico since it won possession of the island in the Spanish American War in 1898. But she failed to make note that Spain overlooked her colony, as well as Cuba, during the 19th century, which led to the war in the first place.

Trying to prove that banking industry was dominated by U.S. financial institutions, the documentary showed footage of the main branches of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico and Western Bank -- both locally owned and operated! She didn´t mention how Banco Santander de Puerto Rico and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argenta (BBVA), the two most powerful financial institutions in Spain, have moved in and gained a strong foothold in the market.

Finally, after claiming that the United States has been unfair to Puerto Ricans by not giving them the right to vote in presidential elections but sending soldiers to fight in Iraq, the reporter concluded at the end that Puerto Ricans obviously don´t have any complaints about their "marriage of convenience" because they voted to keep the status quo in three referendums that took place in the 1990s.

As reporters, we usually embark on a journalistic endeavor with our minds made up, believing we are going to uncover what we suspected. But often times we are proven wrong in the middle of our inquiry. The difference between a good and mediocre reporter is measured on one side by those who show all sides of a controversy and on the other by those who insist on compling just enough information to support a predetermined hypothesis.

More military grumblings

2006-01-19T13:06:00.000+01:00

A second Spanish military officer is under arrest after he published an open letter in a Melilla newspaper explaining his dissatisfaction with the current Socialist government of José Luis Zapatero Rodríguez. This latest event gives credence to what many observers believe is growing discontentment among the armed forces.

Last week, the commander of the Spanish ground forces Lt. Gen. José Mena Aguado was fired following his arrest for giving a Jan. 6 speech in which he
warned that the military might have to step in if the Catalonia region is given more autonomy that could lead to the break-up of the nation. Mena´s comments produced a wave of concern among business leaders and right-wing politicians who blame Zapatero for antagonizing the armed forces with his drive to give greater autonomy to the Catalonia, Basque and Valencia regions.

In this latest episode, Capt. Roberto González Calderón of the Spanish Legion accused politicians in his letter of "sacrificing their duties to the nation and fatherland to fatten their longings for power." He said that he and other legionaires wanted to deliver the letter personally to Zapatero but opted to publish it in a newspaper in the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla where they serve.

The government ordered both officers arrested because Spanish law prohibits military personnel from issuing public comments.

Zapatero has downplayed notions that some military factions are on the verge of rebellion, and said his advisors have assured him that armed forces are not uneased over the autonomy issues. But González disputed that in his letter.

"Well, Mr Prime Minister, your advisers have not told you the truth," he said. "There is a lot of unease, within and outside the armed forces, which see how Spain is being dismembered, how the national flag is burned in public, how terrorists are allowed to hold demonstrations and social events, and how a generation of Spaniards no longer recognize Spain as their fatherland."

On Wednesday, Defense Minister José Bono reminded the armed forces that they owed loyality to the elected governments and not to the "Spain of the Catholic Monarchs" who in the 16th Century unified the country.