Links between Venezuela government and ETA denied

Chávez denies any links between his government and ETA and FARC

The president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, has once again denied a decree issued by a Spanish judge linking his government to ETA and FARC (the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Columbia).

When asked by the press about links between his government and ETA he said he would not answer the question because it was ‘so stupid’ and that ‘even those who accused him did not believe it’. He said that members of ETA who had gone to live in Venezuela in 1989 had not taken part in any terrorist activity.

Chávez said that the case opened by the Spanish judge, Eloy Velasco, in which there were signs of cooperation between the Venezuelan government and ETA and FARC is ‘madness’ because ‘there is not one single shred of evidence to sustain the accusation’.

Chávez also said that Velasco should question the president of Spain at that time, Felipe González on why he made the agreement with Carlos Andrés Pérez, the president of Venezuela during that period in which Venezuela accepted a group of people belonging to ETA and who were now Venezuelan citizens married with children and in some cases grandchildren.

In reference to the eleven members of ETA who arrived in Venezuela in 1989 he said that he was ‘sure that they are not participating in any terrorist activity’. However, Chávez added that ‘if the contrary was shown to be true with irrefutable evidence then the situation would change’.

On 1st March this year Velasco opened a case on various presumed members of ETA and FARC accusing them of collaborating in assassination attempts on high ranking Columbian officials living in Spain.

According to Spanish judicial sources Velasco has issued international warrants for the arrests of amongst others Arturo Cubillas Fontan, one of the presumed members of ETA who arrived in Venezuela in 1989.

Since the decree issued by Velasco has been made public Chávez and other members of his government have denounced on more than one occasion what they believe to be a campaign by the Spanish rightwing against them.

The president of Venezuela said that he did not want to damage relations between his country and Spain but stressed that he did not understand how the president of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, could jeopardise Spain’s relationship with Venezuela by defending the ex president of Spain, José María Aznar. He said that this was ‘automatic solidarity which was a bad thing’.

He also repeated what he had said last week that if relations between the two countries suffered then ‘Spain would have a lot more to lose’. Chávez also accused Aznar of knowing about the coup against his government in 2002 and said that he was a ‘gangster’.

Nevertheless, Chávez said that relations with Madrid would not suffer too badly because however much he is attacked by the press or the Spanish rightwing it would be very different if this disrespect came from Zapatero’s government because this could seriously damage investments that Venezuelan companies had in Spain especially those related to petrol and gas.

Finally, Chávez revealed that he had met Raúl Reyes the now deceased director of FARC in 2000 as requested by the president of Columbia at that time but that this meeting was held in secret and kept private.

Spanish author Miguel Delibes dies

Miguel Delibes dies at the age of 89

It has been announced that the writer and academic Miguel Delibes died at home in Valladolid at 7am today surrounded by close family members.

The health of Delibes, who was 89 years old, had worsened drastically over the last few hours and he had been unconscious since yesterday. Last night the king called the home of Delibes to find out how he was.

One of his children Juan who was in Panama when he found out the news about his fathers state of health is now on his way back to Valladolid.

Since yesterday it was known that the writers worsening state of health was irreversible. He suffered from colon cancer in 1989 shortly after publishing his last novel ‘El Heraje’. The town hall of Valladolid has contacted the Delibes family to offer its condolences and assistance.

It is possible that the body of Miguel Delibes will be taken to the town hall of his home town where he developed his intellectual life and career as a writer and academic. He was professor of mercantile law, a journalist and novelist.

Delibes was awarded the most prestigious awards in the world of Hispanic writing and was one of the most popular Spanish authors whose work was adapted for film and theatre. He was also one of the first people to highlight the dangerous consequences of human agression against nature.

Release of Spanish hostage in Mauritania expected

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs expects imminent release of Alicia Gámez

According to the Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Alicia Gámez a volunteer worker for a NGO from Catalonia kidnapped on 29th November last year in Mauritania together with Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta is expected to be released immediately.

Another woman, Philomene Kabourée, who was also kidnapped by terrorists and held captive in the north of Mali, is also expected to be released although her Italian husband will continue to be held hostage along with Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta.

It is not known yet whether the two hostages will be taken to Bamako, the capital of Mali in the next few hours or will be fly to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso where negotiations have taken place for their release.

Pollen count in Spain expected to rise this Spring

Very high pollen counts predicted for Spring in Spain

Experts are predicting an intense spring for people allergic to pollen given that airborne pollen will be double the amount recorded in 2009 due to abundant rainfall earlier this year.

Javier Subiza, a leading expert in the area of immunology, said that the concentration of pollen in the air in April, May, June and July would be 5,100 grains per cubic metre compared to 2,800 in 2009.

Subiza said that the amount of rainfall in September, October and November was much less than that recorded in previous years but that the rainfall in January and February this year had doubled the predictions for the amount of pollen in the air compared to last year.

Doctor Tomás Chivato, the head of the allergy service for a Madrid hospital (Hospital Central de la Defensa) said that the people who would be most affected were those residing in the driest part of Spain such as Madrid, Castilla La Mancha, Extremadura and northern Andalucia.

He recommended that people with pollen allergies take preventative measures such as visiting their GPs before suffering symptoms. Chivato also advised that people affected by high pollen counts should not stay long in parks, gardens or areas with abundant vegetation, especially grass.

He explained that pollen was a problem during the daytime and that the pollen count would go down during the night. The worst period would be between 5am and 10am. He said the best thing for pollen suffers to do would be to close windows and keep rooms in semi-darkness for most of the day and lastly be aware that hot, dry days have higher pollen counts especially if they come after rainfall.

Social network usage in Spain

7 out of every 10 Spaniards use online social networks

According to the results of a survey published last week by the Association for Research into the Means of Communication (AIMC) around 71.3% of the Spanish population are registered with an online social network, an increase of 20.5% compared to last year.

Facebook is the most popular social network in Spain - 61.7% of Spaniards registered with a social network are registered with Facebook - followed by Tuenti with 20.8%.

Almost half of those interviewed (43.5%) use social networks on the internet on a daily basis with another 50% connecting at least once a week. The motive for most online social network users is friendship (80%) followed by hobbies (27%).

Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger is the clear leader for those who want to connect and send instant messages (53.3%) followed by Skype with 7.8% - a rise of 2.5% in one year.
However the use of the programme Internet Explorer by Microsoft has fallen for the second consecutive year - 51.4% of internet users use this programme according to the survey. This is a fall of 20% in two years while Firefox by Mozilla accounts for 37.6% of users. Chrome by Google accounts for 7% of users.

After computers and laptops mobile telephones are the third most popular gadget used by Spaniards to connect to the internet (32.7%). For those people who use their mobiles to connect to the internet surfing the Internet and emailing are the most popular activities. Around 12% use their mobile telephones to watch videos like those on YouTube, 6% put photos on the internet and 1.5% upload videos onto the internet.

Excess advertising on the Internet is not longer regarded as the biggest obstacle for internet users. The survey found that the speed of internet connection is now the most important issue for Internet users followed by the cost of connection.

The survey by AIMC was carried out between October and November last year and 36,000 valid replies were used to compile the results. More information on the results of the survey can be seen here.