ISSUE 35Santa Cruz de TenerifeSaturday 28 April 2012

www.diariodeavisos.com/thesupplement

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity” Dorothy Parker

IRANIAN IMMIGRANTNETWORK BROKEN UP

wA joint UK-Spain police operation has led tothe break-up of a highly-organised networkthat smuggled illegal immigrants from Iraninto Britain via the Canaries. The activities ofthe network were discovered by chance a fewmonths ago after alert officers at Tenerife

South airport spotted that an Iranian whowas about to fly to England was using a fakeFrench passport. Investigations subsequentlyrevealed that a major gang operating fromhere was arranging for Iranians to be broughtto the Canaries through Turkey and Greece.

For a fee of 20,000 euros, the immigrantswere provided with top-class replicas of pass-ports and ID cards from a range of EU coun-tries, as well as coaching in how to behave onarrival in a UK airport. 22 people have beenarrested so far, 13 of them in Tenerife.

Tenerife used as departure point for fake ID flights to UK

TENERIFE NORTH

wA dangerous road bend out-side Icod de Los Vinos has clai-med the life of a woman driverin a horrific accident. The 50-year-old died almost instantlywhen her car was involved inan early morning head-oncollision with a lorry. The acci-dent, at 7.30 am on Tuesday,caused major congestion onthe busy road near the turn-offfor the San Marcos beach asfiremen and paramedics wor-ked frantically to free the vic-tim from the mangled wrec-kage of her vehicle.

Notoriousaccidentstretch claimsroad victim

LA LAGUNA

wExperts in fire prevention inold buildings have gathered inLa Laguna this week for a con-ference. Representatives fromcities including Liverpool, Ber-gen, Warsaw and Riga joinedtheir Spanish counterpartsfrom Cuenca and La Lagunafor the event to discuss proce-dures for avoiding and dealingwith fires in the historic cen-tres of Unesco World HeritageCities. The conference wasfinanced partly by the EU’sRegional Development Fund.

Heritage citiesmeet for firesafetyconference

WATER

wA second person is likely to face char-ges over the leaking of diesel into watersupplies last week. The 41-year-oldman failed to report the spill to theauthorities. Thousands of homes innorth Tenerife had their supply discon-nected due to the contamination.

Second chargelikely over waterdiesel

FIESTAS

w The first big Romería ofthe year takes place inTegueste this Sunday withtens of thousands of peoplein traditional dress expec-ted to flock to the town for

the day, which commemo-rates the feast of St Mark.The popular rural ‘pilgri-mage’ attracts dozens offloats and carts drawn byoxen and other animals.

TEGUESTE SETTO WELCOMEROMERIA CROWDS

The illegal immigrant network provided Iranians with high-quality forgeries of EU passports to enter Britain. / DA

The Tegueste Romería is one of the biggest anywhere on the island. / DA

NEWBORN BOTTLENOSEDOLPHIN SETTLING IN WELLDiario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Just a few months after themuch-publicised arrival of a newdolphin in the Loro Parque inPuerto de La Cruz, south Tene-rife is celebrating the birth of itsown baby bottlenose dolphin.

The happy event occurred inthe Aqualand Park in Costa Adejeearlier this month and the newarrival, which has been given thename Calima, is getting used tolife in the park’s big dolphina-rium at the side of its mother, 40-year-old Cande. Contrary to spe-culation that the name was cho-sen as a reflection of the dustcloud that often hangs over thearea, Calima is in fact an amal-gam of the names of three of thedolphin trainers (Carla, Lidiaand Marina).

The calf, whose arrival hasbeen included this week in theCetaBase worldwide database ofwhale and dolphin births, willspend up to four years close to itsmother before becoming fullyindependent as an additionalmember of the 11-strong dolphincommunity in Aqualand’s 6million litre pool.

The park’s daily afternoonshow is highly popular with tou-rists, particularly those from Bri-tain, where dolphins are no lon-ger kept in captivity. At one time,Britain was home to more than36 dolphinariums and travellingdolphin shows, some of whichallowed visitors to enter the dol-phin tanks and pools. However,animal rights groups won their

fight when, in 1990, Parliamentpassed laws banning dolphincaptivity, after which dolphinswere returned to the wild. Thelegislation effectively ended anycontrolled swimming-with-dol-phins programmes in the UnitedKingdom.

Aqualand is earning itself areputation as a prolific breedingcentre for dolphins. Since its ope-

ning back in 1996, the dolphina-rium has welcomed no fewerthan 15 babies into the world,several of which have been trans-ferred to other centres. Like itsmore illustrious island neigh-bour, the Loro Parque, the faci-lity is recognised by the Euro-pean Association for AquaticMammals (EAAM), which heldits annual symposium in Madrid

last month.The trainers involved in the

daily show say the dolphinsreally enjoy being out throughtheir paces. ‘It is like a game tothem and they have so much funthat one way of punishing themif they misbehave is to leavethem out of the next show’ saidAqualand’s technical directorJosé Luis Barbero.

The new dolphin picture with its mother a few days after the birth at Aqualand. / DA

DA Santa Cruz de Tenerife

A woman employee of a travelagency in La Orotava has beenarrested and charged withfraud after using the creditcard details of a former clientto obtain money.

The ruse came to light whenthe ex-client was surprised tosee air tickets he had notbought charged to his creditcard account. Consultationswith the airline helped identifythe passenger who had trave-lled on the tickets, who turnedout to be a current client of thetravel agency who had paid forthe tickets in cash.

However, instead of loggingthe sale as a cash purchase, theemployee processed the pay-ment to the airline using theinnocent victim’s credit cardand pocketed the money her-self. Police say the transactionwas not the only one of its typeby the 39-year-old woman.

The incident further tarnis-hes the image of the sector inTenerife, following the cases ofagents who took money fromSouth American clients but fai-led to book their Xmas flights.

Travel agentemployeearrested incard scam

DA Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The newspaper shops in SantaCruz’s ultra-modern moderntransport interchange arecaught up in a pass-the-bucksituation over who shouldcompensate them for the los-ses suffered during the recenttwo-month closure caused bya roof collapse. As reportedhere, the main concourse areahad to be shut for the clean-upand subsequent investigationafter the late-night collapse inDecember.

The two shops and the popu-lar cafeteria say their trade wasbadly affected by the closureand business has still not retur-ned to former levels, due tofears of a repeat collapse. ‘Wehave been told by the TITSAbus company that runs the ter-minal that compensation is amatter for the owners of thebuilding, the Canarian govern-ment. However, the govern-ment says our own insurancecompanies are responsible forrefunding our losses’ said thepuzzled traders this week.

Interchangebusinessesin limboover losses

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Civil servants in the Canarieshave threatened to take bizarreaction in response to the latestausterity measure affecting theirworking conditions. The Cana-rian government’s decision to cutthe wages of tens of thousands ofpublic officials, from teachers tohealth service workers, by 5%has not gone down well with theemployees, whose salaries weretrimmed by the same figure inMay 2010, although in this caseon the orders of the nationalgovernment in Madrid.

Reacting to the news, civil ser-vant forums and blogs have pro-posed novel ways for staff to dis-play their displeasure at the cuts.One of the most popular propo-

sals is for all staff in governmentoffices to stop their work at noonevery day and switch off officelights and equipment, refuse toanswer phone calls, and remainabsolutely silent for five minutes,even if they are dealing withsomebody at the time.

One forum poster said thelatest wage cut is a direct resultof the civil servants’ failure tomobilise last time to voice theirdisapproval. ‘We stayed silentthen but this time we could useour silence in a different way’suggested the contributor.

Meetings are already beingheld to map out a plan to combatthe measure and a formaldemonstration is not ruled outfor early May, say the public ser-vice unions, which have calledthe pay-cut ‘totally unjustified’.

Civil servants toimpose silence inprotest at wage cut

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Carnival is barely over but thecity authorities are already offthe mark to prepare for nextyear’s event, beginning with thejob of choosing a theme. Unlikeprevious years, when the Carni-val theme was a matter purelyfor the organisers, this time ithas been decided to give thepublic a big say in the form ofan Internet vote.

The Carnival’s official web-site (www.carnavaltenerife.es)and Facebook page have thisweek invited the public to sub-mit ideas for the 2013 themeand once a suitable short-listhas been drawn up, people willthen be encouraged to cast theirvotes in an Internet poll for the

definitive choice. City mayor José Manuel Ber-

múdez announced the news onMonday and said he felt theinitiative would make for a‘more participatory decision-making process’. Early sugges-tions put forward on a numberof social networking sitesinclude The Crisis, to reflect theimpact of the current economicdownturn. However, it is feltthat the topic will come in forextensive treatment by the sati-rical ‘murga’ singing groups inany event and devoting theentire Carnival to the subject isunnecessary and unoriginal.

The dates for the 2013 Carni-val have been set for 8-17February, with the CarnivalQueen Gala due to take place onWednesday 6 February.

Public invited tochoose Carnivaltheme for 2013

2 Saturday28 April 2012The Supplement

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

Tenerife fans showed they areloyal to the bitter end despite thecurrent discontent with the team,as was made particularly evidentat the last home game againstLugo. The away fixture at AtléticoMadrid B last Sunday saw a groupof diehard fans from the ArmadaSur supporters club make thelong trip to the Spanish capital toaccompany their (still) heroes.

The highly active supportersclub is formed mainly by ex-patsliving in the south of the islandand often goes to great lengths to

show its backing, including by tra-velling to away matches. To get toMadrid, the fans had to catch a7am flight and then grab a taxi allthe way to Atlético’s Majada-honda training complex, wherethey arrived with minutes tospare for the noon kick-off.

Although the game ended in a1-0 defeat after another very poordisplay from the Tenerife players,the Armada Sur members madethe best of their day-trip and paida visit to Real Madrid’s world-famous Bernabéu stadium.Armada stalwart Chris Todd pos-ted full details of the adventureon the Tenerife Forum’s dedica-

ted section for CD Tenerife news.‘We had half an idea to go andwatch Atlético Madrid vs Espan-yol at 6pm but decided against itbecause our return flight was at9pm and we would have neededto leave the game early. In anycase, the tickets were expensive at50 . Instead, we went to the Ber-nabéu for the famous tour. At 16it was worth the money. I havebeen many times but the rest ofthe lads had not. As a football fanit is interesting to see such a greatstadium, the history and sit in thedug outs etc. It was strange to bein the changing room just daysbefore Bayern Munich were due

to be there. One of our group wasthinking about hiding in the toiletuntil Wednesday night!’, explai-ned Chris.

The fans admit that it is not easyfollowing Tenerife at present (‘butwe have to keep the faith’) andthey are still crossing their fingersthey will have another away trip,which hopefully will be a play-offfinal in May or June. For that tohappen, tomorrow’s game athome to Oviedo is absolutely cru-cial. Oviedo made up valuableground on Tenerife last week bybeating leaders Castilla and thematch will go a long way to deci-ding who makes the play-offs.

Fans proudly flew the Armada Sur flag at the Real Madrid stadium. / DA

team in the ACB league, in whichIberostar Canarias will play nextseason. ‘It is too early to say at themoment, but it would be won-derful to have that label attachedto us’ said the chairman.

His counterpart at IberostarCanarias, Félix Hernández, whohas had a very busy week withinstitutional receptions for hisall-conquering team, is also verykeen to keep the arrangement,based on the old adage if it ain’tbroke, don’t fix it. ‘There is everyreason not just to carry on but tostrengthen the ties between thetwo clubs’ said Hernández.

San Isidro played in the EBAdivision for over a decade untiltheir surprise relegation last sea-son, so the return restores theclub to its customary level. Thecurrent plans are to retain 7-8players currentl on the books,particularly Romén Hernándezand Sergio Rodríguez, who haveboth played several times for Ibe-rostar Canarias, and Pape Seck,who has trained regularly withthe seniors.

Promoted San Isidro hopefor continued Canarias link

Diario de AvisosSanta Cruz de Tenerife

The success of Iberostar Canariasappears to have rubbed off on itsaffiliated junior club. San Isidrofrom La Orotava, who are vir-tually a nursery side for the LEBleague and cup winners, suppl-ying several young players fortraining sessions and even formatches, are celebrating theirown promotion success thisweek after winning the regional1st Division championship.

San Isidro have earned theright to play in the national EBAleague next season and arehoping the link with IberostarCanarias is renewed for anotherseason. ‘The agreement ismutually beneficial and will cer-tainly be useful in keeping ourcosts down in the EBA’ said chair-

man Sixto Trujillo, whose teamsurprised their opponents bycoasting through the regionalplay-offs, including the final,despite only finishing third in the

league. Another reason forhoping the link is retained is thatTrujillo would consider it a greathonour to be able to formally callSan Isidro a reserve side of a

San Isidro hope their link with Iberostar Canarias continues. / DA

Loyal fans in Madrid trek

FOOTBALL

wThe conflict betwen footballclubs and radio stations thathas pevented reporters fromproviding live commentaryinside stadiums has been resol-ved for the moment. Followinga goverment order instructingthe clubs to allow reportingunder freedom of informationlaws, the football leagueannounced this week thatreporters are to be allowedback on payment of a ticket.

Radio reportersallowed back in tofootball grounds

FORMULA 1

wSpanish Formula 1 driver Fer-nano Alonso says he is veryhappy to be just 10 pointsbehind championship leaderSebastian Vettel as the racecalendar moves to Europe. TheSpaniard has finished first,fifth, seventh and ninth in theopening four races and expectsFerrari to make significantimprovements ahead of theupcoming races to make his carmore competitive.

Alonso happy atunexpected positionbefore Europe round

BASKETBALL

wSpeculation is rising that oilgiant Repsol could be a sur-prise main sponsor of the Ibe-rostar Canarias basketball sidein its return to the ACB league.The Spanish firm is rumouredto be considering a major dealwhich would see the LaLaguna team change itscolours to orange and black.The club needs to raise around7-8 million euros to be able totake up its place in the ACB.

Oil companysponsorship forCanarias?

FOOTBALL

wBarcelona were knocked outof the Champions’ League inmid-week after an extraordi-nary semi-final return legagainst Chelsea. The Spa-niards besieged the Chelseagoal for the entire game, sco-ring twice, but were caught onthe break on two occasions inthe 2-2 draw, which saw themeliminated 2-3 on aggregate.

Barcelona miss outon ChampionsLeague Final

BASKETBALL

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SPORT

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