News
Iglesias loses
DNA shows “stolen
baby” wasn’t stolen
The first person to be recognised
legally as one of Spain’s “stolen babies”
has discovered that she was, in fact,
illegally adopted. The courtroom
victory by Madrid-born Inés Madrigal
almost ten years ago prompted action
amongst many others who suspected
they had been abducted at birth.
Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias lost a long-running
paternity case last month when a
Valencia court ruled that a 43-year-old
Portuguese man is the 75-year-old’s
biological son. The man’s mother, who
had an affair with Iglesias in 1975, has
been trying to prove the case for years
and a won a hearing in 1992 which was
subsequently overturned. Iglesias’ lawyer
said the singer was likely to appeal the
new ruling.
NASA bound
A 16-year-old from Girona is one of
eight Spanish youngsters who will spend
eight days this month at NASA’s Space
Camp in Alabama. Miquel Belda faced
competition from over 700 aspiring
astronauts who applied for places in the
event promoted by the US Embassy in
Madrid to mark the 50th anniversary of
the first man on the moon. To be
eligible, Miquel had to provide a video
explaining why he wanted to visit the
facility, as well as evidence of his
academic qualifications.
Irish crab
Wild crab from the north-east Atlantic
is bound for 800 Lidl outlets in Spain
and Portugal. Shellfish Ireland, based in
County Cork, has landed a €500,000
supply contract with the supermarket
chain. The family-owned business
based at the port of Castletownbere said
it clinched the deal because of the
strong relationship it has with Lidl in
Ireland.
Morocco grant
Spain is to grant Morocco €30 million to
help it curb illegal immigration into
Europe. A further €26 million has
already been granted to enable Morocco
to buy vehicles, drones, scanners, radars
and technical equipment for border
control. All this is in addition to the €140
million recently granted to Morocco by
the EU for the same purpose.
However, last month Inés announced
that she had established that her birth
mother gave her up for adoption with
the help of a doctor who falsified the
paperwork. Now aged 50, she said she
had used a DNA databank to find a
biological cousin in the USA, and her
newly-found family then told her
about the adoption.
Cases of the disappearance of new-
born babies are recorded between
about 1950 and 1980, and it is believed
that nuns, as well as doctors and nurses,
participated. Experts think it began as
retaliation against families who
opposed Franco’s dictatorship: their
offspring were taken away and given
instead to parents approved by the
State. Birth mothers were told their
new-born child had died and that the
hospital would take care of the
remains.
It then developed into a criminal
network in which doctors and nurses
were paid by traffickers to help steal
infants from their mothers. An
estimated 300,000 infants are thought
to have been victims of the scandal.
Courts in Spain have received hundreds
of complaints about babies alleged to
have been “stolen” and either given
away or sold for adoption, although
some cases have failed because the
statute of limitations had expired. After
Inés Madrigal’s announcement last
month, the public prosecutor’s office
announced that her case would no
longer be considered a theft.
Private clinics warn on
holiday insurance
A group representing Spain’s private
hospitals has warned that some travel
companies are misleading customers in
a bid to make more money. They
claim that extra insurance premiums
are being charged for medical care
while abroad without clarifying that
the client would be entitled to
treatment only at state-run hospitals
and clinics.
The Alianza de la Sanidad Privada
Española (ASPE) represents 1,300
Spanish health institutions and about
80 per cent of the country’s private
hospitals. It said last month that if
holders of such “fraudulent” travel
insurance are treated in a private
facility, they will be liable for a large
bill. However, British nationals can
already benefit from free medical
treatment without the extra policy on
offer, thanks to the European Health
Insurance Card (EHIC).
ASPE says around 800 Britons a day
are arriving at private facilities in Spain
only to find that their health insurance
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cover is not valid. They must then pay
an average of €4,000 for treatment or
be transferred to a public facility.
In a statement, ASPE described
thousands of British tourists being
“held hostage” to bad practices which
put their health at “serious risk.” The
group has called on British insurers to
detail what is excluded, as well as what
is included in the cover on offer in a
policy.
ASPE added that, in the case of an
uninsured holiday-maker with a
serious emergency, the patient would
be treated at a private clinic at least
until stabilised. However, it adds that it
often ends up footing the bill for
transfers to a public hospital, and finds
it very difficult to recover other costs
incurred.