Spain Papers Review - Tuesday October 20 2009

Spain Papers Review - Tuesday October 20 2009
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By h.b. - Oct 20, 2009 - 9:08 AM
More ETA arrests and comments on the abortion law lead today in Spain

Today's El Mundo

The arrest of two ETA activists in France leads many of the papers today.

The arrest of the political chief of ETA, Aitor Elizaran, in France yesterday is given prominence today. El Mundo notes that the man who is thought to have given orders to Arnaldo Otegi is the son of another ETA activist who was killed by the far right.
El País headlines that the police has beheaded the political leadership of ETA for the third time in five years.
ABC leads with the headline ‘ETA’s political chief falls’ and notes that 77 ETA activists have been arrested this year, 36 of them in France.
El Mundo leads on the ‘Faisen’ case, which saw ETA activists allegedly being tipped off ahead of a pólice raid on one of their bars. The paper headlines that the investigating officer of the case asked for it not to be archived, while Inspector Carlos G. has defended his innocence, claiming that relevant information was hidden from the prosecutor.
El Mundo has a front page photo of Lord Chris Patten on its front page today. Described by the paper as the Rector of Oxford University, he gave a conference on the recession in San Sebastian yesterday, but he also commented on the possibility of talks with ETA. ‘You can only negotiate if they lay down his arms’, he said.

El Mundo reports that the Prime Minister has said that the abortion law reform will continue as is, without any changes. The comments from José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero come after the large demonstration held in Madrid on Saturday.
El País notes that the PP has promised it will modify the new law if it wins the elections. The paper notes that the ex PP Minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, lamented ‘looking the other way’ during the eight years of the Aznar government when the abortion law was not changed.
La Razón leads with the headline that the PP has promised to toughen the abortion law if they get into government. They will stop 16 year olds carrying out the procedure without the permission of their parents. The paper says the PSOE Socialists are ignoring the voice of the street.
ABC makes that point too, and notes that the Pope yesterday invited all of Europe to ‘defend human life from conception until its natural death’.
Público has a series of speech bubbles on its front page saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and says the PP is getting tangled again with the abortion question and notes the family forum protest group has compared abortion with the Holocaust.

El País reports that the Vatican has described as ‘an ugly case’ the backhander payments made to Francisco Correa in the Gürtel case, as part of the Pope’s visit to Valencia.
The paper notes too that the prosecutor has asked for more contracts awarded by the Junta de Castilla y León to be investigated.
El Mundo notes that Francisco Eraso collected 15 backhanders according to the police. He’s the man who has been accused of laundering the proceeds from the Gürtel case in Switzerland.

El País notes that the ex soldier who killed the anti system protestor Carlos Palomino in the Madrid metro in 2007 has been given a 26 year jail sentence. The paper notes that the long sentence is because ideological hate was considered part of the crime.

El Mundo notes that the prosecutor is accusing the ex President of the Palau de la Música, Fèlix Millet, of stealing 10 million €, but that the judge still released him without bail.
La Razón notes that his passport was withdrawn as the risk of flight was considered.

EL Mundo notes that a man who had killed four people was shot dead as he returned to the El Dueso jail yesterday.
ABC gives the shootings prominence and also notes that two brothers were also shot in a separate incident in Granada yesterday.

La Razón tells is that 15 regions of the country are failing to pay for the material used by their health services.

ABC notes the Government is to go after 200 webs which list illegal downloads on Spanish servers.

In international stories,
El País says that the United Nations has annulled the victory of Karzai in Afghanistan because of the election fraud. The paper says that the decision of the Electoral Commission means that a second round of voting will have to be held.
El País also has a photo of some Pakistani families fleeing as the Pakistani Army attacks the Taliban in Southern Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan.

La Razón says that Spain’s Foreign Minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, has given the Castro dictatorship 1.5 million in three days. The paper says the grants are destined to associations in line with the totalitarian Cuban regime, and notes that since 2007 the Government of Spain has doubled help for the island to reach 34 million this year.

And finally,
El País marks the arrival of Amazon’s Kindle ebook in Spain, and notes that you can download and read El País on it daily.

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