Operation corruption
Nobody has called it “Operation Corruption” yet, probably because each instance has its own code name, which the police must use to keep their investigations secret until arrests are made, and then we know that they’ve been calling the town planning corruption case in Marbella the “Malaya” case, and the Alhaurín el Grande investigation is “Troya”. “Astapa” refers to corruption in Estepona, and so, one suspects, it will go on. Other cases of (alleged) town planning corruption have been uncovered already in Gaucín, Manilva, Cómpeta, Tolox, Ojén and Ronda and are going through the legal process, hence the use of the word “alleged”. Now it’s Alcaucín’s turn.
The Mayor there alleges that the fortune found under his mattress was his life’s savings, and who knows? Perhaps it was. (In Spanish, incidentally, the word normally used by journalists to cover themselves before the actual verdict is “supuestamente” or “presuntamente” – supposedly or presumably. The Mayor presumably didn’t trust the bank, though he did keep his almost-untouched salary in one).
As my friend and colleague Héctor Barbotta points out, though, there is a collective term being applied to all the corruption cases. Ever since the one that landed 100 people in court in Marbella, the Spanish have talked about “marbellización”. Alhaurín got Marbella-ized and so did the rest, and as Héctor says, this is actually very unfair. Marbella isn’t an exceptional case of a town with dishonest councillors, it’s more of a drop in the ocean – though Gil, the late former Mayor of Marbella, may hold the copyright on the methodology. What Héctor suggests is that new cases should take over the dubious honour of having their name associated with the process – so we should have had places being Manilvized and Ojenized. The next Mayor to be caught with his life’s savings, amounting to a lot more than most people could save in several lifetimes, stuffed into brown envelopes, will be from an Alcaucinized town. “Alcaucinización” – watch out for it, it’ll be along soon. “Cínica” – cynical – me? No no, it’s just word association 
Filed under: Spanish language by Liz Parry
Alcaucín has been murdered. Many years ago started the massacre. There are those who have been enriched with all these works. Sure. Those who have gone to prison will be freed. And there are those who released on bail. Many others will never ever be disturbed… we have been stolen of our pure and white village, of our landscapes: the fields, valleys, mountains, slopes, and the menchones, the small white country houses, the donkeys, and trees… What an idea to allow the construction of houses and urbanizations! What a pity! What a legacy we leave to future generations! By el Puente Don Manuel, El Castillo de Salia, the entry of the village,… our landscape, our real wealth: done away with it. Preserving our cultural and ecological heritage would have been doing de right thing for the village. Who is going to return us our secular heritage, the jewel that our fathers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles transmitted to us generation after generation? … And the owls, hedgehogs and other little animals, where will they go? And the lighting is everywhere! … Alcaucín has been assassinated.