Spain balks at corrupt urbanization

Thousands protested urban development this weekend as concern over corruption and environmental degredation rises.

from the May 7, 2007 edition

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Crackdown on corruption

Corruption has long accompanied the real estate business in Spain, with developers and promoters giving municipal officials benefits – or outright cash – in exchange for building permits and the rezoning of rural areas for urban construction. But one case last year stunned the country with its scope. In March 2006, police arrested the mayor and dozens of city officials in the ritzy resort town of Marbella, where some 30,000 of the city's 80,000 homes had been illegally built. The investigation, called Operation Malaya, is still going on; last Thursday police arrested the nationally famous singer Isabel Pantoja, charging her with laundering money for her boyfriend, former Marbella mayor Julián Muñoz.

Since Operation Malaya began, corruption cases have regularly made news. The media attention has been a boon for environmental groups, who find that their issues dovetail neatly with citizens' disgust with corruption. "Without a doubt, they're related," says Pedro Costa, United Left candidate for the Murcia city government. "Spaniards are beginning to realize that they're losing the landscapes of their childhood to these crimes of urbanization."

Modest impact

Environmental concerns have already had a modest political impact in some places. In the Asturias town of Cudillero, Mayor Francisco González sees his reelection threatened – for the first time in five terms – by judicial charges against him for granting a permit for an apartment building in a rurally-zoned area.

The ruling Socialist party has taken to promoting its pro-environment, anticorruption policies. On Wednesday, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero told an audience of supporters in Marbella that he represented "the political will to clean up" corruption and "to prosecute those who fail to respect the public good."

Still, many environmentalists are skeptical. For one thing, both the Socialists and the opposition Popular Party are running candidates implicated in urban scandals. Mr. García, the mayoral candidate, is adamant in his criticism. "Politicians from the main parties are talking up environmentalism, but they're still intimately involved in real estate speculation and corruption," he says. "You can't just put on a green jacket and declare you're an environmentalist."

That's why people like Pedro Costa think other political groups have a chance this election. A long-time environmental activist, Mr. Costa was recruited by the United Left (IU) party to run for office in coastal Murcia. "I've always been an independent, but the IU asked me to run because I'm known for my environmental work," says Costa. He thinks he can win. "In this region at least, the environment is going to be the fundamental theme."

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