The National Police and the Local Police of Talavera de la Reina have arrested a man for injuring his partner with a katana, whom he kept locked in his home for several days, as well as a neighbor who tried to avoid the attack, and then fleeing with her four-year-old son.

As reported this Wednesday in a press release by the Citizen Services Office of the Local Police, the events occurred last week, when the woman was attacked by her partner after she managed to escape from the house in which she had been locked up. during several days.

The woman managed to escape, along with her four-year-old son, but her partner noticed the escape and attacked her with a katana, as well as a neighbor who tried to avoid the attack, after which she left the place together with the minor..

The Local Police received a call at midnight reporting that a man had received a cut on his wrist due to a family argument, so officers went to the scene and found him with a large cut on his wrist, as well as with other superficial cuts on the forehead and right arm, in the middle of a large trail of blood. They also found the woman injured, as well as the weapon with which the attack had been carried out..

The victims explained that the aggressor had left with the child before the local police arrived, who, together with agents from the National Police, began to search the building's properties..

Finally, they found him hiding in one of the homes of the building, along with the minor, who had not suffered damage, and proceeded to arrest him as the alleged perpetrator of the crimes of gender violence, illegal detention and injuries..

In turn, the two victims were treated first at the scene and then transferred to the Nuestra Señora del Prado Hospital, in Talavera de la Reina, where both were treated for their injuries..

• Last minute of the Ciarán storm and weather forecast in Spain
• The Aemet launches a special warning due to the Ciarán storm: red alert for wind and incidents throughout Spain

The Ciarán storm has already left one person dead in Madrid after a tree fell. The strong gusts of wind, which have reached 100 kilometers per hour in the capital, are leading the meteorological situation in most of Spain. The storm will continue in the country with fronts that will enter the northwest of the peninsula and bring heavy rainfall.

Since his arrival on Wednesday, Ciarán has caused numerous incidents such as falling facades, falling trees and blocked roads.. The Municipal Police of Madrid has placed emphasis on displacements through its networks.

Police warnings

The agents have warned that the situation remains complicated. The State Meteorological Agency (Aemet) has warned that this Thursday, November 2, the storm will leave intense storms in Galicia, the Cantabrian area and the Pyrenees.. The wind alert remains in place in many parts of Spain and the Police ask for extreme precautions.. In coastal areas, wind gusts can reach 100 km/h. The red alert is maintained in Galicia and the orange warnings in Asturias, Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Melilla, and various provinces of the Basque Country, the Valencian Community and Catalonia.

The wind will continue to be present throughout the country, so it is crucial to take extreme precautions to stay safe when we are on the street. The Municipal Police of Madrid recommends avoiding, as far as possible, travel. Instead of taking the car, opt for public transportation. Traffic is being affected mainly by falling trees and branches on the road..

Today a complicated day is expected due to rain and strong winds.
🚨Avoid, as far as possible, travel.
🚨Use #publictransport
🚨Avoid passing through wooded areas and walking next to buildings

Any incident call #092 and #112 https://t.co/oyAFviFKXY pic.twitter.com/5w0YBkJiXh

— Madrid Municipal Police (@policiademadrid) November 2, 2023

The agents also urge people to avoid “passing through wooded areas and walking next to buildings.”. In many streets, debris has fallen from facades, posters and other street furniture.. If you find yourself at risk, call 092 or 112.

The Aemet forecast extends the Ciarán crossing until Friday. However, instability remains ahead of the weekend, as the agency warns that “it is likely that a new storm with characteristics similar to Ciarán, with its associated fronts, will affect us again with similar effects.”.

The agreement that the Government has reached with ERC for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez includes, in addition to the approval of an amnesty law and the full transfer of Cercanías, the assumption of “part of the debt” of 14,662 million of Catalonia, with a mechanism that will be “extendable” to the rest of the communities. The acting Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, announced this this afternoon in Barcelona, in a joint appearance with the first secretary of the PSC, Salvador Illa, while negotiations remain open with Junts, with whom there is still no definitive pact..

Bolaños explained that the Government will take charge of 20% of the debt that Catalonia has in the Autonomous Liquidity Fund (FLA), which reaches 73,110 million euros, as of June of this year.. This, as he highlighted, will make it easier to refinance in international markets.. He didn't give many more details.. It was the leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, who was in charge of shedding some more clarity. The Executive “is going to keep 15,000 million of the debt with respect to the FLA and the savings of 1,300 million in interest,” he explained.

Oriol Junqueras assured that “today the one who wins is Catalonia”. “In various areas. With an amnesty that is for everyone. An amnesty without exceptions, for the Tsunami and the CDR, for all those who protested against markedly unjust sentences. But you also win in the area of political negotiation because the negotiation table will continue.. And Catalonia wins in the most immediate area with the full transfer of catenary tracks, signaling, computer programs and the guarantee of the necessary investment,” he declared..

The text of the document signed by the PSOE and ERC indicates that in order to clean up the financial situation of the Generalitat “a legal modification of general scope for all the communities of the common regime will be processed”. This, he continues, will allow the “assumption by the State of part of the regional debt with it, caused by the negative impact of the economic cycle.”. This will mean that the Government will have to determine “what part of the increase in debt” is due to this cause, and may also “use transfers to cancel the debt in the case of indebtedness with third parties other than the State, if necessary.”.

The coalition Executive had been in favor of forgiving part of the regional debt, but has always targeted the worst-financed autonomies. What happens is that Catalonia did not fall into this category, because it even exceeds the average financing per inhabitant. This means that it has been necessary to introduce a new concept such as the negative impact of the economic cycle to clean up Catalan finances, within the framework of the political agreement with ERC.. Although Bolaños did not stop with the numbers, the text itself explains that the State will be responsible for “around 20% of the outstanding debt at the time of execution of the agreement” contracted by the Generalitat in the state liquidity mechanisms, and will mean about 15,000 million euros of Catalonia's debt and a saving of 1,300 million euros in interest, as Junqueras advanced..

The text itself introduces the arguments why Catalonia must now be rescued. “A part of the debt growth in these years was a consequence of the impact of the crisis on regional public finances,” he maintains, and “the insufficient European and State response,” unlike, the agreement highlights, what has happened now to deal with the effects of the pandemic and the subsequent energy crisis caused by the invasion of Ukraine.

Bolaños also referred in his speech to the transfer of the Rodalies – the Catalan suburbs -, one of the great achievements of ERC in this negotiation, and specified that a public company will be created, 50% owned by the Executive and the Generalitat, and that it will be the Government who chooses its president. It is, therefore, a shared management, at least in a series of lines that will culminate with the transfer of this infrastructure.

Competing legitimacies

During his appearance, Junqueras drew a scenario of competing legitimacies. “The Spanish Government alleges that its legitimacy derives from the Constitution, but it also accepts that there is legitimacy that emanates from the Parliament of Catalonia. There is a conflict of legitimacy. “Canada's clarity agreement affirmed that there is a legitimacy of the legal framework, but there is also a democratic legitimacy, which can be expressed in a democratic manner and over time,” declared the ERC leader.. And then he used the situation in Ireland as a reference. “That brings us to the Good Friday agreements in Northern Ireland, when the signatories expressed that there was no democratic majority to integrate Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland, but if this majority ever changed, vehicles would have to be found to could express himself,” said the president of the Republicans.

The document at this point is also very descriptive since it speaks of “a situation of conflict” in which different legitimacies coexisted that operated in opposite directions: “A parliamentary and popular legitimacy with a manifest will concretized in this text and an institutional and constitutional, both essential in an advanced democracy and in a rule of law”.

Oriol Junqueras put a lot of emphasis on this although he left it up in the air for it to have a concrete landing: “This is not a question of time, it is a question of democratic strength. The more democratic force we can bring to the table, the sooner we can achieve our objectives. We do not set a time horizon, but rather we defend the democratic legitimacy of the Parliament of Catalonia, which must be accepted within the institutional framework,” he stressed..

The rest of Junqueras's intervention focused on highlighting the transfer of Cercanías to Catalonia. What is created is a joint company between the Generalitat and the central Administration, which will be a split from Renfe Viajeros in which the Government will have the majority and the presidency, but whose strategic decisions will have to be taken by a reinforced majority.. In practice it is a similar model, saving the distances, to that of the Port of Barcelona..

• Storm Ciarán causes power outages in Galicia, with some 9,800 affected
• The Aemet launches a special warning due to the Ciarán storm: red alert for wind and incidents throughout Spain

Coming from the United Kingdom, the high-impact storm Ciarán has arrived to make itself felt strongly in the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, which is why the red alert has been activated due to heavy rainfall and gusts of wind, with a greater incidence of maritime storms in Galicia , Cantabria and the Basque Country, as reported by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) on its website.

The effects have begun to be noticed with greater intensity since this Thursday, November 2, with fronts in the northwest of the peninsula that will bring heavy rainfall that may be accompanied by storms.. The rainfall will spread to the rest of Spain, although with less intensity in the south and the Mediterranean area. In total, 47 provinces will be on alert throughout today.

The Peninsula is suffering from westerly winds, similar to those of a grade 3 hurricane.. In general, the wind gusts are very strong and generally reach 70 km/h, reaching 90 km/h in large areas of the north, interior of the peninsula and the Balearic Islands and could even exceed 100 km/h. h in high areas and, above all, in parts of the Cantabrian coast and areas of the east and southeast of the peninsula.

Wind gusts of 151 km/h

One of the most affected communities is Castilla y León. The La Pinilla ski resort, in the province of Segovia, has reached the highest wind gust in the country this morning, with 151 kilometers per hour at 6:10 a.m.. In Segovia capital, gusts of 64 km/hour have been recorded, while the yellow level alert remains due to rainfall that can reach 15 mm..

The #Ciaran Storm is leaving very strong gusts of #wind in the north and center of the Peninsula during the first hours of Wednesday. In mountain and coastal areas, some gusts are hurricanes. In La Pinilla (Segovia) it has reached 151 km/h (provisional data) pic.twitter.com/pegtdaFuem

— AEMET (@AEMET_Esp) November 2, 2023

La Pinilla is followed by Estacas de Bares (La Coruña) with 145 km/h, Valdezcaray (La Rioja) with 143 km/h, the ski resort of La Covatilla (Salamanca) with 139 km/h and Güemes (Bizkaia) and Cabo Busto (Asturias) with 134 km/h each, according to data provided by the AEMET.

The consequences of Ciarán have not been long in coming. Numerous high-altitude trees, unable to resist the power of the wind, have fallen, causing structural damage to nearby houses and cars. In Madrid we have had to mourn the death of a young woman due to a falling tree. In any case, the calls and interventions of the emergency services of each autonomous community have skyrocketed, reaching 565 incidents in Galicia.

Some AirPods. Two simple wireless headphones. And the signal they gave. This was the trigger for an event that on September 11 took place in a frenetic manner in different parts of the Costa del Sol.. A double kidnapping, as bizarre as it was spectacular, in which 13 individuals – mostly of French nationality, although there were also some Cameroonians – were arrested for allegedly searching for, holding and beating the thief who supposedly entered the house they had rented to steal 25 watches, Gucci suits and other valuables.

The beginning and end of this case, investigated by the Organized Crime Section of the Drug and Organized Crime Unit (Udyco) of the Málaga and Fuengirola police stations, was in a rental house located in the El Higuerón area.. This home was where on September 9 an individual of Moroccan origin was allegedly robbed, who is believed to have had a copy of the entry key because none of the accesses had been forced, sources close to the case informed El Confidencial.. The man supposedly waited for it to be empty and, once inside, he took a box in which a large number of watches that – at first glance – seemed high-end, as well as designer clothing and various electronic devices, were kept..

What the criminal did not know is that he had just robbed a group of dangerous elements who had rented that property to spend a few days on the Malaga coast.. A boldness that would end up paying, because in his loot he included some AirPods that he took when he was searching the property.. Police sources explained that the victims activated the geolocation system of these devices and managed to find out where they were.. But instead of going to the National Police and filing a complaint so that the agents could act, they decided to recover their belongings the hard way..

On September 11, they got into several vehicles and traveled to the point in the municipality of Benalmádena where the signal located the headphones.. The individual who had them, upon seeing himself surrounded by almost a dozen guys with not very good intentions, told them that he had bought them from an acquaintance in the Fuengirola municipality, without giving much more information.. These explanations were considered insufficient, so they decided to take him by force and take his car..

The man was intimidated and beaten during a trip in which they demanded that he make an appointment with the person who had supposedly sold him the devices.. The kidnapped person called the alleged thief by phone and they made an appointment in a bar in Fuengirola, the aforementioned sources stated..

Security cameras captured the moment of the encounter. In the images, to which this newspaper has had access, the alleged thief is seen sitting in a chair on the local outdoor terrace.. Suddenly, he is surrounded by at least seven individuals who begin to argue with him ostentatiously.. Gesturing with his arms and with an angry attitude that makes other customers of the establishment choose to leave.

While the group was being led to their main objective, the man who had led them there took advantage of those moments of tension and nervousness to break free and escape.. Moment from which a tour began with different stops in which the captors tried to recover the goods that had been stolen from them..

Beating to make him confess

The subsequent reconstruction carried out by those responsible for the case with its protagonists concluded that the victim was allegedly taken to the El Higuerón home, where he allegedly received a beating to make him reveal where he had hidden the stolen objects two days before..

The man finally confessed that part of the loot was in his home, so his alleged kidnappers took him to that point in Fuengirola.. At the home, apparently, the criminals recovered the watches. Later, they took their victim back to the rental house, where they continued to intimidate him to keep talking..

The National Police learned of what happened around 5:00 p.m., when a telephone call from a citizen reported the kidnapping and offered details about the vehicles used by the organized group..

A patrol vehicle from the Citizen Security Brigade located several of them when they were traveling through the town of Fuengirola and intercepted them at the moment they were about to access a building.. When the agents were identifying the suspects, they realized that among these people was the kidnapped person.. As they later learned, he was being transferred to another location after being forced to stay with a third individual whom the detainees believed was also related to the robbery they had suffered..

In that first police intervention, nine people were arrested, to whom others would be added over the hours, such as those arrested at night in Marbella when they were driving one of the cars used in the succession of criminal acts..

In total, 13 arrests were made, including that of the second kidnapped person, the alleged thief, who was accused of robbery with force.. The rest face charges of illegal detention, robbery with violence, burglary, injuries and membership in a criminal group.. Accusations that, in addition to the testimonies of the two victims, are supported by scientific evidence, such as the discovery of a fingerprint in the house of the second kidnapped person..

During the searches carried out, 25 watches were seized – many of them counterfeit luxury models -, mobile phones and 4,800 euros in cash.. The sources consulted stated that, after being brought to justice, all those arrested were released with charges pending the investigation of the case..

During the so-called Arab Spring, protesters, who aspired to change the power structures of their states, wrapped themselves in their protests with the flag of their countries.. Underneath that fact, apparently an expression of a nationalist sentiment, and as Isaías Barreñada points out, there lay a very marked symbolic component: they represented the true country, the needs and aspirations of its population, the common people, unlike those elites. who governed them.

In all these demonstrations, along with the local flag, another one, the Palestinian one, was waved insistently.. It was an aspect that went beyond solidarity between peoples. It was a symbol of the forgotten, of those who were systematically ignored; It was a flag with which they pointed out the hypocrisy of their elites. This symbolic nature has been redoubled recently, given that a good part of the Arab countries had normalized their relations with Israel, while their populations could not leave aside the Palestinians.. The Hamas massacre of October 7 and the Israeli response introduced obvious friction between both directions, which was also an intention of the attacks. Most of the regimes in the area are autocracies, which are not especially sensitive to public opinion in their countries, for obvious reasons, but they are sensitive to the underlying unrest that can be channeled into revolts, because they can cause internal order to collapse. staggers. This fact has contributed to the retreat of Arab countries in their relations with Israel after October 7.

These factors could be manageable at another time, but we are in a moment of profound transformation in international relations.. The Gaza war contains a political conflict in Israel, another with Hamas and the Palestinians, another regional one and another moral one, which questions us about how we should act in this situation.. But along with them, a geopolitical conflict also appears in which American power in the world is at stake..

The two images

Let's put the game in the background. The Third Silk Road Forum was held in Zhenzhou on October 17 and 18.. Representatives from 140 countries and 32 international organizations participated and the Secretary General of the UN was present.. The Chinese press of those days dedicated a secondary space to Gaza and placed in the most visible places the news about logistics corridors, infrastructure construction and investment that their country was offering.. China offered trade, development and investment and Xi smilingly repeated that we are in a world of unprecedented historical changes. In the West, the front pages were dominated by war, fears of a war escalation and images of violence. A tense Biden addressed Americans to request more budget allocations to support his allies in Ukraine and Israel. The images contrast themselves.

As Stephen Walt noted in Foreign Policy, it was easy to imagine a Chinese official saying: “Let me point out that we have good relations with everyone in the region and that our only vital interest there is reliable access to energy.”. Therefore, we are committed to keeping the region calm and peaceful, which is why we helped Iran and Saudi Arabia restore ties last year.. Isn't it obvious that the world would benefit if America's role decreased and ours increased?.

Of course, in the West we see it differently, but the world is much broader than Europe, the US, Australia, Japan, Canada and South Korea.. The global south exists and is turning against the current international order: it wants space, reform of global institutions and a new distribution of cards. They call it multipolarity, but they refer to the end of American hegemony.

In this context, when the Palestinian flag flies in many countries around the world, it also has an obvious symbolic character.. It points out the lack of coherence between powers that claim to rely on an order based on rules, instead of an order based on the UN, and that can exonerate those they deem appropriate from compliance with them.. Point out Western hypocrisy. And when that message, instigated by China and Russia, penetrates states with many millions of people, raw materials and energy resources, and increasingly capital and technology, things tend to get complicated for the global north.. Emerging powers claim to offer trade, globalization and development, while traditional powers try to impose themselves by force. The international discussion about Palestine also has a lot to do with this.

The western response

The way in which the West is facing this new challenge seems particularly detached from the surrounding reality.. Partly due to internal divisions, which are expressed in the hegemonic country, the United States: the conservatives want to provide aid to Israel, but are not so willing to provide it to Ukraine; Democrats push hard for Ukraine to receive funds, but their commitment to Netanyahu's Israel is not so firm, and even less so among their voters. On another level, because some of the mistakes made after 9/11 are being repeated, and we already know how the war interventions of those years contributed to destructuring the world instead of settling it..

Deep down, there is a divergence on the Western Front that oscillates between unconditional support for Netanyahu's government and the need to put a firm brake on it.. Partly because an escalation in the area, which no one wants and which is considered unlikely, can occur at any moment, with all that that would mean, but also because it can generate very serious economic consequences.. The moment is taking shape when a good part of the Western bloc will demand many limits from Israel in its military response and will offer a political solution to Palestine at the end of the war process.. It does not seem that the Israeli government is very willing at the moment to do either of the two things. It is significant, in this sense, that a medium as influential as the Financial Times publishes an editorial calling for a ceasefire..

But, once again, with all the moral and humanitarian components that shake us with this so-called Sukkot war, the dimensions go much further, because they take place at a particularly complicated time for Europe.. A different West will emerge from this war, but the awareness of the moment has not penetrated European leaders and experts, many of whom continue to believe that the global south does not exist, that deglobalization has not arrived, that peace America is still in force to a large extent and that everything will return, more or less, to its normal course after the Israeli intervention. It's not like that, the world has fractured. The Palestinian flag has many meanings today.

The GDP of the Canary Islands will give good news on the islands with an increase of 4.5% in 2025, maintaining the growth path to recover from the economic disaster derived from covid in 2020. The Canarian Gross Domestic Product amounts to 42,656 million euros, 3.5% of the Spanish total and the eighth region with the greatest weight. However, GDP per capita (18,990 euros) is the second lowest in the country, as is usual in markets that depend on tourism and 25.5% below the average..

Hispalink data for 2025 points to a growth in the Canary Islands GDP of 4.5%, that is, the growth path is maintained in 2024 with one tenth less. The Canary Islands authorities want to seduce companies to reduce exposure to the services sector; but these processes are slow. The Canarian productive specialization stands out for its great dependence on the tourism sector, reflected in the high weight of commerce, transport, hospitality and leisure (33.0% of the islands' GDP compared to 26.2% in Spain); The public sector also stands out (24.2% compared to 19.2%). On the contrary, the manufacturing industry has a very low weight (3.1% compared to 12.8% for the rest of the country).

All in all, the canaries will arrive at the top of the five regions with the greatest growth by 2025.. The five autonomies with an average higher than the national average will be, according to Hispalink's updated predictions, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid, Catalonia and the Valencian Community, which would together contribute 60% of the estimated national growth in said period (3.3%).. The head of the Canary Islands Executive, Fernando Clavijo, has his sights set on five key concepts: digitalization, decarbonization, demography, deglobalization and deconfiguration of the international order.

To end the year, the GVA growth expected for the construction sector in 2023 stands at 8%. The business confidence index corresponding to this sector shows a growing trend with values two points higher than those observed in April 2019 before the pandemic. The Government of the Canary Islands approved a decree in April 2022 that allowed the review of public sector contracts and with this has favored the reactivation of official bidding, which has grown by 36% in 2023 compared to the previous year.. After the eruption on the island of La Palma, most of the funds allocated by all public organizations and by the Insurance Compensation Consortium will be allocated to the recovery of homes and the repair of material damage, which will contribute to the good progress of the sector in 2023.

The Canary Islands industry will close 2023 with a GVA growth forecast of 6%. The main indicators of the sector show clear symptoms of recovery: membership has reached pre-pandemic levels and the industrial production index is growing so far this year at an average interannual rate of 7%, which is reflected in the positive evolution of the index. trusted business in the industry. The model predicts that the primary sector will experience a fall in GVA in 2023 of 1.4%.

• The true story of Doña Manolita: muse of artists and beauty of the time
• Forget the lines at Doña Manolita: 5 'lotteros' in Madrid with the same luck in the Christmas lottery

Located on Calle del Carmen number 22 in Madrid, very close to Puerta del Sol, Doña Manolita's lottery administration is the most famous in Madrid, and one of the most popular in Spain, just like the Golden Witch.. In more than a century of service, Doña Manolita has distributed hundreds of awards, not only to people from Madrid, but to people from all over Spain and even foreigners..

The Doña Manolita lottery administration stands out for having very long hours throughout the year, and they have three periods with special openings: Christmas, summer and the rest of the year.. The weeks before the Christmas Raffle and the Children's Raffle, and despite having an online sales channel, the queues can be up to two hours, so it is advisable to know when the store opens and what hours it has..

Doña Manolita's usual schedule is, between January 7 and June 30, as well as the month of September, Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m.. During this period they are also open on Saturdays, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:15 p.m.. However, on Sundays and holidays the premises remain closed..

Doña Manolita has a special schedule for Christmas

However, aware of their success with the Christmas Lottery, Doña Manolita has a special schedule for the Christmas campaign.. And, from October 1 to January 6, this lottery administration opens every day, Monday to Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., without breaks, including holidays such as November 1, all Saints Day.

On the other hand, this popular Madrid lottery administration has shorter summer hours for the months of July and August. They deserve a break after the hustle and bustle of Christmas, so they will only be open Monday to Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., closing on Saturdays, Sundays and local and national holidays.

Those interested in buying a Christmas Lottery ticket in Doña Manolita should remember that this lottery administration is famous for selling out its lottery tickets in mid-December. This is what happened in 2021 when, a few days before the Christmas draw, Doña Manolita could no longer sell any more tickets. And since August, the queues at this lottery location have been notable, filling the surrounding streets, so you have to be proactive and come in advance.

There is a unique place in Madrid that keeps 35 stories to tell. They are those of the women who have been able to take a step forward and now want a new life. In May 2021, the then delegate of Families, Equality and Social Welfare of the City Council, Pepe Aniorte, inaugurated the first center that would serve exclusively homeless women who, in addition, have been or are victims of gender violence. Two years later, all its positions are occupied and are served by 54 workers, who provide service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.. It was built in the heart of the Hortaleza district and is part of the Homeless People Network, managed by Cibeles.. Being independent of the chain of protection for sexist violence, it has some peculiarities.

As soon as you enter, you are surprised by several liters of beer that the workers take out of the kitchen, on a cart.. They are for the users, many of them alcoholics after passing through the street.. It is explained by Yolanda Herguera, the social worker who coordinates this exclusive center.. “They are given a consumption treatment within the building so that little by little they leave it,” he clarifies.. Every Tuesday, a doctor who is an expert in addictions comes to work with guests on their problems with alcohol.. The treatment, adds the person responsible, is individual and depends on each case, which is why mechanisms and treatment times are established.. In one of the adjoining rooms is the harm reduction room, as they call it.. This is where the evolution of each patient is managed.. Marta is the only one who dares to give her testimony.

This is a fictitious name created to protect your identity. The workers at the center ask to keep the identity of the users anonymous not only for a matter of privacy, but also for security.. As with alcohol, many of them are still in contact with their abusers, and sometimes – as long as there are no complaints or restraining orders involved – they can even see them outside the center.. “We cannot prohibit them from entering or leaving, although we do establish times to return home. So we also try to make sure that they are the ones who, for themselves, decide that this cannot continue like this,” Herguera determines.. It will be useless if they are immune inside the center if once they leave they relapse again.

When some of them are notified of one of these appointments, they wait or offer their telephone numbers. They suggest calling them at a specific time to break up the meeting, or ask them if they want to accompany them or even hang around near the place. Sometimes they have experienced difficult moments, like when one of these men locates the center and tries to enter it. Security plans are usually created. Many women take a card from the center in cases where they find themselves in uncomfortable or dangerous situations. Sometimes Marta, the user who testifies for this report, receives letters from her boyfriend Vicente. Again, this is not his real name. She met him when they both lived in Cañada Real, the dark shanty settlement of Madrid.

Her dream is to completely get rid of drugs and go live with her boyfriend.. Finally seeing his eldest son, 24 years old, whom he has not yet met. “The last thing I want is for my children to see me like this. Without teeth, without money, without life… I need to recover and be with them,” he wishes. At the moment, he is trying to improve. She has been in the shelter for five months and has been cleaning for several weeks. Methadone was what killed her, as she herself admits. “At first I didn't even want to come here, no matter how much the workers insisted,” says Marta. I was like, “If I have methadone, what else do I need?” In the end, he realized that life could be many more things than the substances that trapped it.. But his past has left him with consequences.

In general, she is very distrustful of people and has a hard time forming a bond with some of her classmates. “I admit that sometimes my wires get crossed. I react badly, I threaten to leave and, in the end, I give up,” he laments. It is then that those around him remind him that he has nowhere else to go. At least, not one that gives you hope for a better future. In his daily life, he carries out activities and does medical follow-ups to one day get out of there. She's comfortable, but she's looking for something more. “I want to have a routine, a house, a normal job…”, imagine. Before, in Cañada Real, other women used her to clean shacks: “I had seven or eight houses by myself. “With all the money I could have, and because of the fucking drugs I have nothing.”

In the middle of the conversation, he apologizes for “not knowing how to speak.” He says it while expressing himself perfectly, without realizing it. She has a complex about not making herself understood in front of the “payos”, those who are not gypsies like her. When she gets angry or fights with other colleagues at the center, she blames herself a lot: “I start to wonder, but what have I done, if they are helping me? I go crazy. I don't know what's wrong with me, I think it's because of the life I've had. “. Herguera understands her. He has seen many like her. He has a special affection for Marta: they have known each other for years. She started as a worker in Cañada Real and there she followed her case day by day, until she managed to gain their trust.. She admits that, as time passed and there were no noticeable changes, she began to get discouraged and think that there was no way to get her out of there.. He resisted.

The prototype user

But in the end, there it was. Being surrounded by other women in the same situation, who came from the streets and abuse, can be helpful according to experts.. “The profile we have here is very specific,” explains Herguera.. They are people who come from an extreme situation, whom the municipal teams that monitor public roads in search of homeless people found spending nights outdoors.. Being women, the danger increases and the risks – being raped, for example – accumulate.. Generally, the “prototype user” is between 40 and 45 years old – Marta “believes” that she is 43, although she does not remember – and they are Spanish, although there are also African, Romanian or Moroccan immigrants..

Their recent past is what they all have in common. But at the same time, it is also what creates the most friction.. They come from the streets, from being used to the danger of sleeping alone or, failing that, with people they choose. They bring their habits, their manias and their defense mechanisms that, sometimes, explode almost automatically. “Coexistence can be complicated,” admits the center coordinator. To solve it – and calm the waters – there are the local social workers or educators, as well as the psychologists who care for each user. Other medical issues (allergies, colds, insulin…) are managed by their six auxiliary nurses.

There are no translators for migrant women. Herguera explains it like this: “Coming from a long history of being homeless, but living in Spain, they usually know the language.” So, until now, they haven't needed it. There are also some men among their staff. Not many, just a few. But they find it positive that they also live with them in the center – again, it is something that allows them not to be included in a specific network for gender violence – and that they demystify many attitudes that “have inevitably linked men” but that , in reality, belong to or are intensified in “those they have met,” the employee continues..

20% of homeless people are women

Represented through Marta's testimony – the rest preferred not to speak out of fear, shame, distrust and various reasons – the 35 women who live in this pilot center in Hortaleza have more hope today than yesterday.. However, many more remain outside.. Of the 39,487 homeless people that the Catholic organization Caritas assisted last year, two out of every ten were women. The figure may seem ridiculous. But when you look back, things change slightly.. According to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in the last decade (between 2012 and 2022, the last year recorded) the percentage of women in the total number of homeless people compiled by the public body rose from 19.7% ten years ago. years until reaching 23.3%, the last period.

Last year there were 28,552 people who attended accommodation or restaurant centers as users, according to the public statistics agency.. Of this total count, the percentage of women was very similar to that offered by Cáritas: they were 6,652 compared to 21,900 men, and the number of foreigners or nationals was also almost on par, with 2,955 migrants and some more Spanish, 3,697. Of all these people, homeless women have almost more university studies than men, with 12.4%, while men have 7.7%.. They are also those who perceive the most mental health problems when living in a street situation.. Almost seven out of ten women consider it this way, when six out of ten men present some depressive symptoms during their care..

In Madrid, the last count of homeless people that is known, unless it is official, is from 2018. It was prepared by the Madrid City Council, which estimated that there were around 650 people who were living on the streets at that time.. It was before the pandemic, and the City Council recognizes that they do not know the current data. But they do highlight the work carried out by street teams, groups made up of lawyers, mediators, psychologists or social workers who sweep the nooks and crannies of the capital to identify people who, even in an extreme situation, do not go to municipal services. due to reluctance or ignorance.

The head of the Department of Homelessness Prevention and Care for Homeless People at the City Council – which coordinates these search networks – Yolanda García, speaks to El Confidencial to explain how they reach them.. Many times through notices from neighbors, who repeatedly see the same people on their streets and notify the authorities.. So they go there, usually more than once. They observe where they spend the night, what needs they have, what benefits they could offer them…. Maybe they have to manage a registration, or they are unaware of the network resources they manage.

In total, García details, there are 1,157 places for homeless people, but through different mechanisms: 650 in reception centers, the 175 places in homes prepared to temporarily accommodate these people, or the 180 shared accommodations available. Among this range of options, the recent women's center, where Marta lives, stands out. “Being a woman and being on the street is a double risk,” admits the municipal official. When one of them is forced into that situation, she continues, it is usually because before “she has had very toxic relationships” that make her feel like she doesn't deserve more. Therefore, housing them all – despite the fact that there are only 35 women who can choose to enter the center – is one more step to overcome abuse and get off the streets, once and for all.

“As soon as possible”. The PSOE wants Pedro Sánchez's investiture to be resolved imminently and all clues point to this being the case. The signing of the pact with Yolanda Díaz precipitated the movements and, since then, everything has accelerated with the date set for the week of November 6 to 10. And there is a detail that can help rule out a date and round out the speculation: Felipe VI's state trip to Denmark.. The relevance of the monarch's presence in Spain is not trivial, since the president of Congress, Francina Armengol, must go to Zarzuela to report the result of the debate. And that limits the options if everything goes as they want in Ferraz and the most optimistic forecasts come true..

The monarch will be in the Scandinavian country between Monday, November 6 and Wednesday, November 8, which places November 9 as a possible date for a successful vote.. It is true that it is a holiday in the capital of Madrid, on the day of the Virgin of Almudena, but it is a “surmountable” obstacle, say Congress sources.. This scenario would leave the 8th for the first day of the debate, with Sánchez defending his project to vote in the second session. And it is assumed that the socialist leader would achieve the hypothetical investiture in the first vote, since the support of the nationalist and independence parties with which he negotiates allows him to achieve the absolute majority necessary in the first instance..

This calendar also allows there to be no collisions between a hypothetical plenary session of Congress and the one set by the Senate for November 7.. The Upper House, with the absolute majority of the PP, has set for next Tuesday a control session of the Executive that will serve to inaugurate the inspection of the Government. It will be a new chapter of the popular strategy of taking advantage of that primacy in the Senate to erode Pedro Sánchez. Even in the week in which the socialists want to hold the investiture, despite the fact that the limit is still far away. On November 27, if there is no agreement, the Cortes are dissolved and elections are called for January 14.

“As of today there is nothing,” Ferraz sources explained on Monday. And although that remains the official message, the conversations in the halls of Congress during Princess Leonor's swearing-in were optimistic.. The signing of the agreement with Yolanda Díaz was followed by the federal committee on Saturday, a loud and clear message in favor of the amnesty. And 48 hours later, the photo of Santos Cerdán with Carles Puigdemont, which was expected when the agreement with Junts was advanced. There are no clues about the state of the talks, due to that law of silence that both the PSOE and its potential partners decreed, but the feeling is that the investiture is getting closer..

Socialist and Congress sources explain that it is not necessary for the PSOE's consultation with the militancy to end to set a date for the debate. The vote, to which 172,000 members are called, ends on November 4 and the results will be known the next day. But first, this Friday the 3rd, there is the Congress Board and the Board of Spokespersons. This agenda makes parliamentary work compatible with the announcement of a date by Francina Armengol, after agreeing on it with Pedro Sánchez. And the registration of the amnesty law is also planned on this calendar, which, according to the socialists, is a request from 56 deputies who are willing to assume. This fifty or so deputies are made up of Sumar, ERC, Junts, EH Bildu, the PNV and BNG, according to PSOE accounts..

“The pact is made”

The PSOE, internally, sees that “the pact is made”, after the Secretary of Organization, Santos Cerdán, met publicly on Monday with Puigdemont in Brussels. Officially, the socialist leadership is still keeping its back and insists that they are “closing the agreement” with Junts, which includes an amnesty law. Even with this prevention, the feeling they convey is that it is only about the “details” to present the final balance of the negotiation.. Cerdán himself discussed the dates of the investiture with Puigdemont, which also denotes that the conversations have culminated.

The socialists already point out that the text of the law that will amnesty crimes related to the events of the process will be made public in the coming days. They are willing to register it in Congress before the days are set for Sánchez to submit to the confidence of the Chamber. Junts, which had demanded an advance payment, would only accept that it be presented when, they reiterate in the PSOE, everything “is closed”. The socialists are also open to making it an initiative with the rest of the groups that defend the amnesty: ERC, Bildu, PNV and BNG. Contacts are being hurried with them during these hours, since Sánchez, in addition to the support of Sumar and JxCAT, needs all these votes to achieve the investiture.

“We are trying to close everything with everyone,” they say.. Although the day was focused on Princess Leonor, the visit of the number three of the PSOE to Puigdemont, this Monday, just a few hours before this important institutional event, has placed that photograph and the amnesty at the center of the debate. Felipe González has made his rejection known. Would you have lent yourself? “Who do you take me for,” he responded to journalists. And Emiliano García-Page has also been critical, predicting “more serious photos in the future”. “I am concerned about the situation that Spain is experiencing,” he added.

The impact of the photo of Santos Cerdán with the former president of the Generalitat, a fugitive from Spanish Justice, does not hide the unanimity in the PSOE and the PP that there will be an investiture next week. Although the final staging of the pact with Junts is pending, it is not expected that there will be a similar image with Pedro Sánchez. “It is not contemplated, it has not been a topic of debate,” say the socialists. The PSOE has tried to downplay the fact that in the room where the head of Organization met with Puigdemont there was a painting of 1-O where some young people appear with a ballot box. A fact that has generated controversy, despite the fact that the photo distributed by the socialists was framed so that the ballot box did not appear. “It's his office and we go there, for us it doesn't have the greatest importance,” they point out.