-Caveat Lector-
>From TheIndependent (UK)
> Gibraltar embarks on risky alliance
>
> By Elizabeth Nash in Gibraltar
>
> The Chief Minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana, has plunged into a
> dangerous liaison with Jesus Gil, the flamboyant and controversial
> mayor of Marbella, whose right-wing party is advancing throughout
> southern Spain. The two men sealed their friendship with a pact this
> week that will infuriate Madrid and prompt jitters in London.
>
> The rapprochement was struck in Gibraltar amidst a furore surrounding
> Mr Gil, who is accused by Madrid's chief prosecutor of conniving with
> a Marbella judge to launder money for the Sicilian Mafia. Mr Caruana
> brushed aside doubts about Mr Gil's honesty, saying that was an
> internal Spanish matter and that nothing was proven.
>
> The two men will develop economic, cultural and sporting links between
> Gibraltar and neighbouring regions of Spain controlled by Mr Gil's
> Independent Liberal Group (GIL). Mr Gil, a populist rabble-rouser on
> bail for fraud, and Mr Caruana, the dapper lawyer, make an incongruous
> couple. But their opportunist alliance could mark the start of a
> beautiful friendship. They are astute and pragmatic politicians with a
> talent for an electoral flourish.
>
> They planned to meet over lunch on Thursday in a harbourside
> restaurant on the Rock, but at the last minute Mr Gil backed out,
> leaving fellow GIL members, his son Jesus Gil Marin, who is mayor of
> Estepona, and Juan Carlos Juarez, the mayor of La Linea which borders
> Gibraltar, as Mr Caruana's only guests.
>
> In local elections on 13 June, Mr Juarez swept into La Linea from
> nowhere to win a landslide victory. In GIL's swanky offices in La
> Linea yesterday locals queued to sign up. "None of the other parties
> ever did anything for us, let's hope GIL [or Gil] can turn La Linea
> into another Marbella," one enthusiast said.
>
> But Mr Gil has problems. He is on £420,000 bail, charged with
> funnelling some 450m pesetas (£2m) of Marbella's public funds to
> Atletico Madrid football club, which he owns. On Wednesday night he
> was warned that if he left Spain he could be arrested on his return,
> and forfeit his bail.
>
> So on Thursday lunchtime, he ventured no further than the border.
> There he told assembled press and a gaggle of fans how sorry he was to
> miss Mr Caruana, "because he's a good man you can talk to and
> negotiate with".
>
> But had he not realised that he would face penalties for leaving the
> country while on bail? Mr Gil turned on a sunny smile and grasped my
> hand warmly. "Perhaps I was naive, but it honestly didn't occur to me
> because I'm totally innocent. It's a shame because they're over there
> waiting for me." He added: "I want to make La Linea the envy of the
> costa."
>
> Sceptics suspect a publicity stunt, and Mr Gil lost no time in
> denouncing the state prosecutors as "base-born assassins" for accusing
> him of Mafia links. However, Mr Caruana is keen to have an
> interlocutor in Spain and has long said he could do business with Mr
> Gil. Gibraltar's Chief Minister is fed up with being cold-shouldered
> by Spain's Foreign Minister, Abel Matutes, who talks only to London.
>
> Mr Caruana wants to boost Gibraltarian business in Spain, and Mr Gil's
> ideology-free policy of promoting investment, especially in real
> estate, offers tempting opportunities. Residents of La Linea like the
> idea, too, scenting escape from decades of depression and unemployment
> that runs at 35 per cent, the highest in Spain.
>
> Gibraltar is the region's main employer, and some 3,000 Spaniards
> cross every day to work in hotels and bars on the Rock. Otherwise, La
> Linea's principle activity is drug trafficking, mainly hashish from
> nearby Morocco, and increasingly heroin and cocaine.
>
> Mr Gil promised yesterday to clean up the drugs, sweep criminals off
> the streets and bring prosperity to La Linea. This formula bounced him
> to power in Marbella eight years ago, and brought subsequent gains
> along the coast and in the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in
> Morocco just across the Gibraltar Strait.
>
> La Linea could do with a face-lift. While the rest of the coast is
> cluttered with marble villas, golf links, timeshare complexes and
> casinos, La Linea looks more like a Paraguayan frontier town, scruffy
> and neglected, although with a gorgeous long beach, ripe for
> development.
>
> The new mayor, Mr Juarez, has taken personal control of urbanisation
> and relations with Gibraltar as priorities for his new mandate, and Mr
> Gil has openly declared Gibraltarians welcome in Marbella. Such
> gestures of friendship from Spain - which avoid the thorny question of
> sovereignty - are much appreciated on the Rock.
>
> In his dark suit, Mr Caruana stayed cool and elegant by Gibraltar's
> yacht marina that looked positively Marbella-esque with its fleets of
> gleaming pleasure craft. He said Mr Gil's party had achieved many
> improvements in the areas it ruled. He added that he hoped to meet Mr
> Gil very soon, "whenever he wants" - but that next time the venue
> would be Marbella.
A<>E<>R
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