Gibraltar news ..

This past week with the vote in Eire on abortion local debate has warmed up Gibraltar’s community which has a strong sense of faith. Several opinions have been had through the Chronicle’s “Opinion Column” as you would expect. We follow much the same lines as many communities on the debate but much like Northern Ireland if such a thing were needed the lady could avail herself of the procedure in the very catholic community of Spain.

The weekend past also saw the Gibraltar Song festival being held 11 songs from Gibraltar, UK, Spain, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia competed in the ninth edition of the festival which also welcomed the acclaimed and well-known Spanish singer Rosario. In the packed auditorium was the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, other Government Ministers’ and members of the Opposition, as well as the Mayors of La Linea and San Roque.

The Italian entry “No ho abbastanza” performed by Morea won at a packed Tercentenary Sports Hall. The winning song took the cash prize of £4,000 was written by Marco Canigiula, Marco di Martino and Francesco Sponta.

Second prize of £2,000 went to the song from Gibraltar “Everywhere you go I wanna be” performed by Gibraltarian singer Corinne Cooper and was written by Denis Valerga and Eddie Adamberry.

Third place (£1,000) was “Entre amar y no amae” from Chile performed by Jean Pierre and written by Jean Pierre Hettich, Rene Calderon and Claudio Prado Villaseca.

The Best Interpreter (£500) went to Grandpa from Venezuela who performed the song “Me quedo con los dos”. Well done to everyone involved.

Last week ended with huge news and on the whole welcomed as the demise of Snr Rajoy the now “ex” premier of Spain was announced. Since the rise of the “PP” the attitude towards Gibraltar has stiffened and the ripping up of the Cordoba Agreement seemed to be the stick by which they would beat Gibraltar. However the GSLP/Liberal Government of Gibraltar is clearly feeling much more optimistic after Rajoy’s exit as are the local Campo towns of San Roque, La Line and others who clearly see a need for a free flowing border to keep both workers and money flowing through the frontier and bettering the lives of the Campo de Gibraltar Community this side and t’other.

Finally the Royal Gibraltar Police one of the World’s oldest Police forces (did you know that?) announced Operation Servator, a policing tactic designed to deter, detect and disrupt a range of criminality, including terrorism, went live across Gibraltar on Friday, with the community urged to play its part in safeguarding the Rock’s security.  In the months leading up to the formal launch of the scheme, the Royal Gibraltar Police has completed an extensive programme of work that has included training, community awareness and operational deployments. Gibraltar is the only location outside mainland UK where this scheme has been approved for use, following several months of UK and locally-based training, as well as engagement with UK partner organisations. Project Servator sees the deployment of highly visible police officers, supported by other resources such as police dogs, firearms officers, plain clothes officers, marine police units, vehicle checkpoints and CCTV, across Gibraltar’s points of entry, city centre, leisure areas and other crowded places.  They are supported by officers specially-trained to spot the telltale signs that an individual may have criminal intent. (See news cartoon for what I’m thinking) The deployments are highly unpredictable and intelligence-led.