ZCZC
BCN-11
SPAIN-VOTE-ECONOMY,FOCUS
Extremadura, Spain’s forgotten region
VILLAFRANCA DE LOS BARROS, Spain, April 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Positioned on
the edge of a railway line, Villafranca de los Barros should be in prime
position to move goods from its three factories. There is a slight problem
though — close to no trains come through.
So it is that products are transported by truck from this town in
southwestern Extremadura, Spain’s poorest region and also its worst
connected, a major bugbear ahead of general elections on April 28.
Although nestled in the midst of vineyards, Villafranca depends more on
the industrial sector than on agriculture.
While Extremadura as a whole is experiencing a population drain, it has
managed to maintain this 13,000-strong town thanks to three factories — one
that makes bottles, the other cooking grills and a third that recycles
aluminium.
But “the trains are slow and few and far between,” says Joaquin Rodriguez,
deputy mayor of the sun-baked town.
Spain’s dense network of high-speed trains is famous in Europe. But its
tentacles have yet to reach Extremadura, on the border with Portugal.
The trains that link the two provincial capitals, Badajoz and Caceres, to
Madrid are antiquated and often break down.
To top it all, they’re expensive, says Juan Carlos Lopez Duque, spokesman
for the association Milana Bonita which campaigns for better trains — an
issue that has taken centre stage before the elections.
“It’s cheaper to take the plane to the Canary Islands,” a Spanish
archipelago some 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) south of the mainland, he says.
Public Works Minister Jose Luis Abalos has promised that by 2020, hybrid
trains will connect the region with the rest of Spain.
These trains can go up to 200 kilometres an hour and are powered by
electricity and diesel, which is useful where there are no electrified rail
lines, like in Extremadura.
MORE/HR/1135
ZCZC
BCN-12
SPAIN-VOTE-ECONOMY 2 VILLAFRANCA DE LOS BARROS
– Neglected –
The region was neglected during the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco
Franco, says Cesar Ramos Esteban, a socialist lawmaker in Caceres.
And 44 years later, despite state and EU subsidies, Extremadura remains a
mainly agricultural region.
Spain’s best cured ham, the world-famous “Jamon Iberico,” comes from pigs
that have fed off the green pastures of Extremadura.
Tomatoes are grown on its southern plains, making it the fruit’s biggest
producer in Spain.
It is the least developed region in Spain with the lowest GDP per capita
and the highest unemployment — 23.1 percent compared to the national average
of 14.4 percent.
The successive regional governments, most of them socialist, have tried to
ensure that everyone has access to public services no matter where they live,
says Cesar Ramos.
He adds that in a region of one million people — with a further 700,000
from the region living outside its borders — they have battled to avoid
villages dying off.
In Casas de Don Antonio, a village 40 kilometres south of Caceres where
hundreds of white houses creep up a hill to group around the church, only 85
residents remain.
But there is a doctor, nurse and a medicine depot, says Pedro Macarino,
82, as he plays cards with three other retirees in the village’s last cafe,
which doubles as a shop.
Extremadura now counts two universities. Fifteen years ago, it was the
first region in Europe to provide one computer for every two high-school
students, Cesar Ramos says proudly.
“We were last on the starting line and we’re still lagging behind, but
we’re catching up”.
But he recognises that even if students are trained up, the region doesn’t
have the industrial structure to keep them.
MORE/HR/1138
ZCZC
BCN-13
SPAIN-VOTE-ECONOMY 3 LAST VILLAFRANCA DE LOS BARROS
– Land of emigration –
Extremadura has always been a land of emigration.
Spain’s famous explorers Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, who
conquered Mexico and Peru, were from Extremadura.
For a long time in Spain, the word “emigrant” referred to people from
Extremadura who would leave to find work in the northern, richer regions of
Catalonia and the Basque Country.
And so it continues.
“You can study whatever you want, but it’s really difficult to find a
job,” says Alvaro Crisolino, 34, an electromechanical technician who survived
on unstable jobs for five years before leaving his town, Coria, to work in a
factory in Madrid.
“We were 26 at school. Only five have stayed in Extremadura,” he says.
“The others left for Germany, the Basque Country, Madrid or Barcelona.”
BSS/AFP/HR/1140