News 2003

Vera Playa resident beaten & robbed on beach:
A German man has been badly beaten up and robbed on the beach by the Natura World site. The victim, who lives at the Bahia de Vera urbanizacion, suffers from a chronic health problem and had taken his car down to the beach adjacent to the Natura World and Armony Natura sites. A group of people, believed to be Morrocan illegal immigrants demanded money and when refused set upon the man and gave him a severe beating-up. Money and documents were stolen, necessitating a return to Germany to obtain new identification documents. This is the latest in a series of crimes committed, it is believed, by illegal immigrants who have flooded into southern Spain in recent months. It is said that the police (Guardia Civil) do not want to know about such crimes, though in this case they were obliged to give the man the necessary papers so that he could leave Spain to get new passport and other identification documents in his home country of Germany.

Also in the last few days there have been several instances of intruders being detected inside the gated residential urbanizacions in the early mornings (4 - 6 a.m.) and whilst in some cases dogs barking or residents hearing noises and investigating them has been enough to cause the intruders to leave, in other cases there have been burglaries, particularly of unoccupied properties. The most audacious incident was at Vera Natura where the lock to the main pedestrian entrance was wrenched off - probably by a substantial power or hydraulic tool. This has necessitated the renewal of all perimeter locks at Vera Natura and the issue of new keys to all owners. There have also been other incidents of muggings within the naturist zone in recent weeks, mainly in the evenings.

Spanish homes traditionally have bars (rejas) fitted to all windows and doors and whilst the developers have fitted these to a small number of properties (notably the town houses and ground floor apartments of Parque Vera and the detached chalets at La Menara), most properties have only folding or sliding shutters, which are fairly ease to force. It is clear that the installers of rejas and sliding security gates will be doing good business in the years ahead at Vera Playa - unfortunately.

3 November 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003

Webmaster's Comments: Potential visitors and/or property owners should not panic or be put off coming to Vera Playa. There is little doubt that crime here is a fraction of what it is in bigger urban areas in Spain, the UK or elsewhere in Europe. What we are almost certainly seeing is one of the near-inevitable consequences of the large scale development which has happened both in the naturist zone and in the surrounding textile development areas.
    Ten years ago Vera Playa was no more than an isolated hamlet in an otherwise undeveloped area. Now it is a large village thoroughly plugged in to the modern world. Soon it will be just a segment of a continuous coastal urbanisation - like Bognor, Littlehampton or Worthing - but with mountains in the distance and much better weather. Sad, but true.
    Now there are pickings here for criminals and it is time for Vera Playa owners and visitors to come to terms with the fact that actually the naturist zone is not some sort of separate world where everything is perfect - in fact it is part of the real world, which isn't perfect.
    Nor is it a sudden phenomenon - there have been sporadic crimes - burglaries, thefts, cars being broken into - for a number of years. Some people have not wanted to admit this even to themselves. The recent assault described above - and one or two other "thefts from a person" (muggings in the English parlance) - are, as far as I know, just about the first such incidents.
    Undoubtedly there will be other crimes committed at Vera Playa - but your chance of becoming a victim of crime here is exceedingly low - especially if you are sensible as you would be anywhere else - don't leave your valuables on open display in your garden and disappear off somewhere else, don't go off to the swimming pool and leave all your doors and windows open. In other words, when you come to Vera Playa don't strip off your common sense at the same time as you strip off your clothes, and you are exceedingly unlikley to have anything other than good memories of Vera Playa!
    As anywhere else in the world there are villains about - if you are sensible about locking up your apartment and your valuables when you go out or away from it, and not leaving valuables on display in your car (at least one car hire firm recommends you to leave the glove box open and remove the rear parcel shelf when their cars are parked at night to avoid break-ins), probably your biggest risk is of being pick-pocketed - the crowded local markets have always carried a risk of this, but recently one of the winter residents of Vera Playa had his wallet, including money, credit cards and driving licence lifted from him whilst he was talking with friends at Mercadona (the largest local supermarket). The wallet was in a hip pocket and, no doubt, almost asking to be pinched - not that that's any comfort. This is not a unique incident and it didn't happen in the naturist zone. Moral of this story? Once again it is - be careful - always and everywhere - as you would in an English market or crowded High Street, or at Sainsbury's or Tesco.
22 November 2003

Mozzies biggest cause for complaint in early Summer where spraying inadequate:
Local Spanish newspaper Actualidad Almanzora reports in its latest edition that in May and June this year the plague of mosquitoes was the prime cause of complaint by hotel clients. The local councils of Vera, Garrucha and Mojacar employ a contractor to spray areas where mosquitoes breed and most urbanizacions also do their own spraying. Mosquitoes can be a nuisance at any time of the year but late spring and early summer is when they can reach plague proportions, though the spraying usually reduces this to just a nuisance problem. There is an increasing concern in all Mediterranean areas about so-called giant mosquitoes and about the spread of new diseases by mosquitoes which, like tourists, favour coastal areas.The only real answers are (1) mosquito screens on all windows and (2) anti-mosquito measures, such as sprays and "zappers". Many hotel rooms and self-catering apartments do not have mosquito screens - check that yours does before you book!

1 November 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003

Naturist Zone gets its first bus shelter
First a post box, now a bus shelter - Vera Playa is becoming quite metropolitan! There has been a bus stop in Hotel Street for many years but none in the naturist zone itself (the reason advanced for Hotel Street being textile has been that it is served by a public bus service) - though the school bus has come into the naturist zone. But now Vera Council has erected this smart new bus shelter in the main street of the naturist zone and the local public bus service is now using it. Is this a world first? Does it just show how not-different the Vera Playa naturist zone is?

As yet, this website does not have a copy of the timetable for the new bus route - but it is understood that there is a service to Vera and Garrucha at about hourly intervals during the day. Until now there has been only 3 "special" bus services to enable visitors and residents to go to Carboneras (Thursdays), Garrucha (Fridays) and Vera (Saturdays) markets - and then only in the summer period. The new service recognises the maturing of the zone as a housing area with all year residents as well as holiday visitors.
17 October 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003
Photo copyright - www.VeraPlaya.info 2003

Let's not lose 2 kms of our beach!
Vera Playa made the headlines and TV news in Spain in August when 700 naturists and some textiles held a march along the 3 kms of naturist beach to protest about Vera Council's actions in re-signing the southern 2 kms as textile. This was just the latest stage in the dispute between the naturists and the local council - see our News and Beach Protest pages for full details. The southern 2 kms of naturist beach is the bit that many visitors to Vera Playa have never used as it's too far from their hotel or apartment - but maybe they - and you - should? Use it or lose it !  
Photo copyright - Assocn. Naturista Tortuga Boba 2003
www.VeraPlaya.info   - August 30 2003 © 2003
See also Commentary article

700 Naturists in Naked March for Free Beach: August saw the hottest weather at Vera Playa for many years - and tensions between naturists and some textiles reached boiling point also. There were a number of confrontations between textiles and naturists on the most southerly 1.8 kms of beach which for nearly a quarter of a century has been part of the 3 kms long officially designated naturist beach and which was resigned - illegally - by Vera Council in 2002 as textile. Many of the textile users of this length of beach do not realise its long history and official designation as a naturist beach and some who are "naturist-phobic" have sought to challenge the use of the beach by naturists. Many naturist visitors to Vera Playa are probably unaware of the disputed length of beach as it is beyond the naturist zone's developed area (where the Hotel and residential urbanizacions are situated). Until recently the land adjoining this southerly beach area was completely undeveloped - but now thousands of textile apartments are being built on the land fronting this section of beach.
700 naturists - and some textiles - joined a peaceful protest march organised by the Naturist Association of Vera Playa (TBNa) on Sunday 24 August which started at the Almanzora Camping ground (the northern boundary of the naturist beach) and proceeded south, past the infamous illegal council signs which claim to mark the end of the "Official" naturist beach at Vera Playa at Playa de Baria 1, to the Camino de los Tres Olivos 1.8kms further south, which is the boundary under the 1979 Decree which established the official naturist beach. The purpose of the march was to advocate a "Free Beach" on the disputed beach, which can be used as naturist or textile according to individuals' preferences. Police nearly arrested the leaders of the march - and the Naturist Association believe that police intervention was at the Council's request. A 2000 signature petition has been delivered to Vera Council demanding the Free Beach status.  The protest march received massive publicity on TV, Radio and has had many column-inches of coverage and comment in Spanish newspapers.
    Some of the textiles who have confronted naturists seem to have come from Playa de Baria 1 - an urbanizacion in the naturist zone which was initially sold by its developers as naturist and later as textile - a sure recipe for dissent, which has, unsurprisingly, happened. Last year Vera Council unlawfully erected signs seeking to reduce the length of the naturist beach by well over 50% and restricting it to the beach immediately in front of the naturist urbanizacions and hotel.
      Vera Council and the Naturist Association are more at conflict than ever, with Vera's Mayor threatening legal action against the Association's President, Fran Clemente. The Ombudsman for Andalucia has come out in the naturists' favour and The Andalucian government has now to rule on the legality of Vera Council's actions which are widely believed to result from the Council being in bed with the developers of the new textile urbanizacions currently under construction and which front the disputed beach and who want it to be designated textile to facilitate the sales of their apartments. More on beach protest.

24 August 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003
All photos copyright - Assocn. Naturista Tortuga Boba 2003

Buoys to increase beach safety: Yellow buoys have been anchored in a long line parallel to the beach and running all the way to Garrucha. At intervals there is a channel for boats to be launched, indicated by two lines of buys at right angles to the beach, one line red, one green. The only such launching lane within the area of the naturist beach is opposite Natsun, though there is another one opposite the Valle d'Este Beach Club at Peurto Rey. It is understood this is intended to increase safety for bathers and that all boats are banned from the area within the yellow buoys. However, at the moment at least, there appears to be no explanatory notices on the shore - at least at Vera Playa - as to the purpose of the buoys and how they should be used.

23 June 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003

Beach shortening protest reinvigorated: The formation of a new naturists' association at Vera Playa (TBnA - named after the turtle which came ashore to lay its eggs 2 years ago) has given a focal point for new actions to challenge what is believed to be the illegal and unconstitutional actions by Vera Council in attempting to shorten the naturist beach at Vera Playa by nearly one half of its length. The new association, led by its President, Francisco Clemente, has prepared to take legal actions on a number of fronts. The first is an appeal to the Defender of the Citizens of Andalucia (roughly equivalent to an Ombudsman) who has power to investigate and to instruct public authorities to change decisions where he finds these to be wrong. A strong case, supported by a 2081 signature petition has been put to the Ombudsman, based on the original designation of the naturist beach between Puerto Rey and Vera Playa in 1979. The naturist association maintains that it is beyond the power of Vera Council to unilaterally change the decree which established the naturist beach. The help of all owners, visitors and other supporters of naturism at Vera Playa is urgently requested. Please visit our beach protest page to find a link to the Ombudsman's website where you can post your message of support.

6 April 2003 - news item www.VeraPlaya.info   © 2003

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