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| Spain cracks down on brothel's donations to police force | Spain cracks down on brothel's donations to police force |
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| Spain’s Guardia Civil police force will no longer accept donations from a brothel in Navarra, even if the money is put towards a good cause, the country’s minister of the interior has said. | Spain’s Guardia Civil police force will no longer accept donations from a brothel in Navarra, even if the money is put towards a good cause, the country’s minister of the interior has said. |
| The unusual funding arrangement came to light earlier this week when the citizen group Observatory Against Corruption filed a complaint over a donation provided by a local brothel to Guardia Civil agents in Tudela, a city of 35,000 in Navarra. The money was used to throw a celebration dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, the patron saint of the Guardia Civil. | The unusual funding arrangement came to light earlier this week when the citizen group Observatory Against Corruption filed a complaint over a donation provided by a local brothel to Guardia Civil agents in Tudela, a city of 35,000 in Navarra. The money was used to throw a celebration dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, the patron saint of the Guardia Civil. |
| The group, who noted the close friendship between the owner of the brothel and a high-ranking member of the local Guardia Civil unit, directed their complaint to the central government, demanding that an investigation be carried out. | The group, who noted the close friendship between the owner of the brothel and a high-ranking member of the local Guardia Civil unit, directed their complaint to the central government, demanding that an investigation be carried out. |
| Speaking to reporters in Vitoria on Thursday, minister Jorge Fernandéz Díaz said that such donations would no longer be accepted. “We don’t think this is right, despite the fact that the money is being used for good. We cannot, we should not and we won’t accept donations from an establishment of these characteristics.” He said he had learned of the donation through the press. | Speaking to reporters in Vitoria on Thursday, minister Jorge Fernandéz Díaz said that such donations would no longer be accepted. “We don’t think this is right, despite the fact that the money is being used for good. We cannot, we should not and we won’t accept donations from an establishment of these characteristics.” He said he had learned of the donation through the press. |
| Despite complaints in recent days that controversial changes to the country’s security laws are being used to crack down on the practice, prostitution in Spain exists in a sort of legal limbo. While not illegal, it is often not regulated in any way. | |
| Amaiur, a leftwing political party from the Basque country, said it had put a series of written questions to the governing People’s party, in order to clarify the total amount of the donation, whether the brothel had funded celebrations on other occasions and whether other events had been funded by the brothel for Guardia Civil agents. | Amaiur, a leftwing political party from the Basque country, said it had put a series of written questions to the governing People’s party, in order to clarify the total amount of the donation, whether the brothel had funded celebrations on other occasions and whether other events had been funded by the brothel for Guardia Civil agents. |
| The Guardia Civil in Navarra said it would seek to immediately end such donations. | The Guardia Civil in Navarra said it would seek to immediately end such donations. |
| Previous attempts by the Guardia Civil to pay tribute to its patron saint have also, at times, sparked outcry, such as in 2012, when the Guardia Civil’s highest honour was granted to Zaragoza’s Our Lady of the Pillar. At the time, Fernandéz Díaz explained that the award was meant to pay tribute to the “deep roots of the patronage of the Virgin of Pillar, which remains part of the heritage of the Guardia Civil”. | Previous attempts by the Guardia Civil to pay tribute to its patron saint have also, at times, sparked outcry, such as in 2012, when the Guardia Civil’s highest honour was granted to Zaragoza’s Our Lady of the Pillar. At the time, Fernandéz Díaz explained that the award was meant to pay tribute to the “deep roots of the patronage of the Virgin of Pillar, which remains part of the heritage of the Guardia Civil”. |