Activist assaulted and threatened over tourism development

Many people see it as a dream about to come true - the opening of a massive tourism complex in Cáceres called Marina Isla de Valdecañas. But for Paca Blanco, local coordinator for the environmental group Ecologists in Action, it is hell. For the last five years, Blanco has been harassed and assaulted for denouncing the illegal nature of the development, which was built on 1.3 million square meters of protected land declared a European Union Special Protection Area for wild birds.

Many of the 300 residents of El Gordo, the municipality where the complex was erected, feel that Blanco's activism is a threat to local economic interests.

Marina Isla de Valdecañas is located 160 kilometers from Madrid, where many of its eventual clients will presumably come from. The complex will house two four- and five-star hotels, nearly 200 luxury villas, a golf course and a marina. The development is located on an island of the Valdecañas reservoir, framed by the Gredos and Las Villuercas mountain ranges.

Attackers have broken her windows and caused 2,000 euros worth of damage to her car

"Assaulting me has become the national sport around here"

The Ecologists in Action group has been in court over this project since 2007, when the regional government of Extremadura, then headed by the Socialist Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra, issued a decree allowing construction on the Valdecañas island and terming it a Regional Interest Project (PIR). Now, the regional High Court has ruled on the side of environmentalists, stating that the development does not meet the criteria to be considered a PIR, and ordering it be torn down. The regional government will appeal before the Supreme Court.

Last Wednesday, when the ruling was made public, Blanco sent a fax to central government representatives in Cáceres, requesting personal protection. She was afraid that the harassment she has been subjected to for the last five years could escalate into something serious. She calmly explains that people have thrown Molotov cocktails against her house. "One of them nearly hit a butane gas canister." Attackers have also broken her windows, smashed eggs against the house, set her mailbox on fire and caused 2,000 euros worth of damage to her car.

Blanco, 62, has been an environmental activist for the last 20 years and says she will not buckle under the pressure. But she also admits she does not want to put her family at risk, especially her six-year-old grandson who lives with her. So she has put her home up for sale, and plans to leave the village.

"Assaulting and harassing me has become the national sport around here," she says. "Five years ago it was a group of kids, but others have taken over. They do it because they hear things at home."

The youngsters she reported to the police apologized for setting fire to her mailbox - the only attack for which evidence exists. And they did so on the request of the mayor, who refused to talk to this newspaper.

Local dislike for her is evident. "That woman insists that birds go through there, but nothing goes through there," says Teodoro Gutiérrez, owner of a bar called Las Cigüeñas (The Storks). "The complex is beneficial to bars and stores, it brings jobs." Gutiérrez is aware the development was built on protected land. "But that's all right - it doesn't do any damage."