đȘđž This Week in Spain: Holiday Edition
Also a rapping queen, sky rockets in flight, and Mayor Danger.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | October 12, 2023 | Madrid | Issue #32
đ Welcome to The Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!
đ„ This Week in a Nutshell: Happy National Day of Spain, everyone! We really hope youâre enjoying your day off. In fact, chances are youâre reading this on Friday morning. Letâs face it, maybe you put it off because who wants to read about politics on a holiday? Thatâs fine, we wonât hold it against you (much). Give us a like, though.
đ Seriously, give us a like. Weâre addicted to them now and the more likes we get, the more we grow.
đ Remember that if this email gets truncated at the bottom because itâs too long, just click here to read the rest on Substack.
đ But wait, thereâs more! The Tapa has its very own LinkedIn page to grow a new community. Please check it out and, if youâre so inclined, follow us here.
đșIf you havenât subscribed yet, please do so by clicking on the button below.
đ«¶ And if you already have, please send this newsletter around to your friends and family and help us keep growing.
One big happy family
National Day of (Dis)Unity
Welcome to October 12, the National Day of Spain (Fiesta Nacional de España), not that youâd notice any national unity going on.Â
Begun as a way to celebrate Columbusâs arrival/âdiscoveryâ of the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492, it was called the DĂa de la Raza (little creepy), then DĂa de la Hispanidad before becoming Fiesta Nacional de España, thereby admitting that people in former Spanish colonies would just stick with their own monikers, which run from DĂa del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural in Argentina to DĂa de la Resistencia IndĂgena, Negra y Popular in Nicaragua.
But enough about history. Letâs get back to squabbling. Spainâs national day is a tough one for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro SĂĄnchez of the center-left PSOE socialists. For one thing, in Madrid itâs centered around a military parade (the air force practice for which makes the city sound like a war zone) and it takes place on and around the Paseo de la Castellana, bordering the pijo (posh) barrio of Salamanca. So?
Hereâs a simple equation: Military + pijo = not PSOE voters. Add in SĂĄnchezâs pardons of Catalan separatist leaders and last year you got lots of people in the crowd whistling and booing the PM (see video above) as he arrived after King Felipe VI et al to review the parade. Good times!
This year promises to be especially grumpy, though. The PSOEâs plan to win the seven votes of the Catalan separatist party Junts and return SĂĄnchez to the PMâs office by offering amnesty to those with roles in the illegal/unconstitutional 2017 separatist referendum is especially unpopular with the right-of-center crowd (and some on the center-left too).
The review stand for the royals and the SĂĄnchez government will be installed near Plaza Neptuno, where it will be far from the crowd, not in its usual place near the BernabĂ©u Stadium of Real Madrid. Ostensibly this is because the BernabĂ©u is under construction (which it is) but thereâs been a lot of speculation on the right that the SĂĄnchez government moved the stand to avoid having to faceâŠunpleasantness.Â
Spainâs right-leaning parties havenât been trying to make it more comfortable for the PSOE and SĂĄnchez. Oh, not at all! They say theyâre against the whistling at SĂĄnchez, but add that it happens because SĂĄnchez has been âlying to the Spanish people for five years.â
So letâs chat about pre-investiture ill-temperedness, and how Spainâs politicians are griping and sniping as their stake out territory before Novemberâs nail biting vote on Perro Sanxe 2.Â
50 minutes of your life youâll never get back
SĂĄnchez met with the boss of the center-right PP Alberto NĂșñez FeijĂło in the run-up to the Oct. 12 festivities, in the context of the upcoming (but as yet unscheduled) vote on SĂĄnchezâs re-investiture as prime minister. Andâsurprise!âit did not go well.
The 50-minute meeting was tense. How tense?
FeijĂło has urged the PSOE leader to call new elections to âconsult the Spaniardsâ about offering amnesty to the separatists because he hadnât exactly been selling amnesty in his 23J campaign platform (and has in fact rejected it multiple times). FeijĂło also referred to the pardon measure as a âdemocratic involutionâ and said would appeal to the Constitutional Court. Nice start at friendship!
SĂĄnchez for his part asked FeijĂło for ârestraint in his desperate attempt to agitate the streetâ â because the PP had participated in two protests against amnesty, first at the orthography-challenged march in Madrid and then (below) in Barcelona â and accused FeijĂło of attempting âa partisan instrumentalization of the National Holiday of October 12.â
Basically, SĂĄnchez accused FeijĂło of planning the booing that greeted him on Oct. 12. Which went over poorly with FeijĂło, who said (according to PP sources who spoke to  El PaĂs), âAre you seriously telling me that we are instigating the whistles on October 12? Really?" and noted, with some irony, that SĂĄnchez had been whistled in previous years when FeijĂło wasnât even president of the PP.
Really building up that friendship, folks. Donât you feel a coalition government between these two coming on?
Marchy, Marchy, Marchy
And about that march in Barcelona on Sunday, which FeijĂło attended the day before he met with SĂĄnchez. The organizersâthe Sociedad Civil Catalana (SSC), a âConstitutionalistâ (read: anti-separatist) group in Cataloniaâclaim that 300,000 attended the rally against amnesty, which Barcelonaâs Guardia Urbana said 50,000.Â
Though big, thatâs a pretty typical difference in estimatesâin the latest Sept. 11 Catalan Diada, big with pro-independence Catalans, the numbers were 800,000 and 115,000.
The SĂĄnchez government was apparently annoyed by how large it was, and also no doubt was irritated by things FeijĂło said at it, such as accusing the PSOE of skipping it (the socialist leadership had attended a similar SSC anti-secession march on Oct. 6, 2017, just after the referendum on independence) because it was âconducting businessâ, that is of trading the presidency of Spainâs government for the seven votes of pro-separatist Junts it needs to re-up SĂĄnchez as PM.
If this is how well the PSOE and the PP get along weeks before the investiture vote, we canât imagine how buddy-buddy it will get soon!
đ A Message From Our Sponsor
This month, myGwork and It Gets Better are focusing on LGBTQ+ culture, aiming for inclusivity that mirrors society's diversity. Together they've launched a contest open to LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Groups, individuals collaborating with LGBTQ+ associations, and anyone supportive of LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion.
The global contest in Spanish welcomes original short stories, short films from 2022-2023, and collaboration projects between companies and cultural initiatives. Prizes include the It Gets Better España Award (âŹ500), a travel experience for the second prize, and honorable mentions for inclusive projects.
Content submission deadline is Oct. 20, with winners announced on Oct. 31. Submissions should go to: comunicacion@mygwork.com
đŹ Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week
1.đžđ» Queen Letizia raps! (No, really, she kind of rapped)
Just when we thought we had seen it all, here comes Queen Letizia bringing royalty to the 21st century.
If thereâs one thing we know she does well is handle the media (sheâs a former journalist, after all). While presiding over an official event for World Mental Health Day in Madrid this Tuesday, the Queen decided to recite the lyrics of a song by local rapper El ChojĂn during her opening speech: "I do what I can, I reach where I reach, and it's not healthy to demand so much of me."
After doing a (all things considered) pretty good job at it, she explained that she âwouldn't attempt to rap, out of respectâŠfor the artists of this genre. But if any media outlet titles âthe Queen raps to raise mental health awareness,â it will be good to once again try to bring attention to something so important."
The Queen also mentioned the need for institutions and society âto listen to those suffering from mental health problems so they know what kind of actions to take so that the rights of people with mental illnesses are not further violatedâ.
"Investment in mental health is the guarantee of a more prosperous, just, and equitable future for all people, as we all have limitations, doubts, and insecurities. We all need tools to face life," she explained.
The Queenâs words probably resonated positively in a country that doesnât have enough psychiatrists and has an eerily high number of young people taking some sort of prescribed drug due to mental health issues. She was joined by caretaker Minister of Health JosĂ© Miñones and the president of the Mental Health Confederation, Nel GonzĂĄlez Zapico.
Oh, and if you are wondering about El ChojĂnâs actual work, hereâs one of his videos. Enjoy.
2. đ Oops!...Almeida did it again
Madrid Mayor JosĂ© Luis MartĂnez Almeida seems like a nice enough guyâbut heâs got some issues. Like, heâs been epically unlucky in love (though that seems to have turned around!). Also, the Pope made fun of him. And then thereâs sports. You donât want to be around him when heâs got a ball. Seriouslyâitâs dangerous.
Almeida whacked a kid with a penalty shot at the inauguration of a football pitch in the Sanchinarro neighborhood in 2020.Â
The mayor walloped a photographer the next year with a kicked soccer ball at AtlĂ©tico de Madridâs stadium.Â
Then, to mix things up, he whacked another photojournalist with a kicked rugby ball in 2022.
For his 2023 violence, heâs chosen a new location and a new weaponâhe used a basketball at the inauguration of two basketball courts that had been rehabbed in the barrio of TetuĂĄn by the NBAâs Dallas Maverickâs (who were in town to playâand lose toâReal Madrid).
Almeida picked up a basketball and made pass fakes to people in the crowd (sending many a knee trembling). Luckily that was as dangerous as it got for onlookers. Then, he made a shot from the foul lineâand hit it (!), earning him the nickname of âThe Fresh Prince of Madrid.â (Check out above.)
But then tragedy struck, as it does when Almeida touches sports equipment. A quick pickup game ended when the mayor tried to get around a member of the press guarding him, banged his face into the guyâs armâand broke his glasses.
3. đ Spainâs very own Elon Musk (well, a little more chill)
Third times a charm! After two scrubbed attempts, Spanish company PLD Space finally launched its first rocket from the El Arenosillo Experimentation Centre facilities in MazagĂłn, near Huelva (AndalucĂa).Â
The suborbital flight of the Miura 1 was lower than expectedâit reached a peak altitude of 46 km instead of the 80 km plannedâlasted only five minutes instead of the 12 hoped, and the company was unable to recover the reusable rocket, but it was nonetheless a huge deal for Spainâsâthe Europeâsâspace industry.
Miura 1âs flight may be the launch of the first private European rocket, for one thing. Ars Tecnica notes that technically, this is not true, because Scotlandâs Skyrora and the Dutch firm T-Minus Engineering also launched rockets last year, but they barely made it off the ground or were very small, respectively.Â
PLD Space intends to use what it learned from the Miura 1 launch to help build following generations, culminating in the Miura 5, a fully orbital craft that it wants to blast off as soon as 2025 from the European spaceport in French Guianaâand put into commercial service a year later.
The name Miura is inspired by a famous cattle farm in Sevilla known for its fighting bulls that are âindĂłmito, huesudo, de patas altas, fino de piel y lavado de caraâ (âuntamable, strong-boned, long-legged, fine-skinned and clean-facedâ). Also, this being space travel and all, hopefully very precise and not prone to explosions.
Europe is playing massive catch up with the U.S. in the space race. Billionaires Elon Musk (SpaceX) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) have pretty much sucked all the oxygen out of the room, and itâs fallen to companies like PLD Space to develop a reusable commercial European rocket that can compete. Because itâs great that we have better ham and tortilla, but spacecraft would be a real bonus.
âThis launch culminates over 12 years of relentless effort, yet it marks just the start of our journey,â said RaĂșl Torres, PLD Spaceâs launch director..

4.đ« AirEuropaâs Massive Cyber Attack
âYOUR DATA IN DANGERâ
Thatâs how state-owned news network TVE decided to headline a story that freaked millions of people out this week. Spanish airline AirEuropa (Iberiaâs younger, prettier sister) suffered a massive cyber attack on Tuesday and apparently hackers managed to access the credit card information of thousands of registered customers.
Naturally, the story provoked mass hysteria as many people (us included) have been lucky enough to fly the airline.
On Tuesday morning, many clients of AirEuropa received an email from the airline notifying them that the cyber attack had resulted in the theft of their banking information. A great way to start your day.
Specifically, the stolen data included an undetermined number of card numbers, their expiration datesâand the CVV (card verification value) number. You know, pretty much everything a hacker needs to make an electronic purchase using your card information. And just in time for Amazon Prime day!
The email explained to these clients that the best option was to immediately cancel any credit cards they may have used in the past to buy a ticket. The airline officially confirmed the hacking, which occurred due to a security breach in its payment systems.
While AirEuropa didnât say how many customers were affected, it is believed that there are some 100,000 users in the registered database.
However, the company has stated that the systems' breach was controlled a few hours after it occurred, and they were not aware of any of their customers falling victim to fraud through the unauthorized use of their credit cards. They still had to cancel the cards though, just in case.
And⊠ruh-roh. After the hack, experts pointed out to a âvery serious security flawâ because the company had allegedly violated a very strict regulation for companies that process online payments, which prohibits storing CVV security codes.
Bottom line: If you didnât get a message from AirEuropa saying you should cancel your credit cards, youâre (probably) fine. Have you checked your spam inbox? If not, donât forget to do so.
5. đ Hot enough for you? (Yeah, that old chestnut again)
Weâre all about balmy beach resorts, but this has gone too far. Now, in mid-October, the Canary Islands government has canceled classes at non-university levels Wednesday and Friday (Thursdayâs a holiday, remember?) because, to put it simply, itâs too damn hot.Â
Did we mention itâs mid-October? Well, itâs mid-October.
The situation in the Canary Island classrooms was "unsustainable," according to the Minister of Education, Vocational Training, Physical Activity and Sports, Poli SuĂĄrez. In several centers, fainting and episodes of heat stroke had already been reported.Â
Temperatures in the islands are expected to hit 34°C (if not more). Letâs put that in Fahrenheit because itâs just a bigger number. Over 93°F. HOT!
And it had been even worse! The heat wave has been hanging out in the islands for 12 days, with temperatures up to (gulp!) 39°C. Did we mention itâs October? Agencia Estatal de MeteorologĂa (AEMET), Spainâs weather center, says it hasnât seen a late heat wave like this in over 50 years.Â
And it gets even worser than that! The islands are experiencing calima at the same timeâyou know that red dust from Africa that covers everything, turns the sky orange, and clogs your mouth and eyes? Yeah, that stuff.
Guess what? The cancellation plan hasnât made really anyone happy. Parents of school kids are miffed because they donât get the days off, while Canary Islands university students are protesting the fact that the universities arenât closing, considering that the uni buildings seem to not have cold water and have many windows that wonât open. Which would be nice in a heatwave, right?
The upside? Meteorologists are predicting storms next week.
đ Before you go, please remember to share this newsletter with your friends on social media. The more we grow, the more information weâll be able to offer each week.
Weâll be back next week with more.
Awesome per usual, keep it up!