Rest of World • 26th May 2021

The high-tech ‘makeover’ of Europe’s deadly border with Africa

Before dawn broke one January morning in Melilla, a Spanish town flanked by the Meditarranean Sea on one side and semi-arid hills on the other, veteran border cop Sergio Marquez heard the call come through the radio: “Fence activation, please verify.”

POLITICO • 19th May 2021

Morocco uses migrants to get what it wants

When 6,000 people pushed off a Moroccan beachfront Monday, swam around two border walls and waded into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, the question was why Morocco’s normally aggressive border patrols had let them get that far.

The Guardian • 1st March 2019

Spain’s Watergate: inside the corruption scandal that changed a nation

The Gürtel case began with one Madrid mogul. Over the next decade, it grew into the biggest corruption investigation in Spain’s recent history, sweeping up hundreds of corrupt politicians and businessmen – and shattering its political system.

The Nation • 22nd May 2020

Is Mexico’s ‘Mayan Train’ a Boondoggle?

Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, swept to power in 2018 promising to speak for historically marginalised indigenous communities. His pet project, the 1500-km 'Mayan Train' has created division and tension within those very communitites.

Deutsche Welle • 19th May 2020

Is Mexico's wind sector repeating fossil fuels' mistakes?

Communities in Oaxaca say they were hoodwinked into approving wind parks that pollute their land. As another development looms, they're hoping a legal injunction puts power back in their hands.

GlobalPost Investigations • 30th May 2018

Overfished: In Senegal, empty nets lead to hunger and violence

The crisis is now forcing West African countries along the Atlantic to fight one another over the fish that remain.

One Zero • 18th December 2019

Meet the Man Who Allegedly Tried to Extort Julian Assange

Jose ‘Pepe’ Martín was a little-known journalist and convicted conman — and then he got his hands on footage of the WikiLeaks founder in his embassy sanctuary

Reuters • 1st October 2017

Catalan leader opens door to secession from Spain after vote

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Catalonia’s regional leader opened the door to a unilateral declaration of independence from Spain on Sunday after voters defied a violent police crackdown and, according to regional officials, voted 90 percent in favor of breaking away.

Reuters • 4th July 2018

Migrant rescue boat arrives in Spain after rejection by Italy and Malta

BARCELONA (Reuters) - A humanitarian rescue boat carrying 60 migrants rescued off Libya docked in Barcelona on Wednesday after being turned away by Malta and Italy, in the latest example of European divisions on immigration.

Reuters • 21st December 2018

Police arrest Catalan separatists seething at Spanish cabinet visit

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Police dragged Catalan separatists off roads and arrested 13 during protests on Friday as the Spanish cabinet met in the regional capital of Barcelona in both a show of central power and an attempt at negotiation. Secession supporters used tyres and rubbish to barricade highways from before dawn, and thronged the streets of Barcelona in their thousands, many flying the striped Estelada, the Catalan independence flag that bears a lone star. Some set off flares and burned a

Reuters • 8th November 2017

Catalan leader's farmhouse pact to make last stand in Brussels

BARCELONA/GIRONA, Spain (Reuters) - Twenty-four hours after Spain removed him from power, Catalonia’s leader had resolved to leave the country and take his independence campaign to the heart of the European Union, but first he needed to tie off an important loose end.

Reuters • 14th May 2019

Spanish court says jailed Catalan separatists can be sworn in to parliament

MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain’s Supreme Court has ruled that five Catalan separatist leaders can leave prison to be sworn in as lawmakers next Tuesday but said it would not halt the trial over their role in Catalonia’s independence bid in 2017. Oriol Junqueras, Josep Rull, Jordi Turull and Jordi Sanchez all won seats in the lower house of parliament in a national election on April 28. Raul Romeva, won an upper chamber seat. The five are currently being held in custody on charges of rebell

Foreign Affairs • 18th June 2019

The End of the Spanish Exception?

In the international press, the national election made headlines for two reasons, each offering a different picture of the state of Spanish—and, by extension, European—politics.

Reuters • 1st October 2019

On second anniversary of banned referendum, Catalan separatists call for independence

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Catalan separatists chanting “Freedom for the political prisoners” and “Independence!” took part in largely peaceful rallies on Tuesday that failed to draw massive crowds at a time when the restive Spanish region has come to a crossroads.

Reuters • 1st May 2019

Stars aligned for Catalan separatists? Not so fast

BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Cheers rang out and drinks flowed in a Barcelona sports hall on Sunday night as separatists celebrated a victory - the first time a pro-independence party won in Catalonia in a national election since Spain’s return to democracy.

Newsweek • 19th June 2017

Thousands of homeless people in Spain are squatting, and owners are getting rough as they try to get them out

Veronica and her three small children live in a modernist building in a quiet, working-class Barcelona neighborhood. The apartment is perfect for the young family, except for one thing: They are living there illegally. Veronica, who declined to give her last name for fear of eviction, is among the thousands of people squatting in vacant apartments throughout Spain.

Reuters • 7th October 2016

'Instant job' apps find niche in Spain's troubled labour market

BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Marta Romero’s small start-up is in hiring mode, and it’s not just her own workforce that is growing: she’s trying to find jobs for 4.6 million unemployed Spaniards too.

Prospect Magazine • 18th December 2015

Ciudadanos: what drives Spain’s new liberal insurgency? | Prospect Magazine

The party is shooting up the polls in Spain ahead of the country's general election—but does its success contain lessons for the rest of the continent?

TakePart • 1st October 2015

To Repel Migrants, European Border Patrol Turns Bloody

TANGIER, Morocco—Bakari Pacal was sprinting along a jetty in northern Morocco when he heard a rifle crack. His stride broke, and he tumbled into the Mediterranean. It was dawn on February 6, 2014, and he was in the lead group of a mass rush on a border fence dividing Morocco from an obscure Spanish enclave on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, a city of 85,000 called Ceuta.

Al Jazeera • 14th March 2017

Are Morocco and EU heading towards a political impasse?

Europe depends heavily on Morocco for cooperation on two most important concerns: Migration and counterterrorism.