Volunteers who arrived from Seville to help the residents of the area of the village of Reatillo, located between the municipalities of Requena, Siete Aguas and Chera and very close to the farm of the Marchioness María de Borbón y de Rojas, denounce the obstacles that exist They found part of the property of the private hunting reserve to access the place. The bridge that connected the village, made up of a dozen houses, with the outside has been greatly affected by the catastrophic DANA and the company that owns the property sent a letter to the councils of the area, to the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation (CHJ ) and to the Department of Agriculture, Water, Livestock and Fisheries complaining that the residents of the village accessed their property because they could not cross through the usual passage.
The Reatillo Neighborhood Association regretted this Wednesday in a statement the attitude of the owners of the property and denied some statements in the letter, signed by the Marquis Ramón José de la Cierva García-Bermúdez, husband of María de Borbón and de Rojas.
Ignacio Martínez, president of the Sevillian association Raids Solidarios, assures that three 4×4 vehicles belonging to the entity’s volunteers ran into obstacles on the part of the property’s ownership on November 6. “Before reaching the demolished bridge, the property guards stopped us on the road that leads to the bridge to tell us that we could not access it, since the bridge was demolished and that it could only be reached through private property and that it was better that we should not continue, to which we replied that we would get to the bridge to study any possibility of passage,” says Martínez.
The small group of volunteers traveled from Seville with three 4×4 vehicles to Requena, where they left the material they had brought with them in the hands of the Red Cross in solidarity with those affected. This is an association that, in addition to organizing solidarity trips with its jeeps to North Africa, is in charge of transporting the floats of the king’s parade in Seville every year. After unloading in Requena, they went in their three vehicles to the village of Reatillo to collaborate in cleaning and clearing debris.
“We left the vehicles parked and, between us and neighbors of the village, we made a small pedestrian crossing, placing some stones and a safety rope to be able to walk to the village and do cleaning work in the most affected houses,” says the president of the association. “We found that access by 4×4 to the village is easy, but effectively, passing to the private property and traveling about 500 meters along a track in poor condition on the property,” details Ignacio Martínez.
Civil Guard vehicles appeared in the area. The agents of the armed institute went to the area in case the neighbors needed medicine or food and offered them to leave the village “if necessary,” according to the statement from the neighborhood association. “They also told us that if we could continue here it was where we would be better off, as long as they could provide us with access, since it was our usual home. They understood perfectly that we would like to stay in our homes if possible, trying to clean the mud and gradually fix the damage,” states the statement from the Reatillo Neighborhood Association.
The volunteers arriving from Seville tried at all times to access the village, avoiding the obstacles of the owners of the property. “We went back to the bridge to wait for them to arrive, when they arrived [los agentes de la Guardia Civil] The estate guards accompanied them in the same vehicle and with the same argument that we have seen in the letter from the owner of the property, [dijeron que] We do not have their authorization,” explains Martínez.
“At that moment,” continues the president of the Sevillian association, “they tell us that there are alternative routes to access the village, they accompany us to a crossroads in the road and tell us the route to follow.” However, after exploring the trails they found that “none of the three alternatives was practicable, they are roads that must have been unused for decades, completely broken and largely covered with vegetation, apart from the landslides caused by the rains.” ”. “Likewise,” he adds, “if they had access they would have forced us to cross the river, since the village is on the opposite bank.”
“We spent almost the entire day looking for the paths and steps that the guards and the Civil Guard indicated to us. So we decided to return, leave our cars parked (avoiding conflicts with the property of the property) and walk across,” says Ignacio Martínez.
At that time there were at least four members of the Royal Guard in the village, a unit deployed in towns such as Chiva, Utiel, Picanya, Requena and Buñol and with the command post located in Montcada. The Royal Guard deploys its personnel daily to the different locations to begin the tasks assigned by the Military Emergency Unit (UME) in terms of clearing debris, cleaning and sanitation of roads, evacuation of belongings in homes and garages, removal of vehicles from the public roads and night surveillance.
Neighborhood sources maintain that the presence of the Royal Guard troops was coincidental and separate their appearance in the area of the estate of the relatives of the emeritus king. The soldiers of the Royal Guard collaborated with the neighbors in the most priority tasks, as shown in the photographs of that day on November 6. The next day, as reported by the Royal Guardthe first replacement of its troops took place, which were even increased (initially there were 195). Neither the Royal House nor the Royal Guard itself have answered this newspaper’s questions.
The return to Seville with a “bittersweet taste”
Upon arriving at the village of Reatillo, “they also informed us that the Royal Guard itself had to fill in the ditch that prevents the road from passing from the farm to the access road and on the way back, in order to leave, they have opened the barrier that allowed them to “It prevented access to the farm.” At the end of that day, one of the association’s volunteers was unwell and his colleagues agreed to “rescue” him and take him to a hotel in Requena.
The next day, on November 7, they went to the area again and crossed “walking loaded with all the necessary elements to continue with the work of cleaning and cutting vegetation.” The letter signed by the sole administrator of Borcier SA (company that owns the estate), Marquis Ramón José de la Cierva García-Bermúdez, husband of María de Borbón and de Rojas, is dated November 7. The Reatillo Neighborhood Association criticized this Wednesday in a statement the “pathetic” and “highly unsupportive” role of the marquises who own the estate, of almost 2,000 hectares.
The president of the ‘Raids Solidarios’ association also considers “totally incredible” the attitude of the property’s owners, who “knowing the circumstances, prevent the passage to the village of Reatillo, along a track, in poor condition, that runs through the edge of the farm.”
“We have become [a Sevilla] with a bittersweet taste, not understanding the attitude of some people,” concludes the president of the solidarity entity.
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