Asturian-American Migration Forum

Nos tamos arguyosos de ser astur-americanos, pero dacuandu tamos bien l.lonxe d’entender cousas de la politica nel Principau. Prestanos suanar d’Asturias cumo d’una ‘Middle Earth’ a la que siempre tornamos. Sicasi, el poder politicu n’Asturias non camudou nin un res tres morrer Franco en 1975, de la que Espana feixo los sous primeiros pasos deica un sistema democraticu pluripartidista. La estructura del poder n’Asturias inda ia una cousa abondo feo que namai camudara de forma, non de manos. Jose Manuel Cuervo, del PSOE/FSA en Cangas/Narcea, ia un bon exemplu d’el.lo.

En gran parte, lo aquel de la politica asturiana tien muitu que ver cona compra del PSOE rexonal (FSA) de del.las estayas de la poblacion: sindicatos, cuenca minera, trabayadores del metal, funcionarios, ganadeiros, pensionistas, etc. Los estudiantes ya trabayadores autonomos davezu son las unicas estayas demograficas que quedan fora la rede clientelar de la FSA, ya por el.lo son quien a fader oposicion. Senon, pouco escuitamos nos medios de comunicacion rexonales, tamien dientro la mesma rede, de lu que fain ya piensan outros partios cumo Izquierda Xunida-Bloque por Asturies, Unida, etc.

Pa fader de contrapesu a las redes clientelares de la FSA, el nuesu l.labor n’Asturianus.org tien que ser el de da-ys puxu a conceptos cumo tresparencia, ‘accountability’ (cumo se diz n’asturianu ou castel.lan?) ya por fin una meritocracia n’Asturias. A la xente que brega por el.lo nel Principau torgan-ys la voz los medios de comunicacion embaxo’l control (monetariu) de la FSA, pente el.los la television publica asturiana, TPA.

Dende que trabayara cumo observador internacional nas eleiciones d’Ucrania en 2004, de la que xurdia la ‘revolucion naranxa’ del tandem Yuschenko ya Timoshenko, gustabame la idega que la xente mozo n’Asturias—ya la xente mayor tamien—bregara por istituciones que ferrularan de forma tresparente pa abal.lancar la corrupcion. Tamien escontra el traficu d’influencias na Xunta Xeneral. En politicos asturianos cumo Fernando Lastra, via el mesmu fondu autoritariu ya intimidador de xente cumo’l candidatu pro-rusu ucranianu Viktor Yanukovich, encausau pola oposicion mas d’una vegada por del.los crimenes.

Cangas/Narcea tien abondo de ‘accounting’ por fader. Vei servir d’exemplu de lo aquel de la politica asturiana. Jose Manuel Cuervo ia l’ex-alcalde de Cangas pel PSOE/FSA ya l.lamberga de Fernando Lastra, que tamien ia cangues. Cuervo tuviera 24 anos (1983-2007) d’alcalde primeiru que lu echara de la casa conceyu una xuntanza con poucos precedentes ente’l Partiu Popular (PP) ya Izquierda Xunida-Bloque por Asturies nas eleiciones autonomas de 2007.

La fin del selmana del 19 d’abril de 2008, los capos de la FSA fixeran-y una comida-fartura pa Cuervo enantes de que marchara pa Madriz au vei sentase nel Senau del Estau. Digo sentase, porque ia lu que vei fader fisicamente. Esti paisanu nun marcha pa la capital del Estau pa bregar por intereses asturianos cumo senador despueis de que lu metieran na l.lista de candidatos del PSOE asturianu nas eleiciones xenerales de marzu 2008. Non. Nel ultimo retenton de la FSA pa reciclar a Cuervo metienonlu de conseyeiru pal conseyeiru d’educacion del Principau, J.L. Iglesias Riopedre. Pero paez que la cousa nun cuayara. Despueis de 24 anos na casa conceyu, cumo veis reciclar a Cuervo de conseyeiru-pedagogo?

Mandalu pa Madrid ia una maniobra de la FSA pa que Cuervo, un dia l.lonxanu, torne pa Cangas, despueis de tar sentau muitu tiempu nel Senau espanol. You nun quiero que xente cumo Cuervo (nin Lastra tampouco) tean nel poder. El sou estilu ya conteniu pertenez a la domina de Franco n’Espana (1938-1975), non n’Asturias de 2008.

Conociu cumo Cuervo pola xente d’oucidente, durante cuasi mediu sieglu esti paisanu tuviera controlando tola estaya de la construcion en Cangas/Narcea, caun de los piesl.les de las minas nel sou conceyu, caun de los debates parroquiales mas atexigaos. Cuervo diba de senor feudal ou cacique, mandando no que quixera. Hai poucos anos sintieranlu falar al.legaos mious nuna cena-fartura pa OHL en Cangas. OHL ia la constructora que ganou el contratu pa remozar el Monasteriu Courias (Corias) ya fader un parador nacional. El monasteriu benedictin, qu’esbarrumbara en 1773, anguanu ta n’obras.

Pues bien, parte del tratu que roblara Cuervo con OHL, enrriba ou embaxu la mesa, yera afitar que nun s’atouparan demasiaos bienes materiales en Courias que foran aselar la obra. Cuervo tenia cumo finxo asegurase que los teunicos que trabayaban no monasteriu nun s’alcontraran una nueite frente a osuarios, frescos, tumbas, esculturas ou estratigrafia de bayura hestorica—pa nun aselar la obra, claro ta. Nel ‘bureaucratese’ de la alministracion del Principau a esto chaman-l.ly ‘torpedear un proyecto’.

La FSA tien l.lercia a nun poder sacar dividendos politicos de cousas cumo la restauracion de Courias ya Cuervo encargouse de fader achantar a los sous costituyentes. Esto ia namai un exemplu ruin de las transacciones pouco tresparentes de Cuervo en Cangas. Nun ia’l miou envis que vaigamos ser tos cinicos, pero nun tien xaciu que dengun mediu de comunicacion n’Asturias nun fale de Cuervo cumo lo que ia: un politicu corruptu dafeitu l.len de paternalismu ya autoritarismu d’outra domina.

El Comercio, el periodicu del PSOE/FSA n’Asturias, falou de la cena-fartura n’esti articulu:

http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/gijon/ ... 80420.html

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As Asturian-Americans, we are sometimes blissfully unaware of local or regional politics in Asturias. We think of the Principality as an idyllic land, a kind of Middle Earth we pine for in our dreams. But political power in Asturias never really changed hands after Franco’s death in 1975, when Spain embarked on its transition to multiparty democracy. Power in Asturias is ugly and has only changed in shape. Jose Manuel Cuervo, of the PSOE/FSA, is a prime example of that.

In no small part, the situation has to do with the FSA’s buyout of different segments of the population: union workers, miners, steel mill employees, public servants, dairy farmers, pensioners, etc. Often, students and the self-employed are the only demographics beyond the thrall of the FSA, and therefore in the opposition. That is why we never hear much about parties like Izquierda Xunida-Bloque por Asturies (United Left-Asturian Bloc), Unida (coalition of nationalists and greens), and others.

To offset the FSA’s clientelist approach, I think we at Asturianus.org should be advocates of ideas like transparency, accountability and the promotion of a meritocracy in Asturias. Otherwise, the advocates that live and work in Asturias are routinely deprived of a voice in the FSA-controlled media, including the TPA (regional public radio & television) and regional newspapers like El Comercio.

Ever since I worked as an international election observer in Ukraine’s Orange Revolution of 2004, I hoped that younger—and older—people in Asturias would make similar claims for full-functioning institutions and the uprooting of corrupt municipal councils, as well as influence-peddling at the Xunta Xeneral (regional parliament). In people like Fernando Lastra (spokesperson of the FSA), I recognized the same authoritarian, intimidating tactics of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovich, also a former ‘petty criminal’.

Cangas del Narcea has a lot of accounting to do. I’ll use it as an example of ‘ugly politics’ in Asturias. Jose Manuel Cuervo, the former mayor and buddy of Fernando Lastra, was in office for 24+ years (1983-2007) before being booted out by an unprecedented coalition of PP (Partido Popular, conservative) and Izquierda Xunida-Bloque por Asturies in the regional election of 2007. This past weekend (April 19, 2008), Cuervo was feted by party bigwigs before traveling to Madrid to sit in the Senate. By sitting, I mean it literally. This man will not go to Madrid to further Asturian interests in the Senate, as a result of the March 2008 national election. The point of sending Cuervo to Madrid is to accrue political capital and to recycle him politically. A previous recycling attempt failed: he was sent to be an education adviser to the Asturian education minister. The point of his ‘sitting’ in Madrid has everything to do with paving his return to Cangas. I, for one, never want to see people like Cuervo (or Lastra) in positions of power. Their style and content belongs to Franco-era Spain (1938-1975), not to Asturias in 2008.

Known as ‘Cuervo’ (crow) by most people, for nearly a quarter century this man controlled every infrastructure initiative in Cangas/Narcea, each closure of local mines, even the smallest, parochial debates. He was the ultimate feudal overlord, or ‘cacique’. Cuervo and a councilman were overheard at a dinner a few years ago (‘business’ is often done over—and under—the dinner table in Asturias) setting the price for the restoration of Courias (Corias) monastery with a project manager of OHL, a large Spanish developer. The Benedictine monastery down the road from Cangas (rebuilt after a fire in 1773) is currently being remodeled. The government wants to turn it into a parador, or state-operated tourist inn.

Part of the OHL deal was about securing that no significant archaeological/historic material finds were found at Courias. That is, Cuervo worked out a deal to make sure the technicians hired to monitor the remodeling job would not run into any ossuaries, paintings, tombstones, sculptures or stratigraphic layers that might undermine the project, or be a cause for delays. In the bureaucratic jargon of the Asturian administration, they did not want any one ‘torpedoing’ the restoration project for fear of losing its political dividends—those that Cuervo needs to show the FSA and his subdued constituents. This is only one example of non-transparent transactions practiced by the FSA in Cangas. We should not become cynics, but it’s sad that no major news outlet in Asturias is willing to out Cuervo for what he is: a corrupt politician with a strong authoritarian, paternalist streak.

As Keith Olbermann of MSNBC would say, Jose Manuel Cuervo is this week's Worst Person in the World...

Gracies Is. Como dices, ye imposible sintir y lleer esti tipu de reflesiones, nos medios de comunicación audiovisuales y escritos d'Asturies. Y la xente que tais lloñe y veis la realidá asturiana, podéis mandanos un poco d'osíxenu intelectual (fainos falta).
Nel homenaxe que-y ficieron a Cuervo en Cangas,

Eslabón

podemos ver que taba la plana mayor de la FSA, evidentemente nun faltaba el señor Lastra, "capo" del occidente d'Asturies. Pero lo más interesante de la noticia ye la semeya onde se ve a Antonio Trevín sentáu na mesa principal con Cuervo. Trevín, durante dalgún tiempu, representó una supuesta "tercera vía" dientro de la FSA, una vía más dialogante, y con cierta tolerancia hacia'l asturianismu y l'asturianu. Pero esta vía ficieronla desaparecer el señor Lastra y Javier Fernández. Agora la FSA ye una organización monolítica, onde naide s'atreve a salise de la llinia marcada por Lastra. Un Lastra que, salvo milagru, va ser el que cocine un Estatutu-basura p'Asturies.

P.D. Esperemos que Cuervo se tope bien per Madril y monte ellí los sos negociaos, y así, nun vuelva pa Cangas.

Un saludu candial.

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Trans. Is

Thanks, Is. Like you say, it’s impossible to hear and read this kind of commentary in the mainstream media here in Asturies. People like you, who are far away and have insights into our reality, are able to purvey us with an oxygen tank, the kind of intellectual succor we need. In the photo op of the banquet that was thrown in honor of Cuervo in Cangas,

Link

you will notice all the high-ranking officials of the FSA, obviously including Mr Lastra, the ‘capo’ (head mobster) of West Asturias. But perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the picture is the one that shows Antonio Trevin sitting at the main table next to Cuervo. For a long time, Trevin stood for a ‘third way’ (an alternative course) within the FSA, one that was more open to dialog and with a sensibility toward the Asturian rights movement, including language rights. However, the ‘third way’ was steamrolled by Mr Lastra and Javier Fernandez. Now, the FSA is a monolithic organization in which people are afraid to dissent from the policies set by Lastra. And it is precisely Lastra who, in all likelihood, is going to be in charge of drafting a trashy new autonomy statute for Asturias.

P.S. Let’s hope that Cuervo is comfortable in Madrid and sets up his own business franchises there. That way, he will never return to Cangas.

Kind regards.

mofusu wrote: Pero lo más interesante de la noticia ye la semeya onde se ve a Antonio Trevín sentáu na mesa principal con Cuervo. Trevín, durante dalgún tiempu, representó una supuesta "tercera vía" dientro de la FSA, una vía más dialogante, y con cierta tolerancia hacia'l asturianismu y l'asturianu. Pero esta vía ficieronla desaparecer el señor Lastra y Javier Fernández.

How do you explain the steamrolling effect of Lastra and Fernandez within the FSA? Is there a sociological or behavioral explanation? Is it Lastra's corrosive personality? His threats and bullying tactics within the party that keeps Trevin's followers from speaking out? I'd be interested in your take on this, Mufosu, since I don't have an insider's view.

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Sedrias quien a desplicame por que Lastra ya Fernandez fain desapaecer cousas cumo la 3ra via de Trevin? Hai dalguna desplicacion socioloxica ou de xeitu personal? Seique ia la personalida corrosiva de Lastra? Andan fadiendo, amenazas ou 'bullying' pa torgar a la xente de Trevin dientro la FSA? Tou interesau no que piensas tu d'ello, Mufosu, porque de l.lonxe nun sou quien a ver per dientro.

ye increible , ye tan cutre que casi me da la risa , esa escena nel resturante entre "cuervo" y el project manager de la constructora , tu escava y atopes un mexaderu ostrogodu o un templu na tiralu pa los gochos eso si que "fai pareza un accidente" ... una conversacion que quedaria mas propia nos llabios de "fat tony" ( de los simpsons ) que nos del padrino , nin pa eso damos.

tantu cuentu que si los asturianos seremos celtes o iberos y lo que somos ye sicilianos hay que se fastidiar ...

lo de verda ye alarmante nun ye tanto les coses que faen ( y son ciertamente alarmante ) lo alarmante de verda ye la impunida que sienten , bono nun solo que siente si non que ye bien real. Son intocables.

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cor blimey ! ... so surreal that I do not know if I should be angry or just laugh it off ... that whole conversation in the restaurant between the constructor's project manager and "cuervo" is just unreal. Keep digging the monsatery old chap if you find a roman necropolis , get rid of it but make sure it looks like an "accident" ... more "fat tony" than the godfather .. .. so much dicussion around whether we are celtic or iberian and it turns up we asturians are sicilian.

what is really alarming is not what they do the impunity with wich they act , anything goes. They are untouchable ,,,

por ciertu a mou the reflexion , lo de lastra y tolos demas chungos ye propio de reximenes ensin lliberta. Nos reximenes autoritarios los que lleguen al poder , les elites , son siempre les peores persones. Y nun ye una cuestion casual propicialo el sistema.

Nesos reximenes los que denuncien , traicionen y demuestren menos principios son los que mas llonhe van llegar. Nun tienen que demostrar el so valor ante la opinion publica comu nes sociedaes llibres .

La promocion consiguese a traves de la intrigua palaciega , el favor personal , la creacion de redes clientelares , la corrupcion nunca el meritu. Y nesos ambientes los peores destaquen siempre ye inevitablemente una consecuencia del sistema.

Nun querio parecer desaxerau Asturies, evidentemente , nun ye un rexime comu el comunismu sovieticu pero ta llonhe de lo que se entiende comu la "normalida occidental"

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The fact that Lastra and so many other unsavioury characters are on top is not pure bad luck , in regimes where there is no freedom the worse characters thrive.

Where social promotion is not based on merit or on gaining the favour opf the public but on favour , plotting , corruption or clientelism those who have no principles and are willing to do anything for personal gain have got great advantage over anyone else. It is a byproduct of the system.


I do not want to sound overdramatic or exagerated , it is obvious that asturies is not like soviet russia , but I also feel we are far from what is generally considered "western normality" ...

This is sounding more and more like American politics.

JA, JA, JA, toi d'acuerdo.

ayalgueru wrote:...so much dicussion around whether we are celtic or iberian and it turns up we asturians are sicilian.

Ha! I was thinking the same thing yesterday, Ayalgueru. Lastra and Cuervo could make classic appearances in 'Il Padrino'. Asturian politics is like a case study in the omerta practiced in Reggio-Calabria...

The funny thing about this is that it's politics-as-usual in Asturias. No one, ever, bats an eye when they hear the FSA version of the events in Cangas del Narcea with Jose Manuel Cuervo, nor do they bat an eye when Areces says, on the mind-numbing TPA, that Asturias is ready to weather the global credit crisis. I've seen newspaper articles that hail Asturias (the FSA version of Asturias, that is) as a leader in CO2 abatement! What's next? Turkmenbashi?

Jose Manuel Cuervo, I'm convinced, is the perfect illustration of grotesque in modern world politics. I'm sure there are corollaries in smalltown politics in the US, Bob, but at least here, the bluff of people like Lastra and Cuervo is called instantly by the media. It's out in the open and up for debate. Not so in Asturias. That's a qualitative difference.

Actually, I was thinking of American national politics, and the media do little to call attention to the lies and misrepresentations.

Bufff... les relaciones de poder na FSA igual les tenía qu'esplicar Freud

Ta claro que les persones que mandaron y manda na FSA (llevan 30 años siendo los mesmo) tiene una bona y directa relación con José Ángel Fernández Villa; secretariu xeneral del Sindicato de los Obreros Mineros de Asturias- SOMA-FIA-UGT, diputáu na Xunta Xeneral d'Asturies munchos años pol PSOE, senador del Estáu,etc. Villa tien los sos propios seguidores dientro del PSOE, son Los Villistas. Tanto Lastra como Fernández puen considerase continuadores del Villismu. El Villismu, que foi heriede en bona parte de les práctiques del sindicalismu vertical franquista, basó la so política d'estos últimos 30 años na xestión de la lliquidación más o menos controlada del sector mineru de les cuenques del Caudal y Nalón. En consecuencia, la FSA, integrada mayoritariamente por villistas, lleva munchos años gobernando Asturies como si fuera un pozu de carbón. Esta dependencia "carbonífera" del Partíu failos ser partidarios de un tipu de poder mui fuerte, centralizáu, proteccionista colos sos intereses, desarrollista, etc
Por desgracia, estes siguen siendo les tesis aplastantemente mayoritaries na FSA. Y un partíu que ta nel poder durante munchos años, y tien la pinta de tar munchos años más, nun ye el meyor sitiu pa salise de la ortodoxa.

saludín.

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Trans. Is

Let’s say Freud would have a hard time explaining the power games within the FSA…

However, it’s obvious that the current and former leaders of the FSA (the same people have led the party for 30 years) are pretty tight with Jose Angel Fernandez Villa: Secretary General of SOMA-FIA-UGT (Miners’ and Workers’ Union of Asturias), long-time MP at the Xunta Xeneral [Asturian regional parliament] for the PSOE/FSA, senator in Madrid. Villa has his own followers within the party, the so-called ‘Villistas’. Both Lastra and Fernandez can be considered by-products of ‘Villismu’ [followers of the union leader’s movement].

The phenomenon known as ‘Villismu’ is a direct successor of Franco’s system of vertical workers’ unions, their strategies/practices have simply passed down from the Franco-era union. Villa’s followers based their politics in the last 30 years in managing the controlled downfall of the mining sector in the Caudal and Nalon valleys. This coal-based dependence of the party [the PSOE/FSA] makes them be partial to a very strong power vertical, highly centralized, protectionist in outlook where its base is concerned and tending to favor large-scale infrastructure.

Unfortunately, this ideology has kept dominating the majority of heads within the FSA. And a party that has been in power for many years and which is likely to remain in power for even longer, is not exactly a place where one would want to express dissent.

saludín.

Meanwhile, back in Cangas del Narcea...

The Xixon daily El Comercio (pro-PSOE/FSA) has an article today (May 7, 2008) about a lawsuit lodged in 2003 by a councilperson in Cangas of the URAS (right of center regionalist party) against Jose Manuel Cuervo.

Link to article

As mayor for 24 years, Cuervo micromanaged the construction boom in the city of Cangas, pocketing left and right, and openly employing his daughter (!) in architectural jobs. This is the kind of crass impunity that Ayalgueru mentions further up in the thread.

The lawsuit is asking the Senate in Madrid for official confirmation of Cuervo's desgination to the Upper House, which I presume grants him legal immunity of some kind to dodge the lawsuit.

The example cited by the newspaper is that Cuervo flipped the zoning law for a lot on Avenida del Acebo from 'green area' to 'residential construction'. Here's an excerpt of the article describing the flip:

"Ese es el caso de un edificio construido en la avenida del Acebo construido por Inversiones El Acebo. Según el informe, el bloque «ocupa totalmente el espacio calificado en las Normas Subsidiarias como zona verde pública, que posteriormente pasó a denominarse zona libre vinculada a la edificación». En las conclusiones se dice también que «no era susceptible de edificación el suelo bajo rasante, de acuerdo con la normativa existente en el momento de la concesión de la licencia de obras». Además, señalan, «se obtuvieron aprovechamientos lucrativos» en el citado espacio por seis viviendas y diecisiete plazas de garaje, con una estimación presupuestaria de 421.039 euros."

And this is the man the PSOE/FSA chooses to close ranks with after he lost the job as mayor of Cangas? Merkwuerdig, as they say in Germany.