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SEXUAL HARASSMENT

‘Shaman’ shakes sexual harassment charge

A 'shaman' who allegedly fondled his female patients against their wishes has escaped several charges of sexual harassment in Spain's Supreme Court.

'Shaman' shakes sexual harassment charge
A 'healer' claimed his Seville therapy sessions were all about unblocking his female patients' sexuality. Photo: Ruben Vike

The healer touched his patients' genitals, breasts, groins and buttocks but this was not enough to see him face prison charges said Spain's Supreme Court.

The "shaman", known for legal reasons only as C.S.M., had earlier escaped charges at Seville's provincial court, reported ABC newspaper on Thursday.

He wound up in court again, however, after Spain's public prosecutors office appealed the decision.   

But the country's Supreme Court rejected the appeal saying that there had been no aggression or intimidation in the healer's acts.

The court also said that the man's patients had not been "deprived of reason or sense".

In its decision on the case, the court said: "It is not clear whether the agent (the healer) had control over the women."

The accused in the case was a Peruvian man who had travelled to Seville in the summer of 2010.

He was invited by a group called the Camino del Águila who wanted the healer to host a number of workshops and practice his therapy.

During his time in the Andalusian capital, the man regularly gave weekend consultations, which he described as a way of helping women to unblock their sexuality.

The man's treatments were carried out with a number of patients at a time, although the women were housed in different rooms, the supreme court established.

Eventually though, a total of five women came forward to denounce the healer's practice.

The first of these was interested in spiritual cleansing and visited the medicine man after attending one of his "chats".

However, during her consultation, she claimed she received "rapid and intense" touches all over her body while she lay face down on a mat.

The woman was then asked to remove her clothes and underwear and was again touched all over body.

According to testimony heard in the supreme court, however, the woman later returned to the healer for similar 'treatment'.

A second woman said she was kissed during her session with the healer who then "at the end asked for her phone number".

A third woman, meanwhile, said she had attended her session with her boyfriend in the hope that she could get over some emotional problems she was facing. 

The healer then said the woman should sit astride his lap so that he could "relieve her tension and unblock certain energy points".

At one point, the healer took the woman into a separate room so that she wasn't with her boyfriend.

He then allegedly asked the woman to remove her trousers to "unblock her pelvis".

The court heard he then performed digital penetration and oral sex on her.

At the conclusion of the session the therapist kissed the woman and took her back to the room where her boyfriend was waiting.

All of the women who denounced the healer paid him for their sessions, the supreme court heard.

Other patients remained behind after their sessions to talk to their therapist.

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TOURISM

Spain’s pandemic-ravaged Seville hopes for Euro tourism boost

Seville's pandemic-hit tourism sector is hoping to get a shot in the arm from UEFA's last-minute decision to name the southern Spanish city as a host for Euro 2020 matches.

Spain's pandemic-ravaged Seville hopes for Euro tourism boost
Seville, with its sunny weather, flamenco dancing and historical landmarks such as its gothic Cathedral, is Spain's third most visited city. Photo: CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP

While thousands of football fans are set to flock to the city later this month, hotels, restaurants and bars warn the event won’t be enough to make up for the collapse in business brought on by the health crisis.

“It is a first-class showcase,” said Antonio Munoz, the city councillor in charge of tourism.

“It is a draw to recover the appeal this city has always had to attract tourism.”

READ ALSO: Spain’s Costa del Sol braces for tourists’ return, but will they come?

European football governing body UEFA in April picked Seville to replace Bilbao in northern Spain as a host city for the rescheduled football tournament.

Bilbao was dropped because it was unable to guarantee organisers it could host fans in the stadium for matches due to the strict virus measures in place in the region.

Seville’s 64,000-seat La Cartuja stadium is set to host all three of Spain’s Group E games against Sweden, Poland and Slovakia, plus a last-16 match during the second half of June.

Capacity at the venue will be limited to around 25 percent, or 16,000 people.

Seville city hall expects the matches will draw around 70,000 visitors, providing a direct economic impact of 61 million euros ($75 million) in business.

Antonio Luque, the head of the Seville Hospitality Association, said tourists will be greeted “with open arms” but the money they will spend will pale in comparison to the income the sector has lost.

Beyond the Euro, 2021 will be “complicated”, added Luque, who does not expect hospitality sector revenues to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2023.

‘It’s dead’

Seville, with its sunny weather, flamenco dancing and historical landmarks such as its gothic Cathedral, is Spain’s third most visited city.

The tourism sector accounts for 18 percent of the city’s economic output.

But the hospitality sector’s revenues plunged to 640 million euros in 2020 from 1.6 billion the previous year, as the pandemic put the brakes on travel around the world.

READ ALSO: Has Spain backtracked on its plan to welcome all vaccinated tourists in June 2021?

This drop in business led about one in five businesses to close their doors, according to the hospitality association.

The fall in visitor numbers can be felt in the narrow streets of Seville’s old Jewish quarter, the Santa Cruz neighbourhood.

“Here half of the businesses have closed. It’s dead,” Maria Menendez, who runs a tea shop in the neighbourhood, said as she pointed to a boarded-up shop across the street.

“The Euro is a boost that will last three days,” she added.

A few steps from Seville’s famous cathedral, chef Rafael Sanchez has recently reopened his tapas restaurant, Las Columnas, after a 15-month closure due to the pandemic.

With nostalgia he recalls the European, American and Asian tourists who ate at his venue in the past.

“I hope they will all come at once, and that we can return to normality,” said Sanchez.

READ ALSO: Why international residents in Europe will travel this summer despite Covid

‘Lost year’

Just over half of Seville’s hotels are currently open but city hall expects that by mid-June 70 percent of hotel beds will be available.

The local hotel association was optimistic about the future, but declined to give a forecast for reservations which will depend on the recovery of flights to the city.

Seville airport currently operates 67 routes, two-thirds of the pre-pandemic amount.

“What matters is that Ryanair flights resume,” said Diego Zanoletti, an Italian who runs a bicycle rental shop.

Like other business owners, he believes the Euro is “a positive thing but it remains a one-off event which will not make up for our lost year or what we will lose in 2021”.

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