Bat, bi, Hiru, lau
Watch your back, watch your back
Ertzaintza's gonna get you
Watch your back, watch your back
Ertzaintza's gonna get you
Watch your back, watch your back
Oh, there's a crime here
It's a coming from the Euskal Herria
Gotta wash those red hands
It's the crimes of the Basquelands
3-day week, awesome
We had a holiday
The rest of us
It's true, I didn't count how many
I think I must have worked like 2 days this week
So, winning
Very nice, yes it is winning
You get those time off
Welcome everybody to crimes of the Basquelands
Yes, welcome, welcome
Ongi et ori
Ongi et ori, that's welcome in Basque, exactly
Today we're drinking a cider
And I'm just checking the name
Uxarte, that's U-X-A-R-T-E
And it's a nice Bizkaian
Bizkaian txakoli, which means, you know
Well, txakoli, not txakoli, sorry
Sidra
It just comes naturally, doesn't it
Yes, Bizkaian cider
And the cider is basically one of the traditional drinks of the Basque Country actually
It's more traditional, let's say, than wine
Yeah, more apples than grapes
Yeah, the thing is the grapes grow better, right, towards like lower lands
Like the flat lands, like Rioja
There's a part of Rioja that is inside the Basque Country
And then traditionally, when you get into the mountains instead of the grapes
You'd use the apples to make cider
And it's a long, long tradition in Basque Country
Probably brought in by the Celtic peoples
Who emigrated into the Iberian peninsula
But they have taken it and ran with it, haven't they?
It's a big thing here
It's huge
There's a whole season
Yeah, cider season
It's lovely and it's a typical thing we do here
We go to cider houses with big groups of people
And then there's a set number of food like bakalao
Bakalao and omelette
Which is a dried cod omelette
And a few other, lots of meat as well
Fried peppers, big old steak
Yeah, it's a set menu, sort of a set menu in a way
It is a set menu
You're also allowed to take your own food
You have chorizo in cider
Cooked in cider
What else do they give you?
Oh, the cheese with nuts, with walnuts
As your dessert
And the membrillo, the quince fruit
Quince jelly
And it's kind of a set menu
Basque people like predictability
And they like tradition
Yeah, so that tradition is very fixed these days
It's a great day out
It really is, it's a lot of fun
It's a lot of fun
Exactly
But you know, it's been a big part of Basque culture
Even fishing for, oops, something fell
It's all good
It's fine
Like even going, the Basques are quite well known
Historically for being one of the first Europeans
To arrive to North America as well
When they were hunting whales and cods
And even in those times they would always take the cider
Which was great
Hmm, probably keeps for a long time
It does, but what's more important?
It has vitamin C
Ah, yes
Very important, scurvy
Yeah
Gotta prevent that scurvy
Yeah, they didn't really know that, but it works
It works, yeah
They had no idea what good they were doing for themselves
Yeah, better than the gin that the British were taking everywhere
Idiots, no, kidding
Eventually they
I don't want to offend any of you Brits out there
Eventually they hit
They hit gin on the high seas
They hit on the lime and the tonic, so
It's a good history, I think
Yeah
Okay, cool
All right
So you're gonna start
Yeah, so this is a mini episode today
We're gonna be just telling some stories from the news
Here in the Basque country or elsewhere
Mm-hmm
So let's see, what do we have?
Okay, so we have three people arrested
In, oh gosh, Bortsirak
Bortsirak
Bortsirak, no?
Bortsirak
Okay, so three people were arrested for growing 94 marijuana plants
94, okay, three people arrested, yes
We are allowed to have three plants or two plants each
I don't know
It's either two or three, I think
So they're clearly over the limits
Yes
Yeah, between three, we know that math, right?
That math we can do, that 94 is more than those three people are allowed
It's more, yeah
Yeah
So let's see, so they arrested three people
They were 24, 29, and 41
Okay
In Bortsirak region
And they were on a routine patrol to prevent crimes against property
A citizen security patrol perceived a strong smell of marijuana near an abandoned farmhouse
That's how they were clued in
And despite the abundant undergrowth that made the access to the property difficult
The agents found 94 large marijuana plants
Hoses, plastic bottles, fertilizer containers, okay?
They found all the stuff needed to grow marijuana, right?
Yeah
And they also noted that this plot of land had been cleared of weeds and prepared for like cultivation
So it was outside
Yeah, yeah, it was outside of this abandoned farmhouse
Mm-hmm
So they found it, right?
And then in order to, you know, kind of catch the people in the act
They just started a surveillance of the place, but through drones
Wow
Yeah, so they had a drone flying over the property for a while
Which captured like images of them
Oh, wow
You know, working on the farm
Mm-hmm
And yeah, and so they had their evidence
And when the three of them left the place one day, they intercepted their vehicle
And they were, they had found in their trunk six bottles of water used to irrigate the plantation
So basically all they found on them when they detained them was
Water
I mean, I'm supposing
But they did have the photographic evidence
The drones, yeah
Of them working, harvesting, you know, farming
Okay, well, it's kind of surprising
Yeah
There's a clear
It's surprising why
There's a clear oversupply of marijuana right now
Is there?
Mm-hmm
I didn't know that
And then outside
A clear oversupply
There's a very clear oversupply, yeah
So there's lots of abandoned farmhouses
Yeah, like the thing is like here it's legal to buy marijuana at an association
Mm-hmm
And of course, I don't know if it's of course
But I know as a matter of fact that if you grow it outside
It's lower quality than indoor grown
Mm-hmm
So the normal kind, like the species that we usually smoke here is Critebilbo
So Critico
Critebilbo
Critico Bilbao is the full name of the marijuana
And it usually goes for like five euros a gram
And it's down, it's under three right now
Ah, and that's why you know
That's an inside plant, it's not even an outside plant
So it'll be even cheaper
It must be real cheap, yeah
So you know, it's clearly a plantation for more than your own consumption though, so
Yeah
Hey
Yep, drones
Not a good investment
Drones
But the thing about the drone is like aren't they kind of noisy?
They're pretty noisy
Can't you hear, yeah, how did they not notice a drone flying ahead?
I mean some people like to work listening to music
Yeah, I was thinking that too
Maybe they were listening to music or podcasts
Yeah, they might be listening to our podcast, how ironic
Well, yeah, at the beginning when you said there was an abandoned house, farmhouse
I was like, oh, maybe it's inside, yeah, maybe it had electricity
Maybe it would make sense
But then being outside, it's like, well
Yeah
I wonder
Not the best businessman, I would say, unfortunately
Well, they were young except for that 41-year-old that was hanging out with 20-some-year-olds
Didn't know better
But then again, it might not have been, we don't know the species
It could have been one of those really expensive kind of Californian varieties
That fetch 12 euros per gram
Yeah, I didn't see anything about them having like a greenhouse
I could see that being more
But if it's a good quality genetics, as we would say, you know
It would produce way better products
So I'm just going baseline, outside is not a good idea
And in general, the market's not really looking for a lot
So it is a current story, right?
Yeah, this was...
Oh, shit, when was that?
Oh, it was on the 8th of October
Because, yeah, so technically you're supposed to plant your plants within the association
So these associations usually are in Alonja, which are the places that are kind of
Like commercial space, but...
Exactly, at the bottom of a building you usually have the commercial space
And so they're usually big enough that you can have indoor plants
But even so, you know, the market isn't very controlled
So, you know, people buy from outside as well
So these people can easily sell two associations
I mean, it can get caught, but that's the only risk
But then again, even Amsterdam, you know, they're not either allowed to buy plants in Amsterdam
So the buying process for the associations is always illegal
So we have that in common
Gotcha
But anyway, here at least we're allowed to grow them in sites, especially with associations
It wouldn't be a problem to have 90 plants in an association as long as you have a big number
The clientele
To smoke it, yeah
That fits the... yeah
And of course, I'm part of an association, which is why I know some of those things
Wow, look at you
I mean, I partake in smoking Maria
Same
As I'm sure you know
Come on, it's not a crime anymore
People need to get with it, it's not a crime
Exactly
Okay, all right
That's a good story
Well, thanks
My one now?
Yeah
We're going for me
What's here? What you got?
So my story is about a young man
They call him an adolescent, but he's 19
Whose surnames are Orozco Jimenez
And Orozco is a village just south of here
It's one of the last villages in Vizcaya
If you just go south just before Alava
Oh, Orozco
Yeah
There was a crime in Orozco
There was
Yeah, that's going to be an episode someday
That sounds fun
Yeah, well, it wasn't fun, but...
Oh, no
They never are
No
But I was like, why does that sound familiar?
Oh, yes, I've been researching that
It's quite a common name
I think there's a couple of streets
At least this one street with Orozco and Bilbao, right?
Oh, maybe, I don't know
It just seems very familiar
And the story comes from Managua, Nicaragua, Central America
And unfortunately, the young man was mining in an illegal mine
In an informal mine
Oh
And he went down into the mine at 10 a.m.
And started feeling a little bit dizzy
He came out, had a breather
And then he went back in half an hour later and never came back
And his friends went in to get him
He had...
Friends or coworkers?
Co-workers, yeah
They found him on the floor, kind of unconscious
And unfortunately, when they managed to get him to the hospital
He had already passed away
And they concluded it was CO2 poisoning
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, like a gas
From a mine, yeah, no canaries
No
I mean, I don't know what the...
Clearly the crime here is health and safety
Yeah
I mean, a minimum of health and safety is necessary for a ton of things
Yeah, you'd think they'd have like detectors
Because you can get pretty basic equipment
Yeah, I mean, you know, the famous old canary
I mean, any...
Or a bird
Any bird, yeah
Would work, right? I suppose
Poor bird
Little birds
I just hope the bird do that
I know, but what I mean is...
There's machine...
There are two, you know
There's equipment now
It can be a nice...
That you can read a meter and it says you've got a too high level of, you know
But how much money do they have in Nicaragua to spend on health and safety?
I feel like people buy these for their houses and they're not that expensive
True, like I have a CO2 meter, but...
See?
It was like 120 euros
For a mining company? That's nothing
It's not company, it's informal
It's just people going underground
What were they mining?
I didn't mention actually
I guess if we look at what they generally get in the area, we can find that out
Oh
Do you want me to?
So was it like a group of friends or was he working for a company?
Do you know anything like that?
That's the only news is that, you know, it was just a health and safety piece of story
I mean, I just assumed it was a situation very similar to what happens in the Congo
where lots of rare earths are mined
and it's completely informal, as they would put it, you know
It's just people that are told what we're looking for and they learn how to look for it
but it's pretty rogue and sort of haphazards
and the way they describe these two other coworkers of his, you know
they're just other young kids, you know
Yeah
Typically gold and silver
Okay, thank you
Gold and silver
That's easy to identify
Is that ring bells?
No, only because in the Americas that's what they were, you know, I think back to history
It's a typical thing
They went and got all the gold out of Central South America
or the Americas
That's a story
That's a big crime
Brought it back to the crown
All those churches covered in gold and silver
That's definitely a thing
Yeah
Wow, that's too bad
As you can see, I mean, actually there's an interesting historical aspect
which I think we're probably going to come across quite a few times
which is actually Basque people were extremely viable in the beginning of colonization of the Americas
because they were already mining here in the Basque Country
and so they were experts in that field of mining
So they were always generally chosen to lead those efforts to organize the mining to
You know, clearly this guy unlearned his health and safety traditions
Well, isn't it like odorless? It's hard to know
Oh, for sure. Yeah, but you know
People are dying their houses all the time of that
Yeah
Yeah, like elite
And they just die overnight sleeping
I'm amazed at how much CO2 one person can create in one room, you know
Is that why you have a meter to see how much you're producing?
I got it because I've been smoking inside the house
and I was curious how bad it got inside the house
I do open the window sometimes, but not, you know, it wasn't automatic or constant
After I've gotten a meter, I've realized how bad it is
I mean the CO2 doesn't get so bad
But just seeing the CO2, how bad it gets, how fast
Like within three hours, it'll go like the normal base is like 380, I guess
It's the normal sort of in town parts of CO2 per whatever they count
And then the worst I've gotten like when two friends of mine came to visit
It was Zach and his girlfriends
Us three, because it was a cold night
So we closed the windows and us three got to 1200
With three people overnight
Immediately in the morning we opened it
But anything over 800, it's like, it's bad
So I was quite surprised when it got to 1200 or 300
It was like a thousand over
It's like four times the concentration than normal
So where did it come from in this mine?
That's the thing, I mean I know CO2 poisoning is a thing
But I don't know if it's just randomly in the earth
I suppose there's just CO2 in earth, you know
Oh, I guess like, because also if it's related to gas, right?
Like then there are gas deposits
So that's what I was thinking
Shale mining, but like would you count that gas as CO2 poisoning?
That's what they called it, but I could be wrong
Yeah, I'm gonna assume that's what it is
I'm sorry, we're clearly not experts
No
Well, Douglas sounds like a better expert than I am
Just from what people release regularly
That's the CO2 you're counting
I'm counting that
We excel on a regular basis
And I imagine this counter is gonna count carbon monoxide as well
Oh, maybe that's what I'm thinking, carbon monoxide
That sounds more appropriate when I'm thinking of the meters for that
That's what the car does, right?
When a car burns fuel, you die from more carbon monoxide
I think, I think
I remember reading at some point
Our listeners were correct
Yeah, they're gonna come at us
I mean, it was a nice exploration of the history of the Basque Country in mining
It's a very ugly history
But it's clearly...
Yes, mining always is, isn't it?
But it still has, you know, clear, you know, the guy not only is...
Regardless, yes, he died in a mine
Yeah, his surname is Basque
What was his surname?
Orozco
Oh yeah, Orozco
And he's still, you know, his family probably never stopped mining
Hmm, yes, he comes from a long line of miners
Hmm, and well, that was that story, yes
You can build a whole backstory for him and his family
I mean, it's a bit of a guess
Maybe half the country is Basque surnames and we're just taking...
And half the country are ex-miners or of miners
I'm not sure, I mean, Nicaragua is not known for a lot of gold or...
I don't know
Maybe it just gets...
Back in the day, maybe
Maybe it's just not taxed
Who knows?
Well, our feelings grow out to his family
Well, this is not about Nicaragua as a podcast, so...
And even if it were
I mean, it's about the consequences of Basque people around the world as well
And clearly, that was not the best of consequences
But hey, you know, maybe rest in peace
Good, yeah, exactly, poor guy
So you have a story for us now?
Yeah, this one...
This was the biggest story I think from this month
Mm-hmm
So I'm going to try to find...
Because I have a lot of information on it, but I'm going to try to summarize it
Okay
Well, basically, a woman went into Bursurto Hospital
Bursurto, yeah
Mm-hmm, which is here in Bilbao
I think it was about the 19th of October
She went in dressed as a worker there, like in white scrubs
Mm-hmm
So, you know, impersonating a worker
Impersonating someone that worked there, yeah
And went into a room where a couple had just had a baby
Okay
And told the mother that they had to do some tests on the baby and kidnapped the baby
Oh my gosh
Yeah
So they, you know, of course, everything went...
You know, alarms went off very shortly after
Good
Like maybe another nurse came in and the woman...
Yeah
The mother said, oh, I thought you just took the baby for tests
And I'm like, what are you talking about?
Mm-hmm
So she, yeah, took the baby and...
And then it was until it was like...
That was at night
Okay
It happened at night
I think it was about 11...
Oh, it was 11 o'clock at night
Mm-hmm
They had like a CCTV cameras caught her
Yeah
So they were looking for her, looking for, you know, asking everybody to keep an eye out for someone who looks like this
Or come to, you know, report to the police
And this is how they describe her
6... 1.6 meters tall with an obese body
Complexion
Complexion is how they put it
But complexion in English is your skin, not your body type
I guess, yeah
Sorry, sorry
Obese
Long curly hair tied up in a bun
So that's how they described her
Okay
And it also said that...
Then, okay, so the following morning, like 8 o'clock in the morning
Somebody in Santuchu opened their door to their house, their apartment door
Mm-hmm
And there was the baby laying on their, like, welcome mat
Oh my gosh
Yeah
Like, fine, yeah
Which is just...
It's perfectly fine
Greater Bilbao, just in the north
Yeah
So the woman apparently dropped it, like, knew she was gonna get caught or whatever
And just put the baby on someone's doorstep, basically
Okay
I'm getting mixed up, Santuchu's just downtown
Yeah, it's not that far
I mix up with Santulci, that's why
Yeah, yeah
Sorry
I used to confuse those, too
So then they were still looking for her because the baby appeared, but not her
What a horrible night for the parents
I know
I'm glad they figured out the child by the morning
Okay, that's something
I heard something about a baby
I'd never heard all those details
That's a horrible story
Yeah
And so eventually they did arrest her
They figured out who she was
I'm trying to find the article that I had
I have a lot of them here
Oh yeah, could you post them?
She was a 24-year-old girl
She was arrested on Thursday, so that must have been...
I don't know
Some days later
Must have been a few days later, yeah
Mm-hmm
Yep, so she was arrested
She was located in the company of a friend at about 10.45 a.m.
They were in Asoka Square in the Sorosa neighborhood, Sorosa
Okay, yeah, that's north of the city of Bobao
Yeah, so they found her
They went to search her house
They found baby stuff at her house, like a high chair and a stroller
Okay
So as if she was expecting a baby
And also that according to her neighbors and her partner
She had been saying she was pregnant
Oh, wow, so it seems like some kind of psychological issue
Well, yes, or maybe she miscarried and didn't want to admit she didn't...
She wanted to produce a baby
I've heard of stories like this, like all the true crime I've read
There have been several stories like this and some worse than others
You know, like murder and...
For sure
So yeah, it's not surprising that somebody was faking a pregnancy
I mean, it is surprising, it's obviously troubling
I mean, it's not the first time I've heard of that either
Yeah, so apparently that's what was happening
So she was desperate to find a baby
She's kind of young though, right? 26?
Yeah, 24
24, wow
Yeah
Like, I wonder
And now she's been released on provisional release
So...
Wow
Awaiting her trial or whatever is gonna happen
That's intense, I mean
Yeah, so that was the other... that was the big story in the last few days
Wow, so that was this week as well, yeah
Yeah, it was like not this week but the last week
So it says here, there was another thing, two similar cases a decade ago
2014, 2012
In the Osaki Vecchia Hospital Network
So Osaki Vecchia is the...
VASC health system
Yeah
The first kidnapping took place a decade ago at the D'Nostia Hospital
A woman with psychiatric problems took a baby while her parents were sleeping
The parents of the baby, I'm assuming
The little boy was found a few hours later in perfect health
Good to hear
The one who took her was...
Got a taxi, and it was the taxi driver who notified the police
Right
And then another woman in 2014, dressed as a health worker, attempted a similar adoption at the same hospital
In this case, a nursing assistant realized that she was not a worker
Wow
So took the child from her
Nice, good job nurse
I'm glad all the babies are safe in those stories
Yeah
That's the most important thing
And the mothers, because I've heard terrible stories about a mother
I mean that mother, this week's episode, she would have had a terrible first night
That's a good story though
Yeah
For mine to tell you, guess what? Your first night you were kidnapped
Yeah, I know, right? That's your history
They keep it from you until you're older to understand
I mean, yeah
You guys have been told that
Two years old, it doesn't make sense
What? Mother? That explains so much
As if, as if
I should have been in therapy from day one
Hilarious
Do you have many memories as a very small child? I have barely any
No, but I feel like, I mean, I've heard that those things affect you as a child
You like, even though you don't like, remember them exactly
They still imprint something on you
These experiences of being away from
I know, like
Your mother and
In the first hours, it's quite
And with somebody who's like agitated, obviously, because they just kidnapped you
And they're freaked out, you know, so like it's a very strange first bonding experience with somebody
Yeah, yeah
I mean, that you should
And then being left on a doorstep
They were in a room before with the mother, so it was a little bit initial bonding, but yeah
Right, and then to immediately have that go away
Whole night without, yeah, that's pretty random
But I mean, you know, people, the babies are taken away
To get generally, yeah
Yeah, or put in an incubator
So
But I feel like they say that kind of imprints on you too, like if you were kept in an incubator for the first few months or something
For sure, because yeah, you barely any human contact
That sounds very difficult on any child, but yeah, in my case, I remember very little before I'm seven
In my case
Oh, me too
Me too
So they could, you know
Excuse me
My mom actually, she always tells
She was always very irritated with the United States
And why not, right?
The whole planet is
But
What?
Her, I mean, you know, for different political reasons or whatever
But in her case, it turns out, like when I was an adolescent
She was like, yeah, like when you're a baby
Like they were like opening your nappies and checking if you didn't have drugs inside
And I was all like
Oh, going into the States
Yeah, because we
So
I was a baby
And then mom, I was born in Latin America
Classic drug trafficking
Yeah, my mom went to visit
Scotland, her parents
And then so obviously the flight would be coming back through
United States somehow
Probably LA because mom would probably have stayed with
My her her aunt and an uncle
And so, yeah
And then search by customs as a baby
Yeah, and she felt very mistreated
And then I remembered in the same trip
She took me out on a walk
That's a no no
What?
Yeah, the police stopped her because they were like
It's LA
You gotta be in a car
They put her in a car and took her back to my uncle and aunt's place
What?
Yeah, they were like, you don't walk here
What?
My mom's like
That sounds far fetched
I'm European
I mean, I guess if she was on the road
That would be dangerous because there's no sidewalks
Because I can see that there's probably no sidewalks in long places
So you can't really be walking in the street
It's a thing
That's where the cars go
I've heard of many stories of Europeans walking
And the American police just going, no, you're not allowed to walk here
I know it's not a total rule in LA
Because my other friend Inigo, you know Inigo
He was working there for some months
And he was walking everywhere
Through all the neighborhoods you're not supposed to
But he'd walk from the sea for like four hours into downtown
And I'm like, that doesn't sound like a nice walk
He's like, it wasn't
It was just a long walk, yeah, like a very busy roadway the whole time
He probably took the same amount of time as a driver
But you know
Probably
LA for you
There you go, baby stories
Well, there you go, I didn't know that
That's something I've learned about you today
That you had customs going through your diapers
And I couldn't go for a walk without a car
I mean, a bit of a contradiction, but
That's that's ma'am, we're going to need you to park or something
Yeah, yeah, yeah, in a car
Get there by car, please
But yeah, not part of my memories, but part of my history
Yeah
No kidnappings as far as I know
Same
I haven't been told anything yet
I think they would have told me by now
I mean, maybe they're asking you to ask or waiting for you to ask
Should I ask the next time I talk to my mom?
Mom, have I ever been kidnapped?
Mom, have I been kidnapped? Yes or no?
It would be hilarious if she goes
Well, one time
Was that you or was that your sister?
Yeah
Well, we lost you for a few hours
Somebody brought you back though
You were fine
It was the 80s
Yeah, it was
So I would be talking about about 1981
When these two things happened
Yeah
If we think about those around about there
My sister was born in 82, so she wasn't there yet
So it would have been a difference
She would not have gone out walking with two children
She wouldn't need a car for that
She would be in the road basically
I mean, I can see the cops stopping her if she was in the road
You're defending American cops way too much
I'm not defending the cops, I'm defending the fact that there's probably no sidewalks
Because nobody walks
Or you're walking on private property
Yeah
So that was probably what the cops' issue was
Either they were in the road or they were on private property
Well, actually
Lawns or something
I didn't think we'd get to this point of the story
But we've circled back to the Basque Country
Oh, how did we do that?
Because my uncle and aunt
The latest place I know they've been living in
I don't know if it's where they lived then
But they lived in Thousand Oaks
Well, my uncle still lives there
Familiar with that
And Thousand Oaks is still well known
As originally being a Basque herders region
Oh really?
In the North of LA and the mountains, yeah
And even when I visited there last
My uncle was reminding me of that
So it's still a well-known fact around there
Of course it's been filled with people now
But historically
Full of shopping malls and strip malls
And suburbs
Fast food joints
And maybe a farmers' market
I don't know how affluent it is
Is it pretty affluent?
Oh, then there's a farmers' market
For sure, for sure
Short drives to some gorgeous beaches
That was a good memory
No, actually on the West Coast it's not so privatized
Like on the East Coast
Even though they're not allowed to
The residents along the coast are making the coastline private
And non-residents aren't allowed to go there
And people go out and harass people
That try to just go to the beach for the day
I think that's just outrageous
Yeah, I've read about that
Like what? This is public land
Even in California I've read about that happening
I can see it like in Malibu
Like the really, really affluent places
Yeah, I remember reading some story
And there was this
Santa Barbara
Let's say crazy woman
Karen, some Karen
Perfect term
I shouldn't use it as my mom's called Karen
Oh, is she?
It's unfortunate for nice Karen's out there
It's very unfortunate
So this Karen was putting up some signs
All over the place saying like
There's like dangerous sharks in the water
To get people not to go in the water
Or go to the beach
She was like
But then of course the surfers knew better
For one, there are sharks everywhere
So it's not going to work
So I remember that story
And they were talking how a number of beaches
Had in practice become sort of inaccessible
Just harass people so they'll leave
And I don't know if it was
Where are you? Where's your ID?
Do you live here? What are you doing here?
What reason do you have to be here?
And people are like
Why did you just come to the beach?
We need to know our rights
But who are you?
That's Karen
But the only time that my friends took me to the beach there
It seemed like it was next to like a nature reserve
Because there was some nice mountains around
There was no houses
And we just drove to this lovely beach
Lovely sunsets
Good memories, good memories
I mean there's a lot of them along the California coast
So it would be anywhere
Beautiful
Big Sur maybe? I don't know
If it was a famous one
I don't know
If you look at Thousand Oaks on a map
And go west
That's pretty much where we went
To the west is the beach
Is the beach
You'll head to the beach
That's more or less where I was
Good memories, good memories
Nice
My turn for a story now
Why don't we take a break and then more
We're doing it
Okey dokey
Okay
Alright
And we're back
Yeah
So the next story is downtown from this week
I had not heard about this
Me neither
When you pointed it out
No it was Megan
Yeah
Thank you Megan
And this was a 21 year old who was in Parque Dueña Casilda
And he tried to steal something from a group of five guys
In the park, same park
And they caught him trying to steal
And just beat him up really bad
And reading this article we understand that there was another group of people
And one of the people in this other group phoned the police
Quite worried about how badly the 21 year old was getting beat up
And he's fine, he's in hospital now
Oh that doesn't sound fine
I mean you know in terms of he's not in
He was hospitalized though
Yeah he had to be kept there overnight and it looks like he might
I don't know if he's going to stay there for more than one night
But that was, that's what
Aye aye aye
So the municipal police was called, they came in
Was it the Artenta or was it the
It says municipal police
The city police
And Artenta
Okay everybody
Everybody turned up
I mean which sounds like Bilbao right
Anytime anything happens there's like five cars, lights
Yep start taping up the scene
It's a commotion
I mean you sort of feel safe
But as another podcast I was listening to this week said you know
They turn up afterwards, they're not really protecting us
In this case it's kind of the same you know they didn't stop anything specifically
But they turned up
Well they didn't stop it
I mean I guess it would have
It was a, what was it?
Two cuadrillas right?
They said cuadrillas you want to explain what that is
Quadrillas very very best concept so
A cuadrilla is your group of friends
And usually you have one or two cuadrillas
You might have one from work, one from school
Or
One from the whole life right
Yeah
That would be your school days
Usually your school days will be your permanent cuadrilla
Lifetime cuadrilla yeah
And it's actually quite a fixed group of people like it doesn't really change once
Unless they get like girlfriends or boyfriends and bring those in
They're all allowed in but then when they separate they're kicked out you know
Oh yeah yeah you're out
Yeah your group of friends is your group of friends
And you're accepted as a boyfriend or girlfriend but
If you split up
And the boyfriend and girlfriend usually have their own so they don't really care
Exactly
It's a very strict thing in the sense that there's a few
Quite a number of cases I've heard
It sounds so great when I say cases but
There's a number of people that I've heard that were
Right at that age you're supposed to make your cuadrilla
Had a boyfriend
So they were part of their boyfriend's cuadrilla
But then it broke up a couple of years later
No cuadrilla
No friends
Lifelong no cuadrilla
It's a problem
Yeah
And actually
I mean I remember when I moved here I couldn't make any friends because they all had quadrillas
Yeah it's quite a closed group
People will talk to you but
It's not they're not trying to be friends
Yeah they're not
You're not going to get invited to all their stuff
Like oh but you're not in the group so we can't invite you
Yeah
A lot of times in bars you'll be chatting to somebody
And then they'll go excuse me I'm with my quadrilla and just turn around
And you're like okay
I guess we tried
And now you're like oh I understand
Oh yeah now I understand entirely
It was quite a weird one
In the beginning it's like wow how rude
I still get irritated if I'm in a gay bar and the other guy is gay
And I'm like well if you're just here with friends
Why even bother coming to a gay bar right
Just hang out at home
I don't know don't give me false hopes
Well I mean the quadrilla thing is pretty intense
But it's also a lovely system
Like they will accept you however you are
It's kind of like a second family you know you can have terrible people in your quadrilla
You may not even get along with everybody
Exactly
Yeah like that's what I found too just by being a teacher
And talking to students
You hear the stories
They're like well you know we don't really get along with this person or that
But they're in the quadrilla so
So they have a group of friends forever
Membership for life
Which is good you know I think a lot of societies
A lot of those people would not have a close knit group of friends
And that's a good sort of social structure to have
Yeah
And it's not
I mean I have like you I had a way in through a partner
So I was immediately part of his group of friends
But then again we're gay
So gay people have to make new quadrillas usually
I see
Understandably
Because either they don't want to come out of the closet so early
Or simply you know for practical reasons we're going to different clubs
So it naturally happens that we form new quadrillas
They're not as fixed as the traditional quadrillas as you well understand
But then I've got another in with the Basque
Since I speak Basque you know it's much easier to make friendships and get to know people
I'm not invited into any quadrillas but you get invited to things quadrillas do
So it's like me and my friends are having lunch you're welcome to come up
So that happens more since I speak Basque
Not that I take them up but it's sweet
It's sweet I feel welcome
And the way that a quadrilla enters into this story
Well they were all protecting each other clearly
Right so it was the person that was coming in to rob them
That quadrilla beat the shit out of him
And then another quadrilla that was nearby called the police
Exactly
Yeah
And clearly it was
And they were identified as quadrillas right in the new story
Yes of course
Because everyone understands what that means
I love that
And it was as you were
It's just part of the vernacular you know
And everyone understands what that means
It is the quadrilla
And as you were pointing out it was pretty bad beating up
Because not only was the guy taken to hospital
Two of the five were taken into custody
So they are still looking for the other three
Oh three of them took off
Oh no they split up the quadrillas
So two were just happened to be right
They were the ones that the cops could grab
And the other three took off
They didn't describe the exact way they had two and not five
But
That's probably what happened
But we can tell it was pretty big overreaction let's say
Yeah
I mean initially I was happy you got beaten up
But you don't need to get sent to hospital
No
Clearly
And you don't need to get beaten up
You just kind of need to be like
You know get the hell out of here
I mean
The thing is
Extreme violence
No of course
Violence
I mean I wouldn't do that either
I mean I'm not going to punch anybody you know
It's not a thing I do
So I wouldn't do that
But it's also understandable
Because I think there's more
And I think it's something happening in Europe more and more everywhere
Which people are getting more and more irritated with minor crimes
Not being dealt with because they're not dealt with
It's just not really considered a crime
Yeah
And people are just hanging out and their mobiles are getting stolen
So you know it's coming from a social frustration
Of course it's too much right
But we were talking about what is justifiable and what's not justifiable right?
Yeah
Because you have to defend yourself
And actually
If you're attacked then yeah you should defend yourself
Because there's a line in your insurance
When you get insurance there's a line that says if you don't fight back to get your mobile
You just let it be taken and you're not covered
So there's a line and it says you have to try and get your mobile back
With reasonable force
Oh that's true like yeah it has to have been done with violence
It had to have been taken from you with violence
If they just slip it out your pocket
Without you knowing
And you don't do anything that's not covered by your insurance
So you know we're obliged to do something
Yeah that is weird
So there's a contradiction there right?
I mean what is the country like the guy if the guy is nice to me
Like the contradiction is like legally you shouldn't do any violence right?
I don't know if we're not supposed to do any
I wouldn't think that they would say you know if your phone gets stolen attack
No
So I think legally you're kind of involved in a assault
You know if you are a part of a physical altercation with somebody right?
So let's say you're of two parties
There's two parties having a physical altercation
So that in itself is illegal right?
But then an insurance company will be like
Only if you are involved in a physical altercation with somebody
Will we cover the loss of your phone?
I mean they don't say physical altercation
Well I'm sure I'm just using the words like that
Yeah that's the thing you know and I'm not a lawyer
And it would be an interesting conversation
I am an alert not a lawyer
I'd be curious to know what is expected
And you know because clearly you know I was going to say
Let's start with something easy like a push
Right that's clearly I'm trying him not to get my phone
That's a clear message
I have push people
Me too me too
I mean a drop push is not a great push
I actually kicked somebody
Look at you
Well because I could tell he was going into my bag behind me
That's a mini crime task
And he was right behind me and I kicked him
Okay and did it work?
Yeah and I turned around and I kicked him and I turned around
And I started yelling at him
Yelling also works
Yeah indeed
Well you would have been covered by your insurance I think
Yeah do you think so?
I would have said so
I mean kicking is pretty clearly fighting back for your phone
But he didn't kick me
Like my partner Bobby he had his phone stolen once
And they did actually like throw him to the ground
Him and his friend to the ground
Grabbed their phones
Right
And because they had been thrown to the ground and kind of you know
It was taken with violence
They were clearly covered
Right right right
Actually his friend who's when they picked up his friend's phone
Because it was like an old model like they were like this was on me out of the house
They just gave it back
Hilarious
See that's the kind of thing that we're getting tired
So then it was covered
Exactly
But like a pickpocket would never be covered
So you're expected to do something to the pickpocket like kick him?
I guess
But I was starting I was starting
He didn't get anything from me
I caught him throwing into my purse
You're saying like a kick shouldn't be legal right?
Right like I shouldn't be allowed to
Yeah
But he could probably press charges against me for the kick
Let's say yes it sounds correct to me
But then if he's not violent towards you what does the law say?
Just let them take the mobile you know what I mean?
Exactly
That's the consequence
Yeah that's the thing
Which I mean if
The worst thing is not only that
Because you think the law would be like don't do anything
Yeah
It's only a phone
But then I just lose the mobile
Don't escalate
Every time right?
Exactly
Because the insurance never gonna cover me
Yeah exactly
So
And the cops are never gonna get it back
Not in mobile
You can go file a report but
I know
What's gonna happen?
So that's what's irritating that's why they end up I think going overboard
And beating this guy up way too much
No yeah for sure they went overboard
But
If they really pull for it he's in the hospital
He's in the hospital yeah
That's too much
And you know it was enough to get all of them sent to jail for at least overnight until they're
Yeah they'll probably be charged with like assault or whatever
Pretty dodgy
And now their records are tainted
They have criminal records now
They do I guess
And I don't know exactly what those consequences are
Because they're not minors right?
No
No they're not arrested
Well they're 19
Yeah so they're not minors
Which I guess is considered
So they'll have a record now
Poor decision making
It's a hard one
Well that was the story about Parque de la Casilda
Which is
Next to the museum
Also
The duck park
I guess how they're known
Parque de los Patos
There's also some
What is it
Pato real
Pavo real
Peacock
There's a couple of peacocks there too
They're not loose though
They're in the cage around the pond right?
They're not in a cage
Are they not?
No they're walking around
But they're not
Yeah I guess there's a fence around the area where they are
But I'm like how do they not get out?
I don't know
They can't fly?
They can fly a little bit but they usually cut their wings so that they can't fly
You just cut the feathers
Poverty
Every so often and they can't fly
They just have to live at that park
They usually just fly up into a tree to sleep
That's the only reason they fly
Oh
To get into a tree to sleep
But they can't go up to the tree to sleep
But they will have a little thing to perch on in their little house I would assume
Because it's like a chicken they won't really be happy unless they've got a place to coop on
To hold on to a little branch
So if you're nice to your chickens they should have that
Noted
And if you have peacocks please also
Give them a spot to sleep
There's quite a lot of peacocks in Brazil
Quite common things
They're so noisy though
Peacocks
Yeah
I don't know what they sound like
They go
In a different tone
But they're very loud
Very loud
I think that's kind of where the P comes from the peacock it goes
Peacock
Oh man I'm gonna go down to the park and see if I can hear them yelling
And I'm gonna search I'm gonna see if they have a perching spot
Now I have a
Their wellbeing
Yeah I have a plan now next time I go to that park
Sounds fun
Beautiful park we recommend everybody visits
It's a gorgeous sort of 1909ish was when it was
Oh I did not know that
Look at you, facts
Yeah you know the asylum I think
I used to be
People said to me it was an asylum but I think it's basically empty that big house in front of the park
Just over
An asylum you think they would put that there?
I mean they call it a asilo and castilian whatever that is I mean it could be
For anybody
Okay like refuge
Mm-hmm but that so that was the
The owner of that house is who paid for the park
And then they left the house to the city as well which is why it became some institution
So they were very nice people
Madame Casilda
Well don't ya
That was nice of her
Yes very nice thank you ma'am thank you
We all thank you
Beautiful park
Okay we ready for the next one
We're ready hold on to your chapella
Hold on this one's a doozy no it's not
This one's just silly
So this one was a I believe we talked about this actually a few weeks ago the three of us
Megan and I and it was
The Archangel has identified and is investigating a 28 year old man who climbed onto the outside rear of a bus in Pasaya
Yeah
28 year old
So he was the way that it's where a 28 year old man was traveling perched on the bodywork of a bus
I mean this is a translation
A direct translation
So I don't I can't remember what the real word was that he is but it was circulating through town
And of course it was causing a serious risk to his life in the life of other road users
True
More to his but still yeah
Well yeah and if he well he could have fallen off and someone's swerving not to hit him
It's definitely not
Another accident so yeah so according to their chance of the agents learned from the media and social networks that a young man had
Climbed onto the back of the bus that was running along the old and I the national interstate
Mm-hmm
At the exit of Pasay Ancho in the direction of
Cappuccinos neighborhood of a
Herentiera
Let's see
Herentiera
That's also a surname so the video went viral and because of the video of him riding on the back of the bus
That's how he got caught. Well. Yeah, just don't post your many crimes on social media people
That's a lesson
Well it could have been not that he posted it true it could have been like people saw him and
Started filming and then posted on their own true, and then people saw it and said oh, I know that's so-and-so
Yeah, I mean we do have facial recognition software these days. I assume police have access to that
Yeah, but for some well, maybe maybe you know just to try and yeah, so Paseo is near San Sebastian
Okay, that side of town. Yeah
Mm-hmm. Well, it's not it's not our town. It's another town. I was using it as a loose expression
Because yeah, that is the joke that San Sebastian is a neighborhood of Bilbao I
Heard I wasn't going that far, but yeah
Have we mentioned in this podcast that we've probably come up various times that Bilbao
The joke about people in Bilbao think Bilbao is so important in the center of the world that
You are asked do you have the world map of Bilbao?
And the world we did talk about this we did yeah, so that's part of that attitude
Yeah, is well like everything around us is just a neighborhood
Paris neighborhood of Bilbao Berlin neighborhood
Naughty neighborhoods Moscow
So that's it they caught him
That's that story like do we know what he got identified him through the social media and the media so it'll be so the images
Of him gone viral. Hmm. Hope I'm caught hopefully just uh, I don't know if he was like joyriding
They haven't said anything like they're investigating it
So they didn't say whether he was joyriding or he just couldn't afford the bus ticket
I mean we know why that's a terrible excuse right now, right? Oh true. Yeah
The prices yeah
Only till December though. Is it? Oh, yeah, it's gonna be quite a shock when I have to start paying full price
Okay, I didn't know that I'm gonna be quite a shock. I feel like because I have to take the metro now every day. Mm-hmm
Mm-hmm. Ouch. Yeah, I'm gonna be see how much that costs
They usually if you get that monthly pass, so it's usually better
I know I've been told of course that I should look into getting that pass with my photo on the body. I
Know it was time for that Douglas. Nobody has time. We got time for that. Nobody got time for that
It's just another thing to do a lot to do who's got time to go into the bus just grab it go just get to work that way
But the thing about the Metro is like both sides have the conductor
Window they do right so you be looking at the conduct. Well, I love you're riding on the front you're riding on the back
There's usually nobody back there. That'll be my part, but I imagine there'd be a camera on you
So we would be hanging on to the front of the metro with the camera right in your face
This isn't doesn't line three have no drivers. Oh, I don't know
Supposed to be automatic, but I don't know if they did it in the end
I've gotten that Metro on a few times. I've been on it too and
Yeah, but I've never like look into the drivers
But we'll ask we'll look into it everybody. We'll find out if it actually is automated
That sounds like a plan. Okay homework. We have more homework. Jesus
It's nice that we discovered what happened with the random. Yeah the guy on the back of the bus small infraction
Let's call it. I mean, I hope it's just some money there
Oh, I mean, I imagine you could come up with all kinds of heavy charges for that
Hmm that would get you into like a world of hell
Yeah, go hell that was an interesting one about the park at Dona Casillo one
they were the two guys that were in jail they were charged with
Beating up the guy and also not providing help to him when he needed help. Oh
See extra charges. So they definitely I mean, it's kind of obvious that would happen
I would say but you know two charges for one. Mm-hmm
You know, it would be in random big punch. Okay. Now you're hurt. Now. It's called the ambulance
Oh, if legally we're supposed to can you see like 19 year olds going, you know legally
We don't want to get in trouble by not assisting this poor man that needs help let's get charged for one thing not to guys
Come on
Yeah, no, they didn't even go that far
But if there were a quadrilla to do that, it would be in a vast country that wouldn't it it would
It would somebody there would be one voice of reason
It'd be the one that's always like the the killjoy in the group like you guys we shouldn't be doing this
Come on man lighten up worked out and yes, I mean well he's in the hospital
Let's let's be nice nice citizens people
After we beat somebody out call an ambulance
That's the lesson from today
With some good crimes, I think I beat people up
Hmm used to be part of their assistance. Yeah big selection now all over the world. Yeah, I have one more
You do. Maybe we should break true. I actually have one more. So oh, we both have one more. Okay, let's break boom boom boom
See you in a minute
Okay, and we're back we're back. So now my story
This is not recent right this is not as a historical one
1996 was the first story I found and then the backup was 1994
Quite an interesting story to to kind of come upon
And then I found this story in the middle of the year
And then the backup was 1994 quite an interesting story to to kind of come upon
So at first we get
The beginning the way we found this story was quite fun because I was looking for or off one I checked where I was
Which is one of our previous surnames. Mm-hmm. And then a town it's
So I was checking where the town was because I know it's you know, I should be doing more from my best geography. Well, we went to sorry we went on a hike to Ibarra
Yeah last Saturday and went past a Roscoe and because I had been researching this story. I was like, oh, there's a Roscoe
Oh, so we're near there and then I just looking at the map the next city north was Benguechea, which I know as a surname as well
Okay, so I wrote crimes Benguechea
Good research method. Good
Um, I guess I can come out of the woodworks and also say it was a person I didn't like the mr
Benguechea that I last knew an ex flatmates. So oh, so you knew actually knew so I'm excited to talk about crimes of this family
Joking I'm joking. So
The first news that I came across was him being released from your old flatmate. Not him. This is somebody else
No, no, he was just hired to get money for bills. That's that's the biggest crime he committed. Okay, that is a crime
It's a mini crime. Pay your bills people pay your bills. It's a mini crime. Don't expect someone to pay your way
No, no, it just makes Douglas angry. That's the rule. So Javier Benguechea was
Condemned to three years in Munich. Oh for with two of his associates Julio Oroz another
Basque man and a Colombian Justiniano Torres. They were all
Condemned to three years in jail in Germany for supposedly well not supposedly they were smuggling
Convicted for convicted. Sorry. I don't know the difference. What did I say?
Well, you were saying supposedly sorry at this point it's been they've been convicted and sent to prison
Well, you'll understand to supposedly soon
There's a twist. Yeah, it's fun. It's interesting. Okay, so they were smuggling out
363 grams of plutonium out of Moscow, Russia
Oh dear. This is about 1994. We're talking. Okay
And so we came across this guy being released from jail
And it was weird just because after serving his three years you're apparently as it worked in Germany
Two years for good behavior
Well in the article itself, it actually specifies that Germany the law in Germany specifies that if you are not a German national
After half of your term, they're allowed to kick you back to your country. Oh, okay
Which I think is very fair. Very fair
Home, however, cause problems somewhere else. Mm-hmm. So we looked up into what plutonium did and
How it's used and our at least my first
Inkling was kind of like why would they want this right? Surely it's to make some kind of bomb
And then we started looking into it and it's like used it just produces a bit of heat and it's usually used for satellites
Oh, that's the main use of plutonium these days, I guess. Okay, and so
Apparently, this was a setup by the German spy agency
What it yeah, they it turns out
I mean just come out with the end of the story first and then we go to the end of the story
I mean just come out with the end of the story first and then we can talk about some a couple more details
But okay, so it turned out that the German state
Was trying to prove that there was a black market for plutonium when actually it was just them setting up
They they found those people who did contraband the the two
The two best guys and the Colombian guy. Uh-huh. And they were like, oh, you know with help of the
Spanish spy agency who you know, I guess knew they were contraband people. Uh-huh
Smuggler. Sorry. That's the word we're looking for
They asked them, you know indirectly to move this plutonium from Moscow
So they were like the agents were asking them. Hey, can you guys do this little job for us? Yeah, it was all
Also, you know, it was all
By
By so trap it's called entrapment. It was entirely entrapment. I think maybe not we believe it someone like that
I mean, yeah goodness knows what Germany calls it
Yeah, cuz if you're the one I think it is entrapment when you when you're the one setting up the crime if it's the law
You know the the law agency or whatever
Mm-hmm, that's running the crime. Yeah, it can be considered entrapment
yeah, it's like I understand that if you're a drug seller and a
Like a policeman buys drug from you, right? That's you're the one selling the policeman the drugs, right?
but if it's the
Policeman that's going hey, I've got these drugs. I want to
sell
And the guy was just like, all right
Mm-hmm. Yeah, well, they clearly did this naughty thing
Wow, you know why right why would you want to create the idea that there's a black market of plutonium
Well, this case came out right before an election
So there were
Great policemen working for the safety of your people and it turns out there was no safety problem
Like plutonium is used for satellites and not for dirty bombs
And there's no demand for the my the police were working in favor of some political party
They wanted to show that the security services were taking care of doing the jobs
They're supposed to do reelect your your people because we're taking care of you. Oh
Okay, but there was no such market there was no market for plutonium
Nobody was asking
Nobody was asking for it
Well when we were tough we were you always told me you were gonna tell me a story about plutonium
The only reference I have is from back to the future
It was a bit of a time-traveling story
1994 does that count 84? No, when did back to the future come out? I don't know
84 I think
Somebody's on it somebody's on it. Yeah worry
but but so when they caught these guys and interviewed them they were like they had no clue what plutonium was they really didn't know what it was for and
You know, they clearly had just been set up by these two agencies
hmm
85 it was 85
85 so yeah, I guess it was so the height of the Cold War so plutonium at the time was like for
Sounded scary right for like nuclear bombs and it was used in
But not really though. That's the thing a parent like
Like certain ones it depends which one it was it was a plutonium
3 9 8 or something that was for satellites and then 92 was for
for helping
Bombs explode a bit better something like that and they don't specify here which kind of plutonium it was but
apparently this one
This one wasn't even and there were no Russians involved
They just sold the merch merchandise. I guess to the Russians
to
The con to the smugglers
Oh, so the okay. Yeah, the agents sold it to the smugglers to then do what with that's the thing. There was no market for it
Oh, but since they were caught obviously, so they just were caught with the merchandise that the agents had given them
Basically, well, they I think they'd made them go to Russia. They kind of wrote right the security agencies had
Here's the stuff bring it to this place in Russia. You're there. There's they were pretending to be a client who wanted plutonium
Okay
But there was nobody who wanted plutonium. Oh, so they sent them to Russia
Get the plutonium and bring it back and they landed in Germany. They caught them caught them with surprise surprise
Surprise they didn't know what this was for
We just here to bring it they probably thought it was for back in the back to the future
because that's
What we all knew plutonium was for exactly. That's the only way I know anything about anything is filmed
We never built that car
No, so it was just the setup for an election
Wow
poor bass guys
See, yeah, they're just some normal smugglers
Well, he served a year and a half and that doesn't sound terrible sent him home
So now he's like living his best life in uh, what was the name of the town?
Or no, he probably wasn't from that town. No, it says the surname just uh, mr
Ben gocha javier doesn't say where he's from
It didn't it didn't it just said they were too. Um
Um to spanish maybe we can get him on the podcast an interview
Maybe definitely cool down. I think if you're out there
Give us a ring. Yeah, I assume he's sent us an email. He's retired. So if you're here to podcast you want to become famous
Talk about the worst day of your life
Maybe it wasn't maybe he has some other crime times to tell us. Yeah, maybe you could write a book about it
Mm how he was set up by the german government. Yeah
Sounds like a crazy story. So that was that one. Well funny funny, you know
I mean at least there was nobody wanting to explode a nuclear bomb, right?
That's definitely good news for sure for sure
Just some some russians wanting some extra money
Yeah, and they had some extra plutonium on hand to send over to europe indeed
It's um, there you go. Yeah, that was that story
Good good
Okay, so
I'll tell my last story which I think you'll get a kick out of I didn't tell you anything about this. So excited
So in vitoria gastéis, which was what where our last story was based?
A judge who has vetoed the name hycea
hycea hycea
Asea a seah to a girl denied another baby to be called
Yardy
Yardy, which means moon in uskara. Yep. Okay
So alleging that it was so uh, the judge prevented some parents from giving the name yardy
Yardy moon in basque to their newborn son alleging that it was a girl's name
Despite the fact that basque nouns do not usually have a gender. Yeah
And uh that it accepts names as neutrals. Yeah, right
So the judge imposed the name of john
No way
That's that's a that's
Violation of many right crazy. What is this from? This is from oh no
Sorry, this is a bad question because I did not oh here it is. Boom. I found it. Uh, this is from
November 3rd
Am I no no, uh, uh, no. Yeah, november 3rd. Remember this year
That's like yesterday. Yeah. Wow
So the family of course appealed to the supreme court. Absolutely waiting for a resolution to that
I hope they come on. So the same judge has refused to register a newborn with the name hycea
Uh, I say which means seed in basque. Oh, that's a sea. Okay, a sea. Sorry
considering it
pejorative
And has imposed another phonetically and semantically very similar sea
Which does not correspond to the one chosen by its parent
Very odd. Isn't that weird that a judge would have the right to?
well, I mean
I I know that
there are there's a history here of
Imposing the names of children
Because mostly because of the dictatorship. Yeah and imposing anything basque was illegal. Yeah
So, um
Yeah, so there's a history of that but that's crazy that today that that would be happening, right?
It is and especially especially because they're non-gendered right? Yeah, like there's no gender to
To names and names and not only that I can't think of any names right now
but I know there are a couple of names that both girls and boys use like
You know which one I can't that's the thing. I can't think of one right now, but um
You know, I know there are a couple like I've heard of
I just remember somebody saying oh this one's a boy. That one's a girl. I'm like, okay same name. Cool
Same name cool. Okay. I mean well I can keep reading about this
I'm I have to burn another of my childhood stories though, you know, my name's from a list. Oh, is it?
Yeah, I was born in a dictatorship
Oh, okay
Tell my name was one of the few names that my mom recognized in English and she was like, okay
It's gonna be douglas. Oh, she had a list that she had to choose your name from approved names. Yeah, she couldn't
You're during the dictatorship the dictator at the time. I don't actually know there's plenty in Brazil to choose from
But one of them one of them
Um, the thing is there was also a list here
So there was just a list that you could choose from it wasn't like you could choose any name, right?
And I know that that's why everyone is joseph maria maria joseph
Yeah
And at some point it was obligatory to include maria and a girl's name as a second name
So, I mean anyway, it's a it's a restrictive system
but like definitely in
Latin america i've in my own family tree. I have seen some very
Intense names that they've chosen after you can choose anything
Oh, and I know there's a lot of like, you know, there have been cases of parents wanting to call their child hitler
And that's that has been that has been stopped by judges and I think that's no I have heard that too. Yeah, like
things like that
Or just something. Yeah, and this tastes fun. So I I I think there is a place you can't do that
yeah, I think there's a place for
for a judge to to to comment on but
But the fact that it's right like because it's considered a girl's name. Yeah, and it's a boy
Boy child, you know like yeah, I want to be called mariel being called maria. Yeah, like and even that there are guys called maria
Yeah
Exactly. You would have thought jose jose mar you know jose maria. Yeah, it's a very common name. Yeah
weird
Okay, so i'm gonna shall I read the rest of this?
Go on. Okay. I mean i'm already shocked. I think there's no more you can do but
It must be remembered that nouns and adjectives do not usually have grammatical gender in basque as they do in spanish or french
for this reason it's common for names such as
Ice i say, yeah wind. Yeah, ibar plain
Suzy
root or yeah, sedu or sedu
Sky for example can be used interchangeably in men and women. There we go
Yeah, gender distinction is made in some isolated words
Although they are different words and not gender variants of the word for example in pairs such as cousin cousin god goddess prince princess
So then they gave all the best do you want to read those out for?
For cousin cousin. I need bigger bigger letters
I'm a 42 baby. Okay
So cousin cousin
We have lengusu lengusinha
And then we have god goddess yanko and yank
Yankosa
And prince princess princess princessa, okay
So then in 2019 the academy of the basque language introduced a neutral names in its
Gatsitier for the first time valid for boys and girls the list presents 500
Episynni
Given names. I don't know what that word means episynni. Episynni. I'm not sure what that means either
Must be a first name maybe
Perhaps yeah
Episynni
I'm gonna have you read all these basque names though because i'm not even gonna try people are gonna be yelling at their oh
Episynni is a lack of gender distinction often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine
Okay, it includes androgyny
Having both male and female names. Okay
So the list presents
500 episynni given names
Mm-hmm. That's quite a lot. That's cool. Here they are. You want to read them? Yeah, some of them are alai
Alonja mayur
Amets that's a nice one. It just means I have a student named amets, but it's with the set z instead of a s
All right
S. All right. I have a student name. All right
That's a that's a funny one because it means close so a close person that's cute
Okay
Yeah, and also diminutive names such as agustin agustin aritsu asun vichori engraci franchoa inacio itzazo isabel jesús
Yos yospe yuancho kachalin manu nacho checho and shabi
That was a good one. Good list of cute names. Very very very cute names
Okay, so then the uskal what's the name of this in this this
Which is the the it's the equivalent like we don't have it in english, but what they have in french is
the
Academia francesa de la langue, which is the academy responsible for the rules of french language. Okay, so the there's the spanish one, too
Exactly. Yeah
The real academia de la lengua española. Yeah
So that's the equivalent it was called sandia is the best equivalent the
Equivalent it was called sandia is the best equivalent that that defines how
The rules should be in basque. Okay
So this they have offered advice to acai's family so that they can register her to her daughter under that name
In this sense, he is assured that he sees no impediment to using the name
asia
Asia like cn like seed. Yeah from the linguistic point of view as occurs with other names derived from a common noun
Yeah, and they named these
but also
Come from a common noun
Ameth ameth, yeah ameth which is dream isiah which is wind lissar. I'm not sure
naya naya
sedu or
su
Which is just tree I love that one
Hi tree, how you doing tree?
So cute
Sorry, I'm I'm clearly biased I love it's cute best names tree. They're so cute. Okay. So thus through a note
uskala
Cn, yeah, it's called sandia
those kind of sandia
Sandia you got it has assured that it is offering to write a report and make it available to the family in the next few
Days so that if they so wish they can use it to channel the controversy raised around that name
very good
Sandia
Has affirmed that this type of controversy is frequent in civil registries, especially due to questions of the gender associated with the name
in 2018 the academy of the basque language asked
The spanish ministry of justice to act with flexibility in gender cases
Since most of these issues derive from them
Absolutely. There is some reasonable
reasonable advice there
Yeah, I mean it's it's just weird to me that that's happening today
Yeah, it's really
Yeah, it's not nice because you would have hoped we've moved beyond that. I was gonna I was gonna mention though
sort of to
To build up a bit of the context is also because basque was prohibited for so many decades
um
A lot of these parents don't speak basque and maybe their grandparents do like the children's grandparents
But the the parents of the children many times don't speak basque
So they don't necessarily have a close connection to the language, which i'm just justifying the fact that sometimes they might
Make
the wrong choice, but
You know clearly here el escar sandia has backed up the parents
What do you mean like the wrong choice in terms of gender a gender specific name? No, no
no, just i'm i'm maybe they just because
Um just they could choose a word that that has different connotations they don't understand for example
Yeah, or just you know the name of an object that is too
Crass, you know that they might not know is an object, you know, they just might think it's a name of a place
Yeah, it's a nice word
Yeah, but actually it might have a kind of kind of shocking or bad meaning and it's that kind of
an interesting one though also because you have
Oh gee, I can't think of the name though right now, but what I meant to say is that even though
The name can mean something negative like hate. It's still
I mean, i'm not sure if that's exact
Meaning of the the name i'm thinking of but you know something negative like that and yet
It's quite a popular name. Yeah, even though it's it's very random, but it might be a pretty name
It might be a pretty word, right? Exactly. Yeah, you know
Yeah
They're they're definitely
It's personal taste if you enjoy
Basque names, but I do like them
But that was a lovely story. Thank you and so relevant. Yeah, very lovely lovely. No, but you know
Yeah, lovely because I know they're gonna win and that fucking judge should go back to his country
Damn douglas
Closing his culture on the best people uh, when oh whatever culture that is. I mean it sounds like he's like, you know
gender norms and you know
That kind of crap is just seems strange oyandia today. I mean
That's the thing, you know, when yeah when your language has gender
It's sometimes hard to deal with different culture that doesn't have it
You don't quite get get get like if you don't speak a language. It doesn't have gender. It's hard to understand
Mm-hmm
Understandably. Yeah
um, so um
Do you have a mini crime time?
Today because I kind of do okay
Go for it. This happened actually today
Mm-hmm. I was coming home on the metro and um when I was leaving
Um to plaza uno, uno, there's usually like a busker
Right near the metro. Did you kick him? No, I did not commit any crimes
But this is the mini crime that I saw
I was walking and I was listening to another podcast
um, and I
I was listening to a podcast and I realized I'm
Listening to him singing
And I can tell that he's singing
Patience by guns and roses
Right. I recognize the song because I'm a big fan of guns and roses
But then I realized like is he actually singing patients?
So I paused my podcast to find out and sure shit
The guy was singing like
I have my is there all we know by your demo. We don't want to
Like making totally nonsense
I like that even the word patience. He wasn't saying he was like
So I was like that's a crime that's an english at least learn the words
Yeah, I mean he's earning his life with that. He should definitely
Yeah, I felt like it was a crime earning his keep it's a definitely mini crime if he is earning his keep fine
But uh, yeah to me it was a crime
It's a audio crime
right
Like which crime like play the song
If you're gonna play the song, I don't know. Am I wrong? What do you think?
Am I wrong? It was really funny to me, you know to hear somebody going
Yeah, right and I was wondering how many other people around me knew that he was not
Making any sense
I looked around like does anybody else realize that this guy's not actually saying anything
And just making sounds. I mean, I always find it odd when people are doing that. Have you seen it a lot? I have seen it
A number of times. I feel like yeah, I've heard somebody doing that
A number of times. I feel like yeah, i've heard somebody doing it with like bob dylan or something. Hmm
It's just like the street a lot of times. It'll be most of the time. I think that i've heard that happen
It's like somebody that goes. Oh, you know that song going kind of goes raw
And they don't know somebody performing it like that's what's weird to me
It's like somebody that like likes the song
Has learned the chords to play the guitar and everything so they managed they were actually playing it. Yeah
Yeah, he was playing it on the guitar
But he just never learned the lyrics one skill out of two. That's not too bad
So anyway, that's because you know some people some people put the background
Thing and then sing and then they don't do the music. So you're allowed to do one out of two
But so he should have like going to karaoke, right?
He just needs the the long voice and shut up and just play the guitar. You know, that's what you want him to do
I felt like going and taking over
Oh, I felt like you play the music and i'll sing the song and that would have been beautiful
That would be good. He probably would find it a crime though
At least at least a minute
Trying to get my
Yeah, that's a worthy story of many crying time
I think
I'd still have to look up the words on on like i'd have to look them up on my phone or something
That's normal to follow the song. Nobody knows lyrics. I know I mean I do know lyrics but like
Not everyone not every single lyric to that song. What's that little though? I do love that song. It's a good one
Like guns and roses. I'm pretty bad at lyrics. So i'm always gonna need the help in front of me. Mm-hmm
Yep
Hey, that's all i've got. It was fun. It was a nice story
I'm glad you weren't hurt. No, no, no
Nobody got hurt. It was funny. It was funny
It was actually a hilarious little moment in my day. So that's lovely, but I still found it to be a crime
I agree. I agree
Well, thank you everybody for listening. Yes. Thank you. It was a it was a chill time learning about basque people and their crimes. Yeah
And be sure to reach out to us for your mini crime today
For your mini crime time and it can be anything and it can be from anywhere and it doesn't have to be with the Basque country
We're gonna be excited if you want to audio record it
Also, that was you can send us an audio recording of your story
Um, we'll play it. That would be fine. Yeah
Yeah, so yeah, thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Have a good one. Yeah
What's our cutoff? How do we we bid you?
a goor
Right
Crimes of the Basque lands is written and produced by double stick are violent. Julie Garcia
I'm megan dooley the sound and editing for each episode by double suit carvalli. I'm megaduley theme song written by
Julie garcia i'm megaduley sung by the choir with no name and produced by tom squires
Podcast art by distinct signal follow us on instagram and facebook at crimes of the basque lands
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