Hercesa: Casas con sentido > Well-thought Homes, and a big cui bono

"Homes that make sense" might have been closer to what the Guadalajara construction company Hercesa intended to convey, as well as being better English (Well thought-of/well thought-out?), but that begs the question as to whom they make sense: to purchasers deluded into contracting mortgages in excess of their ability to pay, for flats in developments that have had a devastating effect inter alia on the balance of water demand and supply; or solely to the builders and politicians who colluded to create this madness?

To the extent that offences have been committed, in the case of Hercesa, as in so many others, I suspect that only the smallest and stupidest of mafiosi will end up in court. My favourite in the briefest of searches is Julián Lucas Martínez, who it is alleged took leave of absence from Hercesa to win election as PP mayor of Cañizar, a tiny village in Guadalajara, and immediately gave permission for the construction of several thousand houses, mostly by Hercesa. I am sure you can find others.

While accumulating considerable personal fortunes, Juan José Cercadillo, who has led Hercesa since its foundation 1975, and his friend and business associate José "Cui" Bono, regional president from 1983-2004 and a figure of extraordinary influence since, have left Castilla-La Mancha with hordes of flats without inhabitants and inhabitants without flats, infrastructure out of all proportion to the population's likely needs, and a terrifying accumulation of public debt. Despite this, there has been absolutely no substantiated suggestion of corruption or any other form of wrong-doing on their part. That may be a fair enough, but no doubt some will see Bono's negotiations with the PP to become Spain's next ambassador to the Vatican as some rather rich icing on a particularly well-thought cake.

(H/t to Charles Butler, whose latest post also deals with the considerable distance that exists in the politico-commercial nexus between dicho and hecho.)

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