LA MUELA is a small town which almost literally has the wind behind its back. Twenty years ago it was a tiny hamlet of fewer than 800 inhabitants in a barren plain 23km from Zaragoza, where winds whip through and the soil is too poor to grow more than a few scrawny olive trees and the odd potato or cabbage.
Now it is the richest small town in Spain, with 6,000 residents and an annual budget of €25 million, all thanks to that wind and the foresight of mayor Maria Victoria Pinilla, who saw the possibilities of harvesting the wind and leasing out land for one of the largest wind farms in Spain.
Approaching from any angle one cannot fail to notice the source of La Muela’s wealth – the 500-plus giant windmills which dominate the skyline.
The windmills, which produce 226MW of electricity, belong to the major utility companies which lease the land and pay around €1 million in annual rental and royalties to the town and a further €500,000 to private landowners.
Not only did La Muela profit from the wind, allegedly Mrs Pinilla did too. She built herself a luxurious house, two more for her sons, as well as holiday homes in the millionaires’ paradise of Sotogrande and the Caribbean.
This week the mayor, her husband, one of their sons and 15 members of her town council were detained by anti-corruption police on nine charges of bribery, influence peddling, illegal development and money laundering.
Their offices and homes were raided and police took away hundreds of files and other evidence.
One of the accusations Mrs Pinilla faces is illegal rezoning of non-residential land to build 2,000 new houses. She recently announced plans for another ambitious residential complex, complete with golf course, which has been halted by regional officials who say it lacks sufficient infrastructure and services.
La Muela also boasts an industrial estate – also allegedly illegally zoned – for 500 businesses and small factories.
The corporation has poured millions back into the town and the locals will not hear any criticism of Mrs Pinilla. She has brought them benefits such as an ultra-modern sports complex with three heated swimming pools, Jacuzzis, a gym, a bullring, a cultural centre and three museums – including one, appropriately enough, dedicated to wind.
Other perks courtesy of the town hall are scholarships for their children and subsidised holidays in exotic destinations on both sides of the Atlantic.
The town is rich and these benefits will continue, but probably without Mrs Pinilla at the helm. Yesterday the town crier blew his bugle in the streets of La Muela and announced that the mayor was being replaced by her deputy “until her legal situation has been clarified”.