Yesterday it was brought to the attention of Ronda Today that graffiti artists have been spray painting on walls and rock retaining walls in the Casgo Antiguo (Ronda’s main tourist district), primarily in the area of the Paseo Blas Infante and Calle Santo Domingo on buildings owned by the Casa del Rey Moro.

Visitors to Ronda expect to see a pristine city as befits Andalucía’s third most visited city after Sevilla and Granada, however graffiti covered walls and rock ledges have the potential to turn away tourists, thus damaging the promotional efforts of Ronda’s tourism industry, the city’s biggest employer and largest revenue earner.

We are happy to announce that in a victory for the common good, Francisco Cañestro, the Deputy Mayor of Ronda and Councillor for Tourism, on seeing photos taken by Ronda Today yesterday has in an exclusive statement to Ronda Today confirmed he has issued instructions to municipal cleaning teams to remove or paint over the graffiti.

Graffiti on rocks is notoriously difficult to clean, and cannot be protected with anti-spraypaint coatings owing to the porous nature of rock. This of course means the rocks will need to be water blasted and scrubbed, and may yet show signs of paint residue, but in time this should diminish, though it doesn’t take away the sadness felt by this writer on seeing one of the city’s major tourist thoroughfares so badly damaged.

The second issue, and which is thornier still, is the graffiti covering properties owned by the Casa del Rey Moro, and the obvious question arises, why has this been allowed to remain in place, some of which was already visible at the time of Michelle Obama’s visit to the city.

In fairness to Councillors, including the mayor Antonio Marín Lara and deputy mayor Francisco Cañestro, this is a street rarely traveled by them, and we can accept their explanations they were not aware of the grafitti. However the owner of the Casa del Rey Moro, tourism operators, and street cleaners who pass through this street more regularly must surely have seen the graffiti in place, begging the question why hasn’t this already been removed.

Readers of Ronda Today will remember that in April of this year an ongoing planning consent issue for the construction of a five star hotel in the Casa del Rey Moro led to the arrest of the owner of the palace, Jochen Knie, after local police stormed the premises to remove a banner hung in protest.

At the time Marín Lara also issued a statement of his intention to expropriate the building and return it to municipal ownership. Ronda Today’s last communication with Jochen Knie was two weeks ago (disclaimer: Knie called Ronda Today on an unrelated matter) and we were unsuccessful in reaching him today for a comment.

Stating his extreme displeasure of graffiti blighting the city, Francisco Cañestro confirmed to Ronda Today that he will be reiterating to municipal staff that tourism is the main industry of Ronda, and that graffiti will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. Concerned that visitors to the city will see graffiti in high profile locations Cañestro was visibly moved and committed to remaining on top of the issue even after cleanup efforts have been completed.

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