When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Spain

Spain's Robin Hood Of Banks On The Run Again

CLARIN (Argentina), EL PAIS (Spain)

Worldcrunch

BARCELONA - This so-called Robin-Hood pursuit, which appeared to come to a head in March 2009, is back on again.

It was four years ago that the then 32-year-old Catalan man, Enric Durán Giralt, was sentenced to prison by a Barcelona judge for stealing from banks -- and giving to his favorite leftist causes.

Between 2006 and 2008, Durán had falsely identified himself and his intentions in obtaining 68 personal and commercial loans from 39 different banks for a total value of 492,000 euors. Before the judge, Durán confessed that a significant portion of the money had been donated to social movements that he refused to identify, and the rest he spent on the publication of 300,000 copies of two editions of a magazine called “Crisis,” denouncing the inner workings of the global financial system.

A member of various anti-capitalist movements, Durán released a video and an online article in 2008 declaring: “I have robbed 492,000 euros from those who rob us most.”

According to El País, he was soon after dubbed the "Robin Hood of Banks," and he committed his crimes knowing that he could go to jail: “I knew that this crisis would come one day. Capitalism is all over the planet and resources are finite. We cannot grow more, and, like this, we cannot keep functioning … Banks are the prime responsible for this crisis. We must invent a financial system that does not create money out of nothing and establish economic relationships in the local sphere.”

[rebelmouse-image 27086304 alt="""" original_size="320x213" expand=1]

(Durán in 2011 - photo: Zaradat)

Fearing arrest, Durán fled to Venezuela and Brazil, but would eventually return to Spain -- and dared to publish another magazine. Six months after his public confession, the Catalan police detained him while he was in a press conference in the University of Barcelona.

“They detained me because of the risk of me fleeing again, I came back because I wanted to. At least, jail will only serve to give my actions more publicity: they preferred for me to have never come back,” he said. Durán didn’t spend much time in jail, after a group of collective socialists posted the 50,000 euro bail.

But when Durán failed to show up last Tuesday to the beginning of the trial, where the prosecutors are asking for an eight-year sentence, this latter-day Robin Hood was back to his fugitive life. Durán released a statement on his website that his followers took to the Provincial hearing in Barcelona, in which he declared: “Disobedience, it's the only option I have for my rights to be respected today.”

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Kherson, Where War Survivors Must Now Escape The Flood

The evacuation of residents from flood-affected localities continues after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovak dam. Evacuees report that they have been bombarded by Russian missiles and fear the presence of mines in the water.

Photo of a woman after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovak dam.

A woman is seen during the aftermath of the destruction of the Nova Kakhovak dam.

Yevhen Buderatsky and Yevhen Rudenko and Yana Osadcha

KHERSON — “Finally, dry land...” The words were repeated by multiple evacuees forced to leave their homes over the past 48 hours in the wake of the explosion that destroyed the Nova Kakhovka dam.

Stay up-to-date with the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war, with our exclusive international coverage.

Sign up to our free daily newsletter.

For the residents of Kherson and the surrounding area, the past 15 months have included a Russian occupation, Ukrainian liberation, and frequent artillery shelling. But on Tuesday, they woke up to a different kind of test of their survival skills.

The major breach of the dam flooded the settlements near the Dnipro river, forcing thousands to evacuate. The floodwaters have even submerged the low-lying districts of Kherson, the major city in the area, where levels have been known in the past to rise to the second or third floors of apartment buildings.

But now, the flooding is bound to be both more severe, and more widespread. In certain areas, the only mean of transport is by boat.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest