How Caruana Misled Casemates' Moroccans

Ratali Recalls:

Union support for Caruana's ‘bribe' encouraging Moroccans to leave

After long years playing a very active part in the local trades union, Abdel Ratali decided that he could not longer trust the Union leaders, but the events and the experiences he went through remain strikingly clear in his mind.

He recalls that there were four potential candidates -all of whom considered to be better suited than Luis Montiel - to fill the post left vacant by Jose Netto's retirement, which, curiously, coincided with Caruana's party winning the election.

A TGWU delegation from UK headed by Jack Adams came to Gibraltar to select the best candidate for the post and it was widely acknowledged that it should be Jaime Netto - " there was no other better suited than he", says Ratali forcefully.  Yet, when the UK's decision on the selection was reached, it was to be Luis Montiel.

When Bossano was Chief Minister, he worked closely with the Morrocan Workers' Association with Sasri as president, but when relations turned sour between Bossano and Jose Netto, Sasri gave Netto his full backing, Ratali recalls.

Stopping The Gossip

At the new District Officers' meeting with the branch of the private sector, he had to raise a point of order to get the meeting started because, instead of having the minutes of the previous meeting read out as is customary, "the priest's boys - Sanchez, Montiel, Pinna, Savignon and a few others - who had what the wanted, that is, Jose Netto out of the way, were gossiping about Netto, in which Ratali did not want to take part. Jose Netto was history, he emphasises.  When Montiel was selected Jaime Netto had resigned as branch officer and joined Caruana's party.

"Moroccans who had had contracts renewed by employers were told by ETB that they had to want until the unemployment issue had been resolved," Ratali told me. "But this was indeed a great problem for Moroccans, who could not work until the ETB gave its consent."

Ratali then asked Luis Montiel to put forward a new agenda of working points to the Caruana Government, and after several meetings between Montiel, Sasri and Caruana, the two trade union men announced that they had reached a "remarkable agreement" with Caruana.  Those who could not work because they had not been offered employment and were staging a demonstration at Convent Place (around 480 Moroccans took turns in marking their presence there) would each be given between  £8,000 and  £10,000 to leave Gibraltar and make no further claims on the Government.

Those Moroccans who had no jobs and no prospects saw this as a good deal as they had been employed in the private sector and felt the Government was not obliged to pay them anything.  But at the Union meeting, Ratali proposed that instead the labour market be open-end to all and that money should be used to establish new projects which would create jobs.

"Harrack, Meloqui, Achdad, Ben Mousa and Pepe Nuza seconded the proposed, and it was accepted at the private sector branch committee at which Luis Montiel was present," Ratali recalls. "All the points agreed in the private sector branch committee were then put forward at the District Committee meeting."

But when the proposal was put forward at the District Committee, Ratali stood alone in backing the proposal, for the other three members of the private sector branch (Manolo Sanchez, Henry Pinna and James Savignon) failed to support him.

Montiel Stresses "Good" Government Offer

Montiel reiterated how good the offer made by Caruana was since Government had no obligation to make such an offer.  But Ratali was not convinced.  He saw this as way out for Caruanas' problem with the Moroccans, as well as looking good in the eyes of the people for having ridded Gibraltar of the seemingly bad publicity it was attracting on account of this, Ratali argues.  He believed Caruana would capitalise on this by saying he had ended the problem inherited from Bossano.

The majority present at the District Committee meeting voted in favour of the offer made by Caruana, Ratali voted against.

"For Montiel it was a great achievement that the district committee had voted in favour.  Sasri meanwhile was working to this end through the Moroccan Workers Association.  The message given out was:  you can work for another 20 years and you'll receive nothing at the end of it.  Might as well accept the offer.

"When Sasri finally got the green light from the majority of the Moroccans, who expected to start a small business in Morocco with the money they were to receive, the agreement was typed for the Moroccans to sign.  But when they went to the office where they were to receive the money in return for their signature, everything was dealt with in English."

Ratali asked for a translator or for what was written to be translated into Arabic so that people could know what they were signing for.  This was unnecessary he was told.  But, it turned out, that the maximum any Moroccan was to get was £4,000.

When Ratali complained to Montiel the latter excused Caruana by saying that he (Caruana) had expected the UK government to contribute, but this hadn't happened.  "But this is why Bossano did not want the demonstrators at Convent Place to end their demonstration," Ratali replied. "And you went along with an agreement which was subject to the condition that the demonstration was put to an end." 

Sasri had persuaded the Moroccans that "as a sign of good faith, they should give up the demonstration,"  Ratali claims.

When they realised that the promised  £10,000 had been reduced to £4,000, more than half the Moroccans refused to sign.  "The rest who accepted the offer had their registration cards cancelled as well as the waiver in their passports - their ties with Gibraltar had been severed.  The same procedure was applied to those who subsequently left Gibraltar of their own accord in case they had a change of mind. 

"So, once done away with this problem, the Casemates residence was next.  There were 2000 Moroccans living in the Casemates building, each paying £10.50 a week.  Allocating such a huge number of people in such a confined space of residence was a problem created by the Hassan government," says Ratali, who also believes that having a ghetto at the entrance of the town was an "eyesore". 

No Planning For Casemates Move

But he objects to the way Caruana carried out the removal of the Moroccans - for which he blames the Moroccan Workers Association and Luis Montiel for acceding to something for which there had been no prior planning carried out.

And he points out that no consideration had been given to:

"The Moroccans were reluctantly removed from a place where they had lived for years and where everything essentially necessary was within walking distance," he points out.  "And because many Moroccans foresaw the problems they would encounter in moving to Buena Vista Barracks, meetings were held almost daily.

"This triggered Caruana's impatience.  Then one day the electricity and water supply were cut off - but the meetings continued by candlelight.  Then the beds were removed. 

"Abdelaziz Dogoum formed the Moroccan Civil Rights Movement to oppose the move to Buena Vista Barracks and issued a press release in which he said that Caruana had no right to move the Moroccans to a place which in reality was even worse than Casemates.  

Sasri called Ratali to attend a meeting with him and the Chief Minister, but when Ratali arrived at No 6, he found that as well as the union representatives Montiel and Savignon, Caruana's personal assistant Montado was present. 

Ratali had been led to believe that the meeting concerned the Moroccan problem, but he soon realised that something very different was afoot, he says. 

The meeting had been called to deal with what Dogoum has said about the GSD Government, Ratali says.  Caruana had prepared a Press Release for Sasri to sign as President of the Moroccan Workers' Association.

Playing Along With Caruana

Ratali recalls that he asked Sasri why he should sign a press release which was in fact contradicting what Dogoum had said. 

"After all it has nothing to do with us.  Why doesn't Caruana reply to this himself."  Realising that Ratali would not be party to this, Sasri replied that he would not issue a press release, instead he would stress how closely the Moroccans Workers' Association were working with Government. 

"Caruana was not in favour of Sasri doing as he proposed and said he should leave it to the press, which could facilitate things for him".