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Crisis as 200 homeowners in El Portus Naturist Camping to be evicted

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Suicide and depression have suddenly hit this community near Cartagena as more than 200 owners are given less than 15 days’ notice of eviction by new owners, with more to come

Crisis as 200 homeowners in El Portus Naturist Camping to be evicted

There are several Spanish families and residents of many other nationalities that have owned homes and lived at El Portús Naturist Camping campsite for over 40 years. Some of their children were born there and it has been the only home they have ever known. But now all of these people are under threat of imminent eviction, and it is causing untold distress in the community.

“Since it was first opened in 1980, houses were bought and sold and passed onto their children to live peacefully,” say sources from the recently formed Association of Owners El Portús. “Many generations of the same families have lived here.”

However, in September 2023, an investment company called Newtown Capital S.L. arrived and soon began threatening over 200 families living at the campsite with taking away their homes and making them homeless, some of them in a period of less than 15 days.

This has understandably had a drastic impact on the mental and physical health of those living there. Many of the owners at El Portús are families including vulnerable people with serious pre-existing health problems.

“This threat to their homes and life has already taken one life,” says the Owners’ Association. “One of the owners committed suicide after receiving his eviction notice and many others are now suffering from stress and depression.”

They continued: “Another elderly and fragile couple were so terrified of the threat of eviction that they gathered as many of their belongings as they could a few weeks ago and have rented temporary accommodation near their family in another region of Spain.

“The wife is 80 and has Multiple Sclerosis. Her husband is 77 and has Parkinsons disease. They have been living in such unsuitable accommodation that they were both admitted to hospital within a few days of each other in October, only a short while after moving away from their lifetime home in El Portús.”

Since the shock notices began arriving, the whole community of all nationalities got together and engaged in setting up the ‘Asociación of Owners El Portús’ with the intention of campaigning for their legal rights to continue to live, own or buy and sell as they have done for over 40 years. The fledgling Association has recently engaged the services of a lawyer to try to negotiate a suitable way forward with the new owners.

Aside from the heartbreak involved, locals are hard put to explain the legality of the eviction notices.

“The Association members are registered on the Empadronamiento (the Padrón) with the local Town Council (O.M.I.T.A.) in Canteras, Cartagena. This is a municipal register, or census record, similar to an electoral roll. It shows our homes at El Portús as being our legally registered residence.”

This week, almost all of the members of this wonderful community gathered in the bar onsite to come together for mutual support and advice. Many were crying, terrified or in shock that they could be treated so badly after so many years of living peacefully.

But all vowed to fight on as a single force under the banner of this association for the right to continue living in their homes.

About El Portús Naturist Campsite

This site is known all over the world as a special destination where people of all nationalities can live a natural and peaceful life.

Set just south of Cartagena in the Region of Murcia, in one of Spain’s special national parks, El Portús Naturist Campsite is in surroundings between the mountains and sea that are simply stunning and a natural magnet for sun worshippers and adventurers of all ages.

Images: Asociación of Owners El Portús

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