Ciudad Carmín
Ciudad Carmín (Vermella in Galician; literally Carmine City in English) is a small community in the Galicia region of Spain. It is a "pedanía", in other words an independent area, of a larger town named Teixeiro, which is made up also of two other communities, Pueblo Lavanda and La Viridiana, by which it is bordered to the North-west.
Ciudad Carmín was the last of Teixeiro's current three communities to be declared independent around the year 1976, just as the nation was recovering from the long dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The community saw rapid growth and development during its first years, mostly due to the great damages done to the surrounding areas and people needing a new place for establishment. The drastic increase in its population led to the belief that it would eventually become a city, for this reason, though it was simply known as the Vermella community in the Galician language ("Vermilion"), it was named Ciudad Carmín in Castilian. Unfortunately, though Ciudad Carmín had a promising beginning it saw no further glory and eventually became the least important and most disregarded of the three communities.
History
In July 19th of the year 1997, Ciudad Carmín hit its lowest point in its short history as the power plant supplying electric power to both La Viridiana and itself exploded without warning, creating a toxic, contaminated wasteland. The tragic event took place while the town of Teixeiro was celebrating the yearly Fiestas de la Juventud ("Festivities of Youth"), which were cut two days short that year due to the accident. In Ciudad Carmín, the building that had been the power plant was completely destroyed and was never able to be investigated, though workers claimed that the plant had passed its most recent inspection and had shown no sign of problems. Toxic fluids and gases were spread over a large area in Ciudad Carmín, and to make matters worse, the discovery of a "wick effect" brought great worry. The "wick effect" refers to how the toxic wastes spread further in the surrounding territory rather than clearing up. A large part of the vegetation in the community was affected and poisoned and in recent years, the same problem has begun to develop in the south parts of sister community La Viridiana. The town's water system was also affected because of the strong impact caused by the explosion and the repairs left very uneven and unappealing sidewalks throughout Teixeiro. Ten years since the disaster, which today has become quite forgotten, in the spring of 2007, a great improvement has been observed in the vegetation of Ciudad Carmín and there's hope that the problem may clear up in the future. Still, there is little hope that the community will resume its once rapid growth, for in the past years it has come close to becoming a ghost town.
Modern conflicts
As of the year 2007, a long-running conflict still goes on; that is the Centro Penitenciario de Teixeiro, a prison installed in the outskirts of Ciudad Carmín during the '90s. The penitentiary center has long been accused of mistreatment and abuse of prisoners and has been the object of major controversies for many years. Protestors have often been known to march the streets of Ciudad Carmín and sometimes even La Viridiana. Though normally under control, often due to the presence of the police, there have been marches and protests that have resulted in violence and chaos. Property in Ciudad Carmín has suffered vandalism and destruction as a result of some of these protests.
The opening of the prison had aroused controversies ever since its opening was proposed. Villagers of Teixeiro feared for their safety and considered the major threat of having dangerous criminals imprisoned less than a kilometer away from their homes. The prison has also affected the image of the town as a whole, not just the already damaged image of Ciudad Carmín, but that of La Viridiana and Pueblo Lavanda as well.
es:Teixeiro#Vermella