Mari Carmen Jiménez and Antonio Pulido, a couple from Jaen, followed in the footsteps of many of their compatriots who, at the beginning of this century, bought an apartment in the Natura World urbanization on the beach in Vera (Almería), the most important naturist enclave in eastern Andalusia . “From day one, they told us that anyone can go as they please, and there was never any mention of it as an obligation to bathe naked,” says Mari Carmen, one of the plaintiffs, who is now dated Supreme Court approved. and prevents the community of owners from imposing nudism on all owners. But behind the controversy between naturists and textiles lies another, even bigger conflict between the complex’s developers and residents, with many of them threatening to be evicted from their homes for a lack of action.
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The confrontation of two different neighborhood communities, the naturist and the textile, has created a climate of unbreathable juxtaposition in recent years in this residential complex with 495 apartments. “It is terrible what we have suffered; It is very difficult that they prevent you from accessing the pool that is yours,” says Jiménez, who recounts a real ordeal his family has endured since the new municipal presidency made nudism compulsory in 2017. “They hired security guards who prevented us from entering the pool and other common areas,” stresses Juan Pedro Peláez, president of the Association of Victims, who have now been sentenced by the Supreme Court to compensate them with 1,000 euros. “The moral damage suffered is greater than this money,” emphasize these people from Jaén, who are the majority in this urbanization.
The same judgment of the First Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court concludes by stating that “the plaintiffs’ presence in their vacation home has changed from a place of rest to a place of suffering”. And for that reason, it understands that “the imposition of nudism violates the right to equality, involves discrimination against plaintiffs because of their ideas and thoughts, and violates their freedom of movement and right to privacy.”
However, what made the Supreme Court change the plan to a court of first instance of Jaén and the provincial court of that city (which dismissed the claim of the owners defending the textile) was the finding of a gross error in the evaluation of the test defended by the naturists. “The Supreme Court makes it clear that no laws have ever been approved to bar bathing suits from public areas,” says Miguel Ángel Nieves Carrascosa, the lawyer who has defended a hundred anti-naturists, although only eight of them have formalized the claim. And he adds: “Even if the statutes had existed, they would have been zero because you can’t force anyone, that’s something grotesque.”
The legal triumph of textiles will not prevent them from remaining a distinct minority in a residential area that has always been a reference among naturist communities. Miguel (fictional name) was one of the first to buy an apartment in 2000. “Of course we knew that it was a naturist urbanization,” says this tenant, also from Jaén, who admits that he is inherently uncomfortable with this dispute. .
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But if the courts have already ruled on the conflict between nudists and non-nudists, two other disputes are still alive. One of them is due to the legitimacy of the two communities of owners (Natura World Vera and Avenida Ciudad de Tarragona). The naturists have passed several judgments in their favor in recent years, in which the textile community has been declared null and void.
And the final and most important lawsuit pending involves scores of tenants who are still awaiting deed of sale of their home. Those affected demonstrated in October 2019 and demanded not to become the victim of what they believed to be a dispute between the property owner and the insolvent construction company. Since then, hundreds of owners with habitability licenses granted by Vera City Council have lived in agony and fear of losing their homes and their life savings.
After applying for protection from the Ombudsman, those affected have appealed to the Supreme Court, where they are demanding equal treatment for all residents. Without a favorable verdict, many fear having to hand over their home to the company’s current liquidator. “They want us to leave here to continue their real estate speculation,” concludes Mari Carmen Jiménez, who is already counting down the days until she can enjoy her pool, wearing a swimsuit of course.