The suicide of a business couple leaves ten bars in Port de la Selva in the lurch.

Puerto de la SelvaThe end of summer is tainted by the shadows in Port de la Selva. The unexpected death of a local couple, owners of a dozen bars, beach bars, and restaurants in the municipality, has led to the sudden closure of all their seafront businesses. The woman, 68, committed suicide last June, and the man, 71, attempted suicide a month later, leaving him seriously injured and dying at the end of August while admitted to Girona's Trueta Hospital. They had been linked to the area for almost three decades, and their establishments represented approximately 20% of the establishments in this small, whitewashed village in the Alto Empordà region, at the foot of Cap de Creus. The Café de la Marina, famous for the play of the same name by Josep Maria de Segarra, was one of the most iconic. It now has an empty terrace and a sign hanging on the door reading "temporarily closed."

They were José Andrés Bel and Adela Esteban Galindol, a married couple with extensive professional careers who spent their summers in the town as young people. Bel, an economist by training and expert in business management and business plans, headed the family company, Corvail del Port SL. Before investing in restaurants in the region, from the 1990s until after 2010, the entrepreneur had held senior management positions in renowned companies such as the clothing brand Stradivarius, Misako handbags, and Castañer espadrilles. In recent years, in Port de la Selva, in addition to the Café de la Marina, José Andrés Bel had invested heavily in popular establishments such as Ca la Maria and El Brascó, a restaurant with paddle tennis courts and a swimming pool at the entrance to La Selva de Mar.

Authoritative sources confirm to ARA that these businesses weren't going through a good time. "They had millions in debt, unpaid loans, and the workers hadn't received their last paycheck," explains a longtime resident. Another woman, a more or less regular customer, adds: "They had involved a lot of people to put money into their company. They paid very high rents to keep the most valuable premises, but in recent months they hadn't been able to meet the payments." Despite the financial difficulties, the couple—both of retirement age but still working—had started the summer with apparent normality, conducting job interviews and hiring new staff.

Rare climate

However, with his death, the operation of all his establishments in Port de la Selva has been interrupted, right at the end of the tourist season. These days, when the summer bustle still permeates the streets, it's strange to see the succession of his establishments without customers or waiters along the seafront promenade, while people crowd into the remaining establishments that remain open. This is a situation, of course, in a town where everyone knows each other, comments, and word spreads. The atmosphere is strained. "Everything is very strange," the neighbors repeat.

All sorts of morbid speculation is circulating about the circumstances of the death—including that of their dog, which also died during this tragic summer—about the couple's relationship, the pressures that led them to take their own lives, and about the alleged hidden interests of third parties.

In light of this commotion, the City Council, which does not wish to make any further public statements, asks that the memory of the deceased be respected and that speculation cease. The bodies of the deceased, both the woman and the seriously injured man, were found by the Municipal Police, and, for now, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have no open investigation, although residents acknowledge an increased presence of police officers who are asking questions these days.

The City Council and the new managers want to reopen soon.

The businesses together employed around ten permanent employees year-round, and in the summer, the workforce reached over one hundred. The sudden closure of these establishments has left many workers in a state of uncertainty, and the City Council, deeply concerned about the situation, is in contact with the new management to ensure business can resume operations more or less immediately.

José Andrés Bel and Adela Esteban Galindol died without any recognized heirs, so 51% of their shares have passed into the hands of the Girona-based investment company TQ-MR Family II SL, dedicated to the purchase and operation of real estate, which until now had only played a financial role within the group. To ensure the viability of the business, they have now assumed control and have begun analyzing its viability. They also ask for discretion: "Our commitment is to act with the utmost responsibility and business rigor to provide the best possible solution. We will work quickly and diligently to minimize any damage and ensure that all affected people can return to normal as soon as possible," the company states in a statement sent to this newspaper. TQ-MR also maintains that all employees are currently up to date with their pay and insists that they are working to find a solution, which in principle will occur shortly, despite acknowledging that the situation is "complex" due to the accumulated debt and the costs incurred by the deceased couple's shareholders.