Amazon, the promise of the future, encrypted in El Burgo and Villanueva | Economy

Some days, at random, as if by some strange algorithm, a group of Japanese sits around a table in the restaurant Habitat de Sella, a garden venue for weddings and celebrations in Villanueva de Gallego (4,700 inhabitants, Zaragoza). “They always ask for the same thing: water and Serrano ham,” says a villager, “and they leave the same way they came, in an unmarked van.” Everyone thinks that they are employees of the new Amazon data center, a kind of bunker about two and a half kilometers from this city, next to the airfield. No one saw them enter or leave this place, surrounded by fences and surveillance cameras, where at the same speed as the cloud of confidential data that their large computer towers must process grows, so does the cloud of mystery, fueled by the suspicions of the neighbors.

The Villanueva headquarters, located on 76 hectares of municipal and public land, is one of three headquarters that the American e-commerce corporation, considered “the most valuable retail brand in the world,” is building in Aragon. Nearby there is another plant in El Burgo de Ebro (2,600 inhabitants); and another one in the industrial belt of Huesca (Plus). But in the cities there is no trace of the “arrow smile,” the logo with which Amazon conquered the world. There’s nothing to show signs of their presence, “but they’ve been here for over a year and a half,” warn neighbors who have noticed the work, new water pipes and a gradual increase in permits for energy from nearby sources. substations that collect the output of the numerous wind farms and solar panels that surround these windmill-dotted lands.

“Amazon is in Seattle, Dublin, Milan, Stockholm, London and El Burgo,” jokes proudly Vicente Royo (PSOE), mayor of the latter municipality, located ten minutes from Zaragoza. There, an American company bought 14 hectares of land on which it settled from about twenty families from Burgos, who remained anonymous “because they signed a confidentiality agreement,” Royo explains, without providing further information.

Faced with secrets and rumors spreading in cities, last Thursday at a spectacular event at the Water Tower – the tallest building in the entire region – representatives of the company created in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and the Aragon government declared the world – with large logos and powerful lighting – an investment of 15.8 billion euros in the Spanish region and the creation of 6,800 jobs (direct and indirect) over the next ten years. “We won the lottery,” was the first thought of the mayors after months of “very cautious conversations,” “confidential negotiations,” comings and goings, agreements and disagreements with envoys of the tech giant.

“You never know who’s in charge, there’s a new one every day,” says Royo, revealing an aura of mystery surrounding the various American company representatives they dealt with (“in Spanish and English, with translator”). and the confusion they cause in cities. “We will have to adapt to other paths,” adds this socialist adviser, who, before devoting himself to politics, worked for one of the many companies in his city’s industrial zone, which was promoted in the Eighties and which traditionally employed a large part of its population . “For decades there has been almost no unemployment here; everyone who doesn’t work because they don’t want to,” he says. And remember that the jobs Amazon is promising are “very specialized: engineers and computer technicians,” so he doesn’t see much influence in the municipality.

The same thing happens in Villanueva de Gallego, which is also home to large and historical companies. It is its mayor Mariano Marcén (Federation of Independents of Aragon, FIA) who sets out the second train of thought that attacked the mayors after loudly declaring: “Well, actually, everything still remains to be seen”, “at the moment we have not seen difficulties”, “we “They weren’t even allowed into the data centers, but we had already built a pipe so that water from the city network could reach them there and so that they could cool their cars.” “The Aragon government has assured us of supplies by creating a pond with a budget of three million euros. Of course, Amazon is not going to pay construction taxes like the rest of the small and medium sized companies in the area because the project was declared to be of public interest, which it is, but Amazon won the lottery! Concludes this mayor, whose administration is based in Zaragoza, and admits: “More than once the negotiations became bitter and we were told that they were going somewhere else.”

Amazon’s invisible cloud rises above hermetically sealed data centers as an encrypted promise of the future for these cities. “It is assumed that following their presence, other companies will come, new needs will appear, a climate will be created, a new ecosystem, as they say,” says Royo. “This is the future of what we will be working for, this is artificial intelligence, there are studies that say seven out of ten children will work in jobs that don’t exist now,” he adds with a self-confidence that almost sounds like an act faith.

Since its introduction, Amazon has “transformed the computer lab at El Burgo School and the adult school from top to bottom,” Royo says. “And he financed part of the first Vita Urbis festival to promote the Roman site La Cabañeta,” he adds. And in Villanueva, he also contributed to the tree planting day, the distribution of food parcels for children and the celebration of the Annual Book Fair together with the University of San Jorge, whose modern and huge premises are located in the city. It is the students of this university who, apparently, know most about this data center installed in the municipality.

“In May of this year, we organized an AWS (Amazon Web Services) Day at the university to teach students how a data center like the one in Villanueva works using 3D glasses,” explain sources from the private institution , which supports collaboration. with an American company. “The emergence in Aragon of a global reference in data management, storage and computing such as Amazon will allow us to provide qualified professionals directly related to the required professional profile,” writes Rector Silvia Carrascal in response to EL PAÍS. “We believe in a university-business collaboration model to fully prepare our students,” he adds.

“Another Neighbor”

“As part of our mission to be a good neighbor,” said Susana Curic, CEO of Amazon, in response to a question from EL PAÍS, “every time we establish ourselves in a location, we have a strong commitment to giving back locally level. And we do this through our program In communities, focused on contributing to society through local support for local associations, educational institutions, social inclusion projects and sustainable development initiatives.” Curic elaborates: “For example, we helped renovate, modernize and expand the technology classroom at La Cabañeta Preschool and Primary School in El Burgo de Ebro. We also supported the new edition of Diversario, the Festival of Creativity and Disability. from Cadiz Huesca.” And he concludes: “The goal is to become another neighbor.”

In El Burgo and Villanueva, Amazon remains an almost invisible neighbor, a “ghost company,” some say, a mysterious presence that promises a future like the Virgin of Lourdes. “We’re going to ask them to help us open a high school,” Royo says. “We will ask them to also upgrade our computer rooms, and I understand that when they start paying IBI and IAE (economic activity tax), the municipal treasury will take notice,” says Villanueva Deputy Mayor Susana Gonzalez (PSOE). . And Mayor Marcin concludes with a laugh: “The needs of the municipality are endless: in the end we will say that we need a beach in Villanueva!”

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