Government rejects Verdemar video as false and politically motivated 

The Gibraltar Government has strongly rejected a video produced by Verdemar, describing it as false, misleading and aimed at damaging Gibraltar’s reputation rather than advancing any genuine environmental cause.  

The Government was reacting after Verdemar released a video featuring real and AI images and designed to create an emotive pull around its longstanding and well-known grievances about Gibraltar and the environment, ranging from bunkering and sewage to reclamation and the presence of nuclear submarines. 

In a statement, the Government said the video sought to denigrate Gibraltar, Gibraltarians, the Government and its environmental record for what it described as a “transparent political purpose”.  

According to the statement, the video used false images, generic footage and unproven visual associations to create a misleading narrative about Gibraltar and its waters.  

The Government said some of the footage shown, including images of wipes on beaches, slicks at sea, affected wildlife and vessels in open water, had not been filmed in Gibraltar or its waters.  

It also also noted some images appeared to have been enhanced by AI, something Verdemar itself had acknowledged in a barely visible subheading at the bottom of a section of the video. 

The press release said the video encouraged viewers to link those images to Gibraltar when, it argued, no such connection had been established.  

It described the production as “a false narrative collage” rather than an evidential account.  

As one example, the Gibraltar Government said wipes that appeared on the east side last year had been scientifically determined to have come from a sewer north of the border. 

It accused Verdemar of using those images to wrongly attribute blame to Gibraltar.  

The statement also said the video failed to reflect what it described as Gibraltar’s environmental progress, including the extent of protected areas on land and at sea, environmental legislation, improvements in air and sea quality, and wildlife protection, rewilding, research and conservation programmes.  

It also referred to the work of the Department of Environment and Climate Change, the University and NGOs including GONHS, ESG and the Nautilus Project.  

The Government said this came shortly after the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Conservation had congratulated Gibraltar’s Minister for the Environment, Dr John Cortes, in London on Gibraltar’s environmental record and its 25 Year Environment Plan.  

Dr Cortes said he would not allow “false environmentalists” to “defame” Gibraltar and to “trash the hard work” of NGOs and officials, and his own personal lifetime’s work, “for political ends”.  

“I will challenge them for trying to stoke up hate of Gibraltar and its people with their lies,” he said.  

“They are hypocrites.”  

“Antonio Muñoz [Verdemar’s lead campaigner] himself, who once claimed to be my friend, has been welcomed to my office in the past and has said to my face that he wished Spanish politicians did as much for the environment as I have done, and on more than one occasion he has asked me for support in his campaigns.” 

“What motives can Verdemar have other than political, when they should be welcoming closer cooperation in the region on environment following the treaty?” 

“Instead they publish a bunch of lies trying to denigrate our good name.”  

“I challenge him and anyone else in his organisation to say these things to my face.” 

“I will be very happy to give Verdemar a lesson in the truth, environmental activism and governance and in political honesty too.” 

“The fact is that many want to see cooperation fail, and I am sorry to see that includes some alleged environmentalists who are clearly out and out anti-Gibraltar.”