When Paz Orge Acebillo¡¯s family received a letter on behalf of Amazon Web Services proposing a ¡°private amicable agreement¡± to buy the land her family had owned for nearly half a century, she thought it was a scam. The letter cited a government-backed data-center project labeled ¡°of general interest.¡± It promised her father ¡°superior¡± compensation and signed off with an urgent request: The family had four days to make their interest known.
¡°My mother called me, she was alarmed,¡± said Acebillo, whose family has long used their small patch of land in Aragon, northern Spain, to grow vegetables and to gather for birthday celebrations, communions and summer evenings.
¡°The next day, she went to the town hall and showed the letter to a civil servant, who told her it must be a mistake,¡± Acebillo recalled. ¡°No matter who you spoke to at the town hall, nobody knew anything.¡±
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.