Madrid, New Miami for Latin American dissidents

Madrid, April 13 (EFE) .- Madrid has become a “refuge” of dissent in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua in recent months, finding other opponents in the Spanish capital and another tone from which to raise its voice against governments. Your countries.

After Venezuelan opponents, such as businessman Leopoldo Lopez Gill, now an MEP, or former Caracas mayor Antonio Ledez, arrived in Spain, there was a constant stream of people who chose to live in “European exile” from which they continued to live. Fight.

“First I went to the United States because I have a family and I had a business, but it’s very difficult to go: a person needs a certain social blanket, human warmth, and I could not get it in California,” Lopez Gill told EFE. .

During a visit to Barcelona, ​​he realized that Spain would welcome him better: “Human interest in our work was boundless compared to the United States, so I started staying here and immediately found friendship and great support.”

Spain, Asylum

For writer Gioconda Bell, who was unable to return to Nicaragua after his daughter’s visit to the United States, Spain was a “fuss of solidarity” that all migrants want to find when arriving in a foreign country.

“Here we speak our language; Spain has a very positive attitude towards Latin American refugees; “We have found this supportive hug and it means everything when you have to leave your country,” he told EFE.

Bell takes the period of “deportation” as “Nicaragua’s job” to demand the release of political prisoners.

“Leaving the country is one of the most difficult things a person experiences, leaving the way of life; “You need so much emotional support to recover and not collapse,” said the writer, who defended that this wave of migrant dissent would be “help in Spain.”

In the same vein expresses his compatriot and former Vice President of Nicaragua Sergio Ramirez, who believes that even during the dictatorship, Madrid was a refuge.

“Like Paris, they were two recurring titles by Latin American writers, and the waves of exile that occur every time in Latin America often end in Madrid. “Now we meet a lot of writers, artists, academics, students, workers who come in search of work due to economic hardship,” he added.

For Antonio Ledez, these opponents are emigrating to Spain because of a “steadfast connection” with Latin America, and he argues that migration creates a “race mix” that defines a region.

“I am the son of an Italian immigrant from the South who came to Venezuela and his first job was to sell ice cream; That is to say, it is to unite with our ancestors, ”he thinks about coming to Europe.

The most favorable conditions for Latin Americans

The historical threads between Spain and Latin America also lead to more favorable legal conditions for Latin Americans to stay in Europe than those adopted by citizens of other regions.

This is indicated by Ledez, who recalls that this is another reason why Venezuelans settled in Spain, which is already the first Latin American nation to be present in the country the most.

The reason that also opened the door to dual nationals who left their countries because of the current political situation, such as the Cubans Carolina Barrero or Liliana Hernandez.

Those who do not take advantage of this situation also find other incentives, such as the Cuban playwright Jr. Garcia, one of the promoters of a peaceful march against the Cuban government, indicating that in his case he chose Madrid for its relationship with culture.

Garcia believes that Miami is in the minds of Cubans as a place for “economic prosperity” and for those who have more to do with “think, choose Madrid”.

In addition, he analyzes the Cuban opposition in Miami and believes that he “perceives the regime’s propaganda as a more outraged opposition, with a tougher discourse.”

“Obviously, a lot of Cubans live in Miami who have lost everything they had or risked their lives to get there, those who lived through the worst of the dictatorship and have another pain that translates into resentment,” he said.

Nevertheless, he believes that the “pain” of the deportees in Spain is “not insignificant”: They are, they are, however, perhaps the speech from here was less exciting. ”

Macarena Soto