On August 29, 126 immigrants arrived in Monterroso, a town in Lugo with more than 3,500 inhabitants. Since then, many residents have not stopped organizing activities to integrate them, while the PP mayor, Eloy Pérez, doubts that these initiatives will achieve real inclusion. The councilor insists that he is not opposed to the reception although he regrets the management carried out by the Government Delegation in Galicia and the high number of new residents.
The president of the Monterroso Sports Society, Balbino Martínez, coordinates the collection of donated clothing to deliver to the newcomers, who go to the soccer field every afternoon to enjoy the facilities, after the local team dedicated the first game to them. league with a welcome speech and a hallway as a sign of homage and respect. Some already train with the first team and everyone calls him “presi”. They have free entry to enjoy the competitions. Martínez considers that the new residents “are a luxury for the town” and believes that they will revitalize the rural area, “now in decline.” He confesses that he already knows industrial, livestock and agricultural companies interested in hiring them. “They bring a very heavy backpack and we have to make their stay as bearable as possible,” he says.
Tatiana De Azevedo, a 40-year-old teacher, participated in the organization of a small festival of traditional Galician music as president of the Falcatrueiros association. The goal was for new residents to get to know the culture better. “We welcomed them with songs and dances, some were encouraged to play the bass drum, the drum and the tambourine. It was very exciting,” he says. Now they are the ones who will plan another activity to show them their traditions. “We are a welcoming people,” he defends after insisting that the behavior of these people is exemplary.
But the mayor believes that “the first step of integration is to have training and work, not to play a soccer game or attend a concert.” He assures that these people need a job with a decent salary and sees it as very difficult for all of them to have a job in the town. “At the moment, there is no real inclusion, they are decorative acts carried out on specific days,” he says after commenting that these initiatives seem like “a face lift.” He is concerned that there is no long-term solution: “We are going to see how these people integrate, if they do.”
Luisa Coto, a 51-year-old lawyer in Monterroso, believes that the City Council gave an inappropriate initial media speech on this issue: “It was not a constructive message, it was a little alarming.” A couple of weeks ago he attended a neighborhood meeting called by the local association Agrocuir, organizer of one of the main LGTBI festivals in Spain, in which around 70 people participated. The objective was to discourage false rumors and racist comments that, according to the entity, “confuse and instill fear for no reason.”
During the meeting there were attendees who requested that the new neighbors be able to arrive later than the established hours at the hotel during the weekend of the local festivities so that they could all enjoy the festival together. Others offered to organize excursions to show them the main tourist attractions of Galicia. Some retired teachers were also willing to give them free classes, in case they require reinforcement.
At the same time, Coto trusts that the mayor’s office will back down in its actions upon realizing that the situation is not disturbing. He assures that the vast majority of residents, not all, are satisfied with this arrival that “represents a breath of fresh air for the region.”
Mechanics, farmers and psychologists
Monterroso is a town where the imprint of an emigrant past is still very present. Coto’s parents moved to England to seek a better future. She assures that among the new residents there are mechanics, farmers, ranchers, psychologists and even a television cameraman: “The rural area is diversity and it is being demonstrated. If we make them feel welcomed, the population rate will increase and that is enriching for everyone.”
The new arrivals, between 18 and 37 years old, are staying at the Río Ulla hotel and come from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia and Sudan. They are surrounded by a team of professionals dedicated to assisting them, including a couple of Spanish teachers, three janitors, six reception technicians and two social workers. They receive Spanish language classes every morning and have the right to legal and psychological assistance.
The councilor denounces a lack of official communication about the new situation that the town is experiencing: “At the Government Delegation they told me that, in principle, they were not going to come to the town when in the summer I asked them a couple of times about this because there were rumors. Days before their arrival they confirmed to me that they would do it, but I had to find out first from the NGO in charge of managing these people.” He received the information from the non-profit entity on August 16 after not being able to meet before due to scheduling reasons.
In the Government Delegation in Galicia they assure that there is permanent and fluid communication with the Xunta to inform them of the calculations with which they are working at all times. “When the arrival date approaches, and with confirmation, the city councils are informed of the transfer. As has happened in this and other humanitarian emergencies, planning can vary because we work with forecasts that adapt to the circumstances of each moment,” they explain. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration only transfers people identified by the National Police as adults. The Government assumes the full cost of their accommodation, maintenance and social care.
But, in line with his party’s speech, the mayor considers that in this management there is improvisation with an absence of institutional courtesy: “They are distributing the problem of the Canary Islands throughout the country in a disorderly manner.” He regrets the “imposition of a new reality” without having “a study on the integration of these people or the impact that their arrival will have on social and health services and on citizens.”
“Does not act with empathy”
Laura Montes, a 26-year-old social educator and resident of Monterroso, is dissatisfied with the local government because “it does not act with empathy as it is apparently missing in this matter.” He understands that there may be political dissidence in the management carried out, but considers that they are not an excuse to act because these people have already been in the town for more than a month: “They maintain silence, they do not participate in solidarity activities or in statements of support . The new neighbors do not know who their representatives are and they want to stay and live in the town.”
Montes does not consider it necessary to carry out an integration study because he assures that this is not carried out with vacationers in the summer period or with pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago. She went to the center where they are installed to give them information about public transportation routes. “If instead of asylum seekers staying in the hotel, two European teams stayed to play a soccer match, there would not be this controversy,” he explains. There are more than 1,000 Malians in the Canary Islands among the 5,400 sheltered. 96% obtain protection, they are war refugees.
“I am not opposed to their reception, but there are many people in relation to the population, they represent 10% of the urban core, it is a disproportionate number to be able to adapt them to social and economic life. They are humans, not objects, and they deserve a decent quality of life,” explains the mayor, who does not understand why fewer people have arrived in Monforte de Lemos, a municipality in Lugo.
Jesús Pérez, raised in Monterroso, where he now spends long stays with his family, went to speak with the NGO in charge of management to offer his help “after hearing the mayor’s unfortunate statements on television, which do not represent the common feelings of the people.” . He rules out that there is social alarm, as the councilor said. Something that De Azevedo agrees with.
“In summer the population triples and nothing happens, in an emergency situation doubts should not be raised about a possible collapse of services,” defends this 59-year-old man after asking that the matter not be politicized and priority be given to humanitarian aid. The mayor assures that there are still neighbors who call him concerned about the situation. “These people go to the stores with the intention of having an Internet connection, but they do not have the resources to consume and they occupy the sites of other potential customers,” he explains. He fears that the situation will end up generating friction.
The owner of the Saavedra bar, Maripaz, 59, says excitedly that for her the new neighbors are like family. For this reason, he usually invites them to have coffee: “I have children and I can’t imagine that they would find themselves in this situation.” She is not the only one who makes a gesture of solidarity from her business. 12 new neighbors have already stopped by Ana Carballo’s hair salon, 32 years old, to get their hair cut for free. “This way I avoid that expense. The municipal management does not represent the people in this matter,” he explains. He thinks the mayor should have received them when they arrived.
The one who did attend the welcome reception was María Garrido, 31 years old. “There is still a lot of room to do things well, I understand that for the mayor’s office this is also a complicated challenge,” he clarifies. The councilor assures that he will meet with the NGO to see what he can do, assess “the real needs of this group” and make “decisions for the benefit of the neighbors.”
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