A crowd of people gathers every morning at number 6 Alfonso XI Street, a few meters from El Retiro Park. In front of a glass door, headed by a tricolor flag, the security guard Nelson López (Cali, 45 years old) attends to three large rows of Colombians who raise their identification, while shouting their consular needs. “I come to renew my passport.” “I want to make a duplicate of the ID,” they chant in unison. López, skilled in the art of directing the confused, hands out instructions in two hands: “Show me my turn, please,” “continue to the reception,” “for that you have to talk to your lawyer,” he tells the more than one person. 500 Colombians who come to the diplomatic headquarters every day. These Latinos represent the nationality that is growing the most in the capital, with 25,110 admissions in the first nine months of 2023, and also in Spain with 116,000 admissions in the same period. according to the most recent data from the INE.
This exodus has broken the hegemony of Venezuelans, who topped the list until 2022, and Ecuadorians, who predominated at the beginning of the millennium. Barajas airport has become the best-selling international destination for airlines operating from El Dorado airport (Bogotá), with more than a million travelers in 2023, 21% more than the previous year, according to figures revealed by the Civil Aeronautics of Colombia. The entry of Colombians into Spain has grown like wildfire since 2015, after the signing of a bilateral agreement with the EU that eliminated the visa requirement for tourists, which allowed this population to grow by 50% in the capital in the last eight years: from 82,000 before the treaty, to 124,451 in 2022, according to registry figures. In Spain there are 568,034 registered Colombians. The most common method among Colombians without a residence permit to start a life in Spain is to pretend that they come as tourists.
Felipe Largo, (Manizales, 45 years old) entered Barajas nine months ago with the intention of staying to live. “I had to say that he was coming as a tourist and that he was going to return me, so I brought few clothes, bought a return ticket and memorized a two-week tour of Alicante, Barcelona and Valencia,” he remembers. He even deleted some files from his phone in case they came to check it. In the end, so much paraphernalia was unnecessary. After midnight, he penetrated the immigration control with such ease that he was never aware that the tension had ended. “I was waiting for some police officer to start asking me questions,” he says. In 2023, 2,178 Colombians were not admitted to the Barajas airport, which represents 0.2% of the total number of travelers. Consular sources emphasize that “there is a high degree of no-show”, in reference to Colombians who do not use their return ticket, but do not cancel it either.
The Colombian diaspora, once pushed outside its borders as a consequence of the armed conflict, today migrates with the aim of increasing its purchasing power. In a state with the minimum wage at 300 euros (2023 figure) and unsustainable inequality, half of citizens say they would like to leave their country, according to a Gallup poll. After Madrid, Catalonia is the second favorite destination in Spain with 97,000 visitors in the first three quarters of 2023, followed by Valencia with 83,500.
Largo held several administrative positions in his native country, but was unable to build enough assets to “get through old age peacefully” or give his 11-year-old daughter a higher education. That is why he has come to Spain, even if that implies an implosion of his comfort zone. “What I have learned in life is of no use to me here, here I only need to know about electricity, construction or bathing dogs,” confesses the man, who has already accumulated a history of unfortunate jobs in B (without a contract, nor benefits): “A lot of mop, a lot of broom,” he summarizes. The last of them as a cleaner in a restaurant, where exposure to chemicals caused an allergic reaction, his blisters burst and he became infected with a bacteria that kept him in a hospital for 25 days. The employer was not responsible for the treatment.
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Those who obtain employment irregularly must work long hours, without affiliation to social security or registration with the retirement system. Julián David Mosquera (Barranquilla, 19 years old), processed an asylum request, after arriving as a tourist in Barajas at the beginning of 2022. After two years of waiting, his request was denied by the Government of Spain. He has decided to work in construction for a salary of 800 euros per month, without benefits. As an employee at B, the young man warns, “they don't treat you the same, nor do they pay you the same.” Sometimes, the abuse manifests itself in another way, as illustrated by Alexandra Echeverri (Cali, 19 years old), who was offered a position as a waitress by the owner of a bar, regardless of whether she did not have a residence permit, as long as she wore a skirt or dressed during work hours. The young woman assures: “Many times, necessity leads you to allow these behaviors: either you wear a skirt or you lose your job.” She chose to stay out of work.
From the Colombian consulate in Madrid, they warn of excessive use of the figure of asylum by migrants, although favorable responses are minimal. In 2023, 245 applications were accepted, among the more than 50,000 submitted by Colombians, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The abuse of this figure can be explained by the fact that applicants obtain a temporary card that allows them to work until the process is resolved, which usually takes a couple of years. This panorama is much more encouraging than looking for a job in B or folding your arms until social roots arrive.
Spain is increasingly attractive to Colombians, not only because of the language, but also because of the ease of arriving by plane to the promised land, avoiding dangerous border crossings such as the Darién Gap or the Río Bravo between Mexico and the US. On a national scale, coffee growers are the second predominant nationality, with 568,000 registered, only surpassed by Moroccans, who number almost a million, always according to the INE. 57% of Colombians who arrive in Spain have only finished ESO, 11% have an undergraduate degree and higher specialized studies represent a residual figure.
The “call effect” of networks
Rodrigo Pinzón, Colombian consul in Madrid, warns of the “call effect” produced by appearances on social networks: “People (in Colombia) only see the photo of their acquaintances celebrating the Real Madrid final in Cibeles, but the reality “Many have to come here to work day and night.” The young Echeverri supports this hypothesis, saying that “the Colombian tends a lot to chicane (posturing), he wants to pretend something that is actually something else.” Multiple testimonies collected for this report converge in that the migrants undertake the journey, oblivious to the difficulties of starting a new life in Spain. Upon arrival, they are faced with the impossibility of finding a job without a residence permit. Savings in pesos begin to disappear in euros and then comes the barrage of worries and, sometimes, regrets.
Seeing that the oasis is nothing more than a mirage, many migrants choose to return, like Adriana Vélez (Manizales, 56 years old). “I made the decision to return to Colombia because after two months I couldn't get a job,” says the 56-year-old from Manizale, before concluding: “I thought it would be easier, but if you don't have papers it is very complicated.”
Others like Largo or Mosquera prefer to resist and make adversity a natural step in the migration process. “Returning me is not an option,” says the first. “Crying is wasting time,” illustrates the second. These Latinos will endure as best they can, while they access a settlement. They have already been transplanted, the most difficult thing is the beginning, even more so in a stony and desert soil like that of Madrid, difficult to fertilize when it comes to taking root.
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