Thread: Latin Americans find Spain a haven

July 1, 2007, 12:02AM
World trade
European nation's healthy economy and its need for workers are luring immigrants who share linguistic and religious ties
Latin Americans find Spain a haven

By JENALIA MORENO
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

RESOURCES
World trade
Latin American immigrants look to Spain MADRID, SPAIN — For centuries, one of Spain's biggest exports was its people.

Spanish colonists populated ancient indigenous nations and political exiles fled Francisco Franco's authoritarian regime to settle in Mexico and elsewhere.

Now the Spanish-speaking descendants of that migration are Spain's newest imports.

Bolivians buy plantains in a Madrid market. At a festival in the Andalusian city of Cordoba, Ecuadorean immigrants hawk Peruvian necklaces made of red and black seeds, Colombian bracelets crafted from palm and other indigenous jewelry.

People from virtually every South American nation crowd into businesses where they can phone home or send money to relatives.

"We've passed from a country that exported people to one with a high level of immigration," said Sonia Pottecher, head of communication for Madrid's immigration project, Between Two Shores.

Pushed by financial woes at home and pulled by Spain's growing economy, more and more Latin Americans are choosing to move to this European nation where linguistic and religious ties help ease the transition.

As of this year, the number of Latin American adult immigrants to Spain nearly quadrupled from 496,000 in 2001 to 1.8 million, according to the Inter-American Development Bank's Multilateral Investment Fund.

Of Spain's population of 45 million, nearly 2.4 million are non-Latin American immigrants living in Spain, with Moroccans, who have long relocated to Spain, being the nation's largest immigrant population.

But the phenomenon of Latin Americans moving to Spain is new and the immigrant population is growing so much that businesses are catering to these consumers, who have different cultures and cuisines than Spaniards.

"Immigration has happened very quickly," said MarÃ*a Jesús Criado, a sociology professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. "The Spanish population has been Latinized."

Economy beckons
Spain's strong economy is drawing immigrants.

Last year, Spain boasted one of the highest gross domestic product rates in the euro zone at 3.9 percent, and its unemployment rate for the first three months of 2007 was 8.4 percent. That's nothing to brag about, but it is down from an unemployment rate of 11 percent in 2004.

"It's easy to find work, easy to enter and more difficult to be deported," said Tomás Calvo, director of Madrid's Center for Studies on Immigration and Racism.

Compared to the U.S., Spain has a relatively lax entry process for Latin American visitors.

Spain requires a tourist visa for visitors from some Central and South American countries, but not all. The U.S., by contrast, requires a tourist visa for all Latin American travelers.

Ecuadorean immigrant Segundo Aguacunchi, 46, is typical of the Latin American who has come here looking for work.

"It seemed easier here because of the language," the painter said after depositing his paycheck at a Dinero Express office. "I only needed a passport to get here. I earn more than in Ecuador."

Immigrant buying power
The rise in Spain's Ecuadorean, Bolivian and Colombian population is leading vendors to court the new market.

"It's starting — the discovery of immigrants having potential buying power," Calvo said.

Spanish banking giant Grupo BBVA, for example, has created Dinero Express, a network of financial centers at which immigrants can send money to relatives, call home and get help finding jobs.

"These are services we hope to satisfy not just the banking needs of a client," said Miguel Ã

I say lets send all the illegals we have from Mexico to Spain. We give them the option, deport back to Mexico, or go to Spain.