- Title: BOLIVIA: Bolivians desert job-stricken Spain
- Date: 10th December 2008
- Summary: STREET WHERE THEY LIVE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER SPANISH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT GUADALUPE SOSA QUISPE, SAYING: "I wasn't getting much work. I went two months without work and then I worked for six months and then I spent another two months without work."
- Embargoed: 25th December 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations,Economic News
- Reuters ID: LVABRAAL7TIW31BLXTKGOZLJ1I4Z
- Story Text: Flights returning to Bolivia from Spain used to be light on passengers, but in recent times the planes have been booked out as hordes of immigrants return home on the back on the global financial crisis.
At Viru Viru airport in the Bolivian province of Santa Cruz, many people greeted families they hadn't seen in two, three or even fifteen years.
"I was there for three years, I am very excited, happy and content and I am here to stay," said one person just returned from Spain.
As companies slash jobs across the rapidly contracting Spanish economy, immigrants are the first ones to miss out.
In November, unemployment rocketed towards the three million mark, the highest jobless rate in the European Union.
At least it has meant good business for someone; airlines are now filling their flights back from Europe.
"When we started operations between Spain and Bolivia, Aerosur have all of our flights full from Santa Cruz to Madrid and on the return flight the planes were practically half empty. That situation has drastically changed and in the difference between November this year compared with November last year, we have had a 50 percent increase in demand [for the return flights]," Aerosur Corporate Manager, Oscar Vargas, said.
Those that have returned say they just weren't finding any work.
Twenty-four year old Guadalupe Sosa Quispe left her five-year-old daughter and mother behind 12 months ago to try her luck in Spain as an illegal immigrant.
She says she only worked half of the time she was there.
"I wasn't getting much work. I went two months without work and then I worked for six months and then I spent another two months without work," Sosa said.
Sosa says most of the friends she had in Spain were also without work, and many of them also want to come back.
"The majority of the migrants want to come back, but they can't come back because the air ticket is really expensive," she said.
Sosa managed to return when she found out about an international aid organization that helps illegal immigrants return back to their home countries. She said they paid for her air ticket.
Sadly, her mother passed away before she made the flight.
"I would have liked to have stayed, because here you work and you don't earn much. There you could earn a bit more. It is really difficult to get ahead in Bolivia," she said.
Some 6 million immigrants, mostly from Latin America and eastern Europe, flocked to Spain after 2000 looking for work in construction and jobs like cleaning and child care.
Spain says that as the crisis depends, their own people are now starting to compete with the thousands of immigrants for jobs they had once shunned.
"The economic figures in Spain aren't good. We are in a global financial crisis and Spain, in addition has a crisis in the construction sector, which is where the majority of the Bolivian migrants were working, so now getting work is a problem. The demand to return is still reduced. The majority of the people want to try their luck one more time and perhaps there is also the expectations that jobs and salaries will still be better in Europe," said Spanish ambassador to Bolivia, Ricardo Losa Jimenez.
Despite the difficulties, Sosa believes she will try to return to Spain in the future with her daughter, saying that despite the crisis she still believe Europe holds more hope and opportunities than Bolivia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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