The
vast majority of these cases are based on true events… The short story ‘Adopted Country’ was first
published in magazine format in 2006: here is a very brief excerpt:
Adopted Country
“...treat
cynically with the impoverished to
further their dark ends.”
On a clear day like today, I felt I could almost reach out and touch Africa. I stood alongside my brother, Juan, on the seashore of Tarifa, Spain’s southernmost tip. Juan was the Guardia Civil officer supervising the capture of yet another boatload of illegal immigrants.
Earlier, squinting out to sea as the Guardia Civil launch intercepted the over-laden longboat, Juan had said, “It
isn’t surprising, Leon, is it? North Africa is only fourteen kilometres away
from where we stand. They want an easier and better life here in Europe so
they’ll risk everything in the attempt.”
“No, Juan, it isn’t surprising.”
Now, I watched with a heavy heart as medical teams and officials,
flanked by Juan’s men, swooped on the women, men and children who clambered wearily
from the beached vessel. The area was ring-fenced with police carrying machine
guns.
It was a motley collection of humanity: pregnant women with
hypothermia, children whose ribcages were visible through the taut skin, and
once-strong lithe men with exhausted faces and wary eyes. A short distance, but often a treacherous
journey. Even though they were staring down the barrels
of guns, these were the lucky ones. Countless people died making the crossing
every year. Desperation does that.
Since my country’s agreement with Morocco and the erection of barbed
wire along the common border, it is now virtually impossible to enter Spain
through the Ceuta route. So thousands go further along the North African coast
and pay their entire savings to board any old boat that will sail for Tarifa or some other
beach along the southern coast of Spain. Thousands even attempt the seven
hundred mile crossing to the Canary Islands, and many more perish in the
attempt.
Sadly, over forty years of
independence hasn’t made the African nations a better and safer place to live.
All kinds of bloodletting conflict has left the land poorer and thrust millions
on the asylum-seeking trail.
From
time to time Guardia Civil reports echo the Cazador tales, and this is but one
of them, from the Costa Blanca News
of September 30, 2013:
Spanish Eye paperback post-free worldwide here
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