This February 10, the first 4 temporary work visas were delivered, of the 250 assigned to people who will work in the Huelva area.
Spain delivered this Thursday (February 10, 2022) the first temporary visas to four Ecuadorian day laborerstwo men and two women, who will work in the harvest of the red fruit in the Andalusian province of Huelva (south) within a circular migration plan in force between the two countries.
“This symbolic delivery (of visas) wants to convey a call for legal emigration and, on the other hand, mutual trust between the two governments, which want to improve the living conditions of their peoples,” the Spanish ambassador in EcuadorElena Madrazo, who participated in the documentation delivery event at the Consulate General of Spain in Quito.
The diplomatic representative stressed that under the agreement signed last year between the two countries, mechanisms were established that make “it possible for people to go, but invoking legality, they return.”
According to this formula, Madrazo abounded, those Ecuadorian farmers that they return when they finish their work in Spainwill have priority in the case of wanting to return to work in that country and will allow increasing the number of the 250 that are part of the first batch of day laborers, until double it.
This pioneering initiative Ecuador It has been a year and a half of efforts promoted by the General Directorate of Migration of the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration of Spain, explained to Efe Sagrario Salaberri, Minister of Labor, Migration and Social Security at the Embassy.
It also involved the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture and has been very well received since more than 1,150 people applied and more than 200 were selected, recalled Evelyn Martillo, director of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture of Ecuador.
The head of Foreign Relations and Human Mobility, Juan Carlos Holguín, praised the implementation of the program and considered it “extremely important” for his country “to have a public policy of migration circular”.
“We think this migration responsible and circular is reflected through the agreement signed last year with Spain«, he commented to Efe before emphasizing that this human mobility policy seeks to counteract risky migration.
One of the beneficiaries to receive the temporary visa to move to Spain It was Elsa Aldaz, 42, who has been harvesting strawberries in Ambato for years.
«It is the first time that I leave my house; I have three children and it’s a bit hard to leave them, but I’m just making the effort for them », he said.
Traveling with her to the Andalusian region will be Pedro Andrés Alta, a 28-year-old from the province of Imbabura, who will also leave for the first time Ecuador.
For this reason, he said he felt “excited and grateful for the opportunity that has been presented to us, farmers who have lived a lifetime, to learn, bring knowledge to the country and for them to see the capacity that Ecuadorians we have”.
It is anticipated that a total of 250 Ecuadorian day laborers participate this year in the red fruit collection program in Huelva, for a period of half a year and after the commitment made to return to their country, all within the framework of this pilot experience that is extended on equal terms to day laborers in Honduras . EFE
