Five days after the last fire in an area of day laborers in Huelva, workers in distress continue to concentrate at the gates of the City Hall of Lepe. On the tiles of the entrance of the City Hall are the same hands as those necessary to collect the fruits of the large plots of the municipality, but they have not yet received the requested solution. In their banners, as they have claimed for years, they claim a home for rent or a dignified space to spend the nights. In the midst of the pandemic they had no drinking water after their huts were destroyed by flames.

In the early hours of this Monday, there was the third consecutive fire in the Chabolists settlements of the temporary immigrant population of Huelva; the second, in the camp of the locality of Lepe (Huelva), where 400 people survive, most of them seasonal immigrants who work in rural areas.

All of them have been left with nothing and after several days camping in front of the City of Lepe, several day laborers continue to sleep in front of the Consistory. Others sleep in homes or slums from other classmates. The City of Lepe has offered no more than five days of emergency accommodation for 75 people, while those affected are 150.

All or no

The Association of New Citizens for Multiculturalism (AES) has spoken clearly about the facts: “We cannot accept a solution that leaves half of the people affected behind. We are not served with interim solutions that are only for a few.” Given the seriousness of the situation, we hope that the administrations will reach an “emergency agreement”. Meanwhile, seasonal workers affected by the fire remain encamped at the gates of the Consistorial House.

Expropriation

The 150 temporary workers affected have lost all the assets, including documentation, money and documents that would be used to apply for a residence permit in the future. In San Juan del Puerto, 50 workers also suffered the same situation. On 12, 13 and 17 June the slums in their camps were burned in a few minutes, and it is already a long list of such events in Huelva. In fact, in this province, immigrants are essential for their rural environment, since their inhabitants do not take into account the continuous demand for labor. Last year almost 21,000 people received the strawberry, but the inhabitants of Huelva did not reach 1,000 people who responded to the call for registration. Faced with this situation, thousands of people arrive every year in Huelva to receive the strawberry, and there is not always a house for everyone. For many, the only solution is to build cardboard and plastic chabolas.

Protest

In the face of the misfortune, the day laborers decided to take the lobby of the city hall. A number of neighbours, instead of showing their solidarity, have been attacked. They have justified it by saying that they are “at risk of contagion.” Meanwhile, the City Hall criticizes the camp of the day laborers, talking about the pandemic: "As people congregate in a public space, the City of Lepe has proceeded to the cleaning and disinfection of the plaza and surroundings of Spain. And it has reminded the organizers, promoters and those responsible for the concentration of the current situation of the COVID-19 risk, even more so when a positive case has recently been registered in the municipality".

The same risk

Day laborers and members of the OCU have been outraged at the City Council statement, which recalls that the risk of contagion is another reason to request a rental: "The risk of transmission and transmission of COVID-19 was the same for these workers who lived concentrated, without hygienic conditions, in locations located in Lepe during the state of alarm. Now that you are afraid of contagion, answer with racist and popnobic arguments when you have put yourself at the centre of the people to claim human rights," they have criticized.

Solidarity

But they have not only received criticism and aggression. The camp day laborers have also thanked the solidarity shown in recent days in the face of the situation they live in. “Yesterday afternoon we were visited by a group of people from the capital of Huelva and gave us a large store of food and drink. There are solidarity people who know how to see beyond the topics,” the collective said on his Twitter page.

The unknown

The UN poverty rapporteur, Philip Alston, noted in his visit to the site that “several governments have accepted these conditions for more than twenty years.” Faced with the situation of strawberries in Huelva, he was "surprised", as while large companies "earn millions of euros", day laborers "live like animals".