In Spain, a homelessness crisis unfolds in Madrid's airport
MADRID, May 18, (AP): Every morning at 6 am, Teresa sets out in search of work, a shower and a bit of exercise before she returns home. For around six months, that has been Terminal 4 of Madrid's international airport. Teresa, 54, who didn't want her full name to be used because of safety concerns, is one of the estimated hundreds of homeless people sleeping in the Spanish capital's airport amid a growing housing crisis in Spain, where rental costs have risen especially fast in cities like Madrid, the country's capital, and Barcelona.
She and others sleeping at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport - the third-busiest airport in Europe in 2023, according to Eurostat - described a situation where for months, authorities have neither helped them find other living arrangements nor have they kicked them out from the corners of the airport that they have occupied with sleeping bags unfurled on the floor as well as blankets, shopping carts and bags.
Soon, things could change. Spain's airport operator AENA this week said that it would start limiting who can enter Madrid's airport during low-travel hours by asking visitors to show their boarding passes. AENA said that the policy would take effect in the next few days, but didn't specify exactly when. It said that exceptions would be made for airport workers and anyone accompanying a traveler.
Teresa, a Spanish-Ecuadorian who said she has lived in Spain for a quarter-century, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she hadn't heard of the new policy. She and her husband would be forced to sleep outside on park benches and other public spaces if they aren't allowed back in. "We can't make demands. We're squatters,' Teresa said, using a controversial term common in Spain.
"Squatters in what is private property. We are aware of that. We want help from authorities, but not a single one has come here.' For months, a political blame game between officials at different levels of government has meant that the homeless encampments in the airport have largely gone unaddressed. In recent weeks, videos on social media and news reports of the airport's homeless population put a spotlight on the issue.
Madrid's city council on Thursday said that it had asked Spain's national government to take charge and come up with a plan to rehabilitate every homeless individual sleeping in the airport. Spanish airports are overseen by AENA, a state-owned publicly listed company. A city council spokesperson said that Madrid's city government had recently called for a meeting with officials from AENA, the regional government of Madrid and several national ministries that declined.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
14 hours ago
- Arab Times
The world's oldest restaurant faces a challenge from another Madrid tavern
MADRID, June 11, (AP): In the heart of Spain's capital, Sobrino de Botín holds a coveted Guinness World Record as the world's oldest restaurant. Exactly three hundred years after it opened its doors, Botín welcomes droves of daily visitors hungry for Castilian fare with a side of history. But on the outskirts of Madrid, far from the souvenir shops and tourist sites, a rustic tavern named Casa Pedro makes a bold claim. Its owners assert the establishment endured not just the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s and the Napoleonic invasion in the early 1800s, but even the War of Spanish Succession at the start of the 18th century - a lineage that would make Casa Pedro older than Botín and a strong contender for the title. "It's really frustrating when you say, 'Yes, we've been around since 1702,' but ... you can't prove it,' said manager and eighth-generation proprietor Irene Guiñales. "If you look at the restaurant's logo, it says 'Casa Pedro, since 1702,' so we said, 'Damn it, let's try to prove it.'' Guiñales, 51, remembers her grandfather swearing by Casa Pedro's age, but she was aware that decades-old hearsay from a proud old-timer wouldn't be enough to prove it. Her family hired a historian and has so far turned up documents dating the restaurant's operations to at least 1750. That puts them within striking distance of Botín's record. Both taverns are family-owned. Both offer Castilian classics like stewed tripe and roast suckling pig. They are decorated with charming Spanish tiles, feature ceilings with exposed wooden beams and underground wine cellars. And both enjoy a rich, star-studded history. Botín's celebrated past includes a roster of literary patrons like Truman Capote, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Graham Greene. In his book "The Sun Also Rises,' Ernest Hemingway described it as "one of the best restaurants in the world." While Casa Pedro may not have boasted the same artistic pedigree, it boasts its own VIPs. Its walls are adorned with decades-old photographs of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I dining in one of its many rooms. The current Spanish monarch, King Felipe VI dines there, too, albeit more inconspicuously than his father. But the similarities between the two hotspots end there. Casa Pedro was once a stop on the only road heading north from the Spanish capital toward France. Its clientele is largely local regulars, like David González and Mayte Villena, who for years have spent every Friday lunching at the tavern. "It wouldn't change a thing for us,' Villena said about the restaurant someday securing the Guinness title. Botín, on the other hand, is a stone's throw from Madrid's famed Plaza Mayor, where any day of the week tour guides are herding groups around town - and often straight through the restaurant's front door. Antonio González, a third-generation proprietor of Botín, concedes that the Guinness accolade awarded in 1987 has helped business, but said the restaurant had enough history to draw visitors even before. "It has a certain magic,' he said. The question then becomes: How can either restaurant definitively claim the title? Guinness provides its specific guidelines for the superlative only to applicants, according to spokesperson Kylie Galloway, noting that it entails "substantial evidence and documentation of the restaurant's operation over the years." González said that Guinness required Botín show that it has continuously operated in the same location with the same name. The only time the restaurant closed was during the COVID-19 pandemic, as did Casa Pedro. That criteria would mean that restaurants that are even older - Paris' Le Procope, which says it was founded in 1686, or Beijing's Bianyifang, founded in 1416, or the 1673-established White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island - aren't eligible for the designation. La Campana, in Rome's historic center, claims over 500 years of operation, citing documents on its menu and in a self-published history. Its owners say they have compiled the requisite paperwork and plan to submit it to Guinness. Guiñales and her husband couldn't consult archives from the former town of Fuencarral, now a Madrid neighborhood. Those papers went up in flames during the Spanish Civil War. Instead, they delved into Spanish national archives, where they found land registries of the area from the First Marquess of Ensenada (1743-1754) that showed the existence of a tavern, wine cellar and inn in the small town as of 1750. In their spare time, the couple continues to hunt for records proving that Casa Pedro indeed dates back to 1702, as is proclaimed on its walls, takeout bags, and sugar packets. But even if they dig up the final documents and wrest the Guinness honor from Botín, Guiñales concedes that her restaurant's quiet location makes it unlikely to draw Botín's clientele in central Madrid. "To think that we could reach that public would be incredible,' Guiñales said. "It's a dream, but it's a dream.'
Arab Times
16 hours ago
- Arab Times
Spain's economy minister says ‘overtourism' challenges need to be addressed
MADRID, June 11, (AP): Spain's economy minister says the millions of tourists who visit the country every year present a challenge for Spain's residents that the government can no longer afford to ignore. Last year, Spain received a record 94 million international visitors, making it one of the most visited countries in the world. It could receive as many as 100 million tourists this year, according to some projections. "It's important to understand that these record numbers in terms of tourism also pose challenges,' Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. "And we need to deal with those challenges also for our own population.' Tourism is a key sector for the Southern European nation's economy, which grew faster than any major advanced economy last year at 3.2%, and is projected to grow at 2.4% this year, according to the Bank of Spain, well ahead of the expected eurozone average of 0.9%. But a stubborn housing crisis in which home and rental costs have skyrocketed in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona and elsewhere has led to growing frustration about one aspect tied to tourism in particular: the proliferation of short-term rental apartments in city centers. The country has seen several large protests that have drawn tens of thousands of people to demand more government action on housing. Signs at demonstrations with slogans such as "Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods' point to the growing anger. In response, the government recently announced it was cracking down on Airbnb listings that it said were operating in the country illegally, a decision that the company is appealing. "We are a 49 million-inhabitants country," Cuerpo said. The record numbers of tourists illustrate the "attractiveness of our country, but also of the challenge that we have in terms of dealing and providing for a good experience for tourists, but at the same time avoiding overcharging (for) our own services and our own housing,' he said. The Bank of Spain recently said the country has a deficit of 450,000 homes. Building more public housing is critical to solve the problem, Cuerpo said. Spain has a lower stock of public housing than many other major European Union countries. "This is the key challenge for this term,' the minister said of the country's housing woes.
Arab Times
3 days ago
- Arab Times
Spanish Muslims retrace ancient Hajj route on horseback from Andalusia to Makkah
CAIRO, June 9, (AP): Three Spanish pilgrims performing the Hajj in Saudi Arabia rode on horseback to Makkah, traveling thousands of kilometers in snow and rain and along a path they said had not been trekked for more than 500 years. Abdelkader Harkassi Aidi, Tarek Rodriguez, and Abdallah Rafael Hernandez Mancha set out from southern Spain in October, riding through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan to arrive in Saudi Arabia in May. It was an emotional moment for the trio when they reached Makkah. No pilgrim had traveled this way since 1491, they said. Harkassi said the group's path from Spain took them across about 8,000 kilometers (nearly 5,000 miles) before they reached the Kaaba, the black cube structure in the Grand Mosque in Makkah. "We had crossed so many kilometers to be there and Allah had replied to our wish,' he told The Associated Press on Thursday from Arafat, southeast of Makkah. "We were in front of the Kaaba and had the opportunity to touch it. So, that 8,000 kilometers became nothing.' During their monthslong journey they came across scenic stretches of nature and historical landmarks in Syria, including the Aleppo Citadel and the Umayyad Mosque. They also found an old railway track built during the time of the Ottoman Empire that connected Istanbul to Saudi Arabia. They followed it for days to help guide them to the desert kingdom. But there were challenges, too. They lost their horses in Bosnia, only to find them later in a landmine zone. Nobody could fetch the horses because of the explosives, but the animals eventually made it out of the area unharmed, Harkassi said. The human element of the trip was the most valuable for the team, he added. "When we didn't have anything, people helped us with our horses, with our food, they gave us money. When our assistance car got broken, they fixed it for us," Harkassi said. "People have been incredible. I think it's proof that Muslims are united, that the one ummah (nation) that every Muslim longs for is a reality."
