Immigrants in Spain squeezed as boom turns to bust
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Lured by the promise of wealth in a booming economy, immigrants from North Africa, Latin America and other regions flocked to Spain in the last decade, quickly becoming Exhibit A in the Mediterranean nation’s remarkable success story.
But the surging economy -- which relied, to its eventual peril, largely on construction, tourism and service industries -- has crashed, reports Tracy Wilkinson.
In a real estate-fueled boom-and-bust cycle that mirrors remarkably the one in the U.S., Spain today is in the throes of a dramatic downturn. Many of the first to lose their jobs and default on loans are those same immigrants, many of whom eschewed a move to the United States to try their luck in Spain. ‘Those with mortgages are the ones who are really hurting,’ said German Cubas, a Peruvian dentist now working as a waiter in Madrid at the Inti de Oro Peruvian restaurant.
Read more about the problems for Latin American immigrants in Spain here.
For more on immigration, click here.
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City