Well-known faces of Cuba’s protest have in recent years gone into exile in Madrid, which is rivalling Miami as a haven for Latin American political opponents.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“Miami has always been the destination of those who suffered from Latin American dictatorships,” Cuban dissident and playwright Yunior Garcia, who went into self-imposed exile in Madrid in November, told AFP.
But now “many Latin Americans are choosing to come to Spain,” added Garcia, one of the organisers of a failed mass protest last year in the Communist-ruled island.
The Spanish capital is especially attractive for an artist and dissident fleeing a dictatorship because of its “bohemian” atmosphere, Garcia said.
Spain has long drawn migrants from its former colonies in Latin America who have often sought work in low-wage jobs as cleaners or waiters — but in recent years prominent exiles have joined the influx.
Award-winning Nicaraguan writer and former vice president Sergio Ramirez and Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, a former mayor of Chacao, an upmarket district of Caracas, are among those who have moved to Madrid.
“Madrid is the new Miami, the new place where so many hispanics come fleeing dictatorship,” said Toni Canto, the head of a Madrid regional government body charged with promoting the region as the “European capital of Spanish”.
Many Latin Americans are able to establish themselves easily in Spain because they have double citizenship, in many cases because their ancestors came from the country.
Others like Garcia arrive on a tourist visa and then request asylum.
Sometimes, especially in the case of prominent Venezuelan opposition leaders, the government has rolled out the welcome mat and granted them Spanish citizenship.
