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Paraguay pissed at Spain over immigration

12:34 H | Topics: Controversia - Immigration - Paraguay - Spain

Last year over 42,000 Paraguayans attempted to enter Spain last year, and 4.3% of them were sent back to their country. This, and recent reports of denied entry and verbal abuse on the part of Spanish police officials, has the president of Paraguay, Nicanor Duarte, so up in arms that he's cancelled an official visit to Spain:

The surprising announcement comes one day after chancellor and Spanish ambassador to Paraguay, Eduardo de Quesada, gave a press conference in which he addressed immigration problems at Madrid's airport, which Duarte would discuss on his visit to the European country.

The Paraguayan president's May 7th trip was planned long ago, and he was set to meet with both the King of Spain and the Spanish president. Today Paraguay got tough and announced the cancellation with the following statement:

"Because of the lamentable situation that our countrymen have had to face in their desire to enter Spanish territory, the president of the republic has decided to postpone his trip to the kingdom of Spain.

While Spain has given preference to immigrants from former colonies in Latin America and the Philippines, this isn't the first time we've heard of abuse towards Latin American visitors to Spain on the part of Spanish airport officials. Last year two Peruvian politicians reported being verbally abused by an employee of Iberia Airlines at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport when attempting to check in for a flight to Madrid.

Via / 20 Minutos

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