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EASTER

Spain sees rise in Covid-19 cases ahead of Easter

The data from Spain's Health Ministry has been showing a steady increase in coronavirus cases since mid-March, however Health Emergency Chief Fernando Simón has said that infections could be contained as a “small wave”.

Covid health workers
CESAR MANSO / AFP

The 14-day cumulative number of cases per 100,000 inhabitants now stands at 149, according to the Health Ministry’s latest report, as 12 of Spain’s autonomous regions currently have a rise in infections. 

“At a national level we are in a phase of expansion”, Health Emergency Chief Fernando Simón told a news conference, saying that the uptick would likely continue in the coming days.

“We are in a situation of inflection. We could maintain the trend or reverse it. It’s in everyone’s hands,” he said about the critical time over the Easter period.

“We could have an epidemiological wave, but it might be much smaller than the previous ones. Each week that passes and we vaccinate more people, it’s time we gain,” he continued.

Madrid and Navarra currently have the greatest number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants and both now exceed the threshold for extreme risk. Madrid has a cumulative incidence rate of 255 cases, while Navarra has 266. 

Most of Spain’s autonomous regions have a rise in infections over the past two weeks, however, Valencia and Murcia both have incidence rates of less than 100 and have seen a decline in cases. The Balearic Islands and Extremadura both also have a cumulative incidence rate of less than 100. 

In the last seven days, Madrid has reported the most cases with 17,951, followed by Catalonia with 15,534 and Andalusia with 11,830. 

Though restrictions in many regions have been relaxed slightly over the past month, and most bars and restaurants remain open for at least part of the day, many rules remain in place over the Easter holidays and all regions on the mainland have closed their borders. 

“If we manage to follow the Easter restrictions, we may not be talking about a fourth wave,” Simón concluded.

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CRIME

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

For five years, numerous companies in Spain's northern Navarre region have been receiving e-mails urging them to not hire foreign workers and threatening them with boycotts if not, correspondence that's now being investigated as a hate crime.

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

The email address  from which they were sent was always the same, the wording very similar. As far as authorities know, they continued for at least five years between 2017 and 2023.

A court in Pamplona has now taken the matter on and is investigating these e-mails as a possible hate crime.

Some of these e-mails were sent to the director of a residence in Estella/Lizarra in 2020. He received up to 10 of these from the same sender urging him to “nationalise his workforce”.

He publicly denounced the e-mail and released it. The text read: “In the face of possible economic reactivation after the current pandemic, we encourage you to nationalise your workforce; that is, to replace immigrants (including those who are naturalised) with nationals or, if you were to increase the workforce, to hire only nationals. Internally or externally (clients, neighbours, suppliers, etc.) we already know which companies have too many foreigners, and with that information, lists of companies have been made according to sectors so that people know who they employ with their money. Contracting is free, but so is consumption. This is politically incorrect, but not at all illegal. It is simply necessary”.

Many other companies received similar emails around the same time.

In the summer of 2023 the case reached the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service (SARX), which decided to carry out an investigation and finally passed it on to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Now, the first Investigative Court of Pamplona is investigating the size and scale of this situation to see how many companies the letters have actually reached.

Johanna Flores, lawyer and coordinator of the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service, has emphasised the importance of these e-mails being investigated as a possible crime: “It is very positive because when there is a person who wants to systematically send emails of this kind, they will think twice, since they know that it could have a criminal nature”.

Almost half of all new workers in Navarra in the last year are foreigners, according to 2024 social security figures.

Spain’s National Security Council warned the government about a rise in xenophobia and racist hate crimes back in 2019. There have also been numerous counts of racial discrimination towards prospective tenants and home-buyers. 

In 2023 Real Madrid star Vinicius was racially abused in Spain’s top flight football league. Writing on Instagram, Vinicius said Spain was viewed as “a country of racists” in his homeland.

READ ALSO: The racism problem that has blighted Spanish football

This type of racial abuse is not new in Spanish football.. In 2004, thousands of Spanish fans shouted racial insults at black players during an England-Spain match at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid. This prompted outrage in the UK and threatened to escalate into a diplomatic row, with both prime ministers at the time – Tony Blair and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero – condemning the actions.

Alba García Martín, a member of the anti-racism NGO SOS Racismo has explained: “The immigration law is racist to its core. It does not allow you to regularise your migration status for three years, it pushes immigrants to employment off-the-books and does not provide you any kind of rights as a citizen. All the other racial issues derive from this law. There is no anti-racist legislation, for example, for crimes related to racism. There are no anti-racist laws,” she adds. 

READ MORE: Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

It’s hoped that if these e-mails are found to be a hate crime, it will set a precedent and stop others from considering these types of attacks in the future.

READ ALSO: ‘Homologación’ – How Spain is ruining the careers of thousands of qualified foreigners

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