A LITTLE African boy whose body was found on the beach in Barbate (Cádiz province) earlier this week has been identified, and residents gathered in the central square in a public show of mourning for the tragic youngster.
Samuel, six, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and his mother were travelling on a zodiac – a blow-up sailing boat not designed for major sea crossings – which sank near the Strait of Gibraltar two weeks ago.
Coastguard officials had been searching for the precarious craft after being tipped off by Moroccan authorities that it had set sail from Cape Espartel, near the country's northernmost city of Tangiers, carrying what was believed to be five people.
After three days of searching and six bodies found, rescue services abandoned the search.
Two sub-Saharan African men were found dead the day the boat left Morocco, on Saturday, January 14, in the Punta Carnero area of the ferry port town of Algeciras (Cádiz province), and a third near Algeciras' El Tolmo Fort three-and-a-half hours later.
That evening, a woman – believed now to be Samuel's mother – and a North African man were found on the Bolonia beach in nearby Tarifa.
Samuel's body washed up near the Trafalgar lighthouse in Barbate on Sunday, 15 days after his boat sank.
A protest march today (Wednesday) near Cape Trafalgar was staged as residents hit out at Europe's having failed the millions of migrants attempting to escape poverty-stricken and war-torn nations to reach safety.
Little gain from risking a life
While Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan war victims fight for their lives under canvas in Greece, Italy and Turkey with no medical treatment, schooling for their children, limited food and water, and in extreme sub-zero temperatures in winter, others from African nations beset by violent dictatorships, armed conflict and dangerous political turbulence spend months travelling overland to Morocco, Algeria and Libya to catch boats to Europe.
Almost daily, boatloads of sub-Saharan Africans on flimsy, barely-seaworthy crafts try to reach Spain and, for those who survive the hazardous trek, the future is grim.
If caught, they will be held in an immigration internment centre and not allowed off the premises, which means living in prison-like conditions; if they escape, they barely scratch a living selling cheap accessories on the streets illegally.
In the latter situation, they run the constant risk of being caught, fined and their stock confiscated, and hostility from the general public as they do not pay taxes.
Some towns have even banned them and threatened to fine anyone buying their wares, but residents there who recognise their plight give the sellers a small donation instead.
Spain clamours for refugee help, setting example to rest of Europe
The distressing discovery of six-year-old Samuel has sparked an identical wave of public outrage and sorrow to that seen after photos of three-year-old Alan Kurdi's body on a beach in Turkey went viral.
He and his mother and other siblings, all Kurdish Syrians, perished in the crossing to Greece, since they could not stay in Turkey after crossing the border from Syria due to the anti-Kurd sentiments which would have endangered the family's safety.
His father was so distraught at losing his entire family that he returned on the next boat to Syria, saying he no longer cares what happens to him.
Spain is one of Europe's only countries with no far-right movement of any significance, and is probably the most pro-refugee in the EU.
Its government has taken in over 1,000 migrants from refugee camps in the past year, albeit far from the national target of at least 17,000.
Regional governments and local councils have worked hard to get everything ready for the possible arrival of as many as possible, with municipal registers of residents willing to offer rooms in their houses, and even ferry companies providing transport.
All they need is for EU policies that make it easier for refugees to get to Spain and be legitimately resettled.
Numerous protest marches have filled streets and squares in favour of refugees, and a move in 2012 by the government to block all bar emergency healthcare to 'illegal' immigrants was met with mass outrage.
Unlike many other EU countries, the overwhelming majority of Spanish society and politicians are fervently in favour of showing as much compassion as possible to migrants from less well-off circumstances.
A MAN declared dead at his home in the province of Tarragona was on his way to the funeral parlour when he turned out to be alive, according to police sources.
A NEW child protection law named after a British musician living in Spain has been approved in Congress and is set to be signed off by the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, June 8.
