'Express' nationality for the widow of a hero of the pandemic: "My children will be able to have a more dignified life"

Carmen Torres lives between bitterness and respite.

She had a “Disney” life, she says, and now she is a “fighting mother” who hopes that her four children can work and study without limitations in Spain.

Her husband, Mario Chalco, moved from Argentina to Martorell (Barcelona) in 2019 to work as a doctor at the hospital, and died of covid in July 2020. Carmen (Chimbote, Peru, 43 years old) and her children, who were visiting, they were in an irregular situation in Catalonia and, after personally asking Felipe VI and Pedro Sánchez for a solution last year, the Government approved last month to grant him Spanish nationality.

“When they notified me of the news, I cried with joy because my children will be able to have a more dignified life, but I live with a wound that I have not been able to close.

The Chalco Torres family had suffered episodes of violence in Buenos Aires (Argentina), where they had lived for years, and they were fed up with fear when they decided to emigrate to Spain.

"They caught me twice and there was terrible insecurity," Carmen recalls.

He made his way in 2019 and found work at the Martorell hospital, where he settled in a flat near the health center.

“We talked and he was very happy.

He told me that it was a luxury to be able to walk to work from home and that we had to meet here.

It was our dream."

Carmen and her four children moved to Martorell on December 19, 2019, with a tourist visa that expired after three months.

Just when they had to return to South America, the coronavirus arrived in Spain, in March 2020. They stayed by force and an ordeal began.

Mario soon began to feel bad, but he did not want to stop helping in the midst of a health crisis.

When Carmen suggested that he take time off work, he replied: "We are in an emergency and the town needs me."

Her family too, she thought.

The tests confirmed the positive of the doctor, who was admitted to the same hospital in Martorell.

His evolution was not good and he ended up in the intensive care unit (ICU), where it was impossible to visit him.

“One day I was able to see him at the plant and he bowed his head when I told him that we would get ahead.

He knew what was wrong with him.”

On July 8 he died and Carmen opens a wound every time she remembers him.

“They told me that they would not prioritize his treatment ahead of other patients.

If doctors get sick, who will save the population?

Without teachers, who educates the people?

Has no sense.

I felt that my husband was slipping away like sand through my hands and they weren't doing everything they could, ”she recalls with anger in each of her words.

The death of her husband left the family in an unstable scenario, without economic income or papers to reside in Spain.

“In Argentina I dedicated myself to the house because Mario took care of the money.

Without him, I started looking for work to clean or take care of grandparents, ”she relates.

He had to explain to his older children, then 17 and 20 years old, that sometimes it's time to grow up all at once: "I told them that they either studied or worked in black like so many immigrants, but that they couldn't stay without doing anything" .

They moved to a smaller flat, the Official College of Physicians of Barcelona assigned him a widow's pension, he received aid from the residents of Martorell and, finally, he managed to regularize his situation in August 2020 thanks to his efforts and the help of his lawyer, Maria Elena Bedoya, although legally neither she nor her older children could work.

The King and Queen of Spain preside over a tribute to the victims of the covid at the Royal Palace in Madrid, in July 2021. Andrea Comas

A year later, a good friend from the Martorell hospital proposed a definitive solution: request Spanish nationality.

Carmen she wrote a letter to personally deliver to the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during the tribute ceremony for the victims of the pandemic held in July 2021 at the Royal Palace in Madrid.

She wanted her to know about Mario's dedication to Spanish society and his uncertain situation in charge of four children, the little ones, six and three years old.

“Get to the end of the family queue so you can talk longer with the authorities and nobody waits behind you,” the same friend advised.

She did and it worked.

First he spoke with the Kings: "To recognize the memory of my husband, please, provide me with the nationality so I can rest and mourn."

Queen Letizia's response, she says, was direct: "This is solved by Pedro Sánchez."

Minutes later, when the head of government approached her, he made her commitment.

"Don't worry, we are going to grant you nationality."

On August 1st, the Official State Gazette published the concession “by nature letter” to Carmen and her four children.

"The nationalization of Carmen is a way to pay off a debt contracted by society with Mario and his family," analyzes Aurelia Rodríguez, professor of private international law at the University of León, and advisor to the family during this process.

“In this way, what the affected party wanted is fulfilled: that his family lives in Spain without being discriminated against for being a foreigner.”

A letter of nature is the way that an Executive has to grant nationality by hand after assessing the concurrence of exceptional circumstances.

But these, Rodríguez denounces, are mainly aimed at "rich people, politicians or elite athletes."

“The case of the Torres family is reminiscent of that of Adelina Kola [born in Guinea when it was a Spanish colony and who was unable to renew her documentation later], who was a pioneer among the most anonymous beneficiaries,” he explains.

"There are many people who deserve this recognition and it seems that governments are not so interested."

Carmen is relieved to know that her children will have what she and Mario longed for, but she fears that their happiness will never be complete.

“I whisper to myself, 'Honey, we made it,' but I miss him.

Now I have to deal with everything and I feel like a fighting mother.”

Her next step is to leave Martorell — “it reminds me too much of the bad times” — and she manages to continue explaining to the little ones in the house that her father will not return.

“Benicio is now six years old, and when there is a full moon he looks out the window and says that his father will come soon.

Seeing it is like having my intestines ripped out,” she laments.

“In two years I have barely had time to cry because the children needed me;

and I couldn't do the duel.

Now, after achieving a decent future for my children, I need to take a breath and grieve.

Just this."

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber