In Spain, the working conditions of migrants are singled out after the death of a migrant, victim of dehydration. The 42-year-old man from Nicaragua was transported in a van and laid unconscious in front of a health center.
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It was in the south of Spain, in Murcia, that Eleazar Benjamín Blandón Herrera worked. Without papers, he had seen his efforts to become asylum seekers and be able to be legally employed, blocked by the coronavirus epidemic. The father of four, whose wife was five months pregnant, had come to Spain in the hope of finding a better life for himself and his family. In the plantations, he discovered behind the scenes. Inhuman working conditions, repeated humiliations, meager pay ... "They call me a donkey, they yell at me, they tell me I'm slow. They throw powder on your face when you are squatting. I'm not used to being treated like that, ” he had confided, crying to his sister. El Pais daily which relates this story, she recounts the circumstances of her brother's death.
Filed in front of a health center
That day, it was 44 degrees. Eleazar Benjamín Blandón has been working since 5 am, without water to cool off. He starts to feel bad and then passes out, according to the account given by other workers. But the emergency services were not notified and we had to wait for the van that brought them to the plantation to return. Even when it arrives, the migrants are ordered to finish their working day before the Nicaraguan can finally be taken care of. No ambulance was called. He will finally be deposited, unconscious, in front of a health center in Murcia, further specifies his relatives quoted by El Pais .
An investigation has been opened by the Spanish justice system which is trying to trace the chain of all the protagonists involved in this case. A man, a 50-year-old Ecuadorian, has so far been arrested but he was only the go-between between Eleazar Benjamín Blandón and the plantation. Three years earlier, the 40-year-old's father died in similar circumstances while working in construction in Texas.