Luna, the image of the embrace that revealed a harsh reality to the world

Luna, a Red Cross volunteer, showed the world the solidarity and hard work of many Spanish social workers who have experienced one of their most difficult times this week with their arrival in the Spanish city of Ceuta, in North Africa , over 8,000 irregular immigrants from Morocco.

What happened in Ceuta left the drama of immigration in pictures, but also indirectly revealed the great work of these volunteers who ensure that what they have experienced these days is “An unprecedented diplomatic and humanitarian crisis”.

The photograph taken by the EFE agency and other media went viral within minutes. In her, A Red Cross volunteer comforted one of the migrants, in this case the Senegalese, who, exhausted, had reached the Spanish coast.

Quickly, thousands of people shared the image in which two young people, the volunteer Luna and a Senegalese migrant who was not seen in the city, they kissed as painfully as they hoped.

The meeting showed the harshest face of migration, but also the worst facet of social media in which Luna suffered personal attacks that forced her to shut down her internet presence, something that has been picked up by dozens of international media.

“It’s very sad because we are developing our work, Luna did nothing more than do her job, perfectly and without receiving anything in return, well in this case she received all these criticisms”, explains Isabel Brasero, a Red Cross worker. in Efe in Ceuta.

Over 8,000 people fleeing poverty

About 8,000 people entered Ceuta this week, groups of people with different backgrounds and life plans who they are hiding from the Spanish police so as not to be deported.

For social worker Marina Pérez, it is “without a doubt an unprecedented diplomatic and humanitarian crisis” which “had never been experienced before”.

“They began to enter on Sunday, Monday has increased considerably and Tuesday was the most chaotic day,” says this young woman who has since concentrated her work in the service of “people from the most vulnerable groups”.

“We did not expect this arrival, from this moment of uncertainty we went into disarray, there was no response that took into account the different cases of people and now we feel the frustration because we do not see that the institutions are giving an adequate response “, explains Acoge’s Andalusian lawyer, Inmaculada González.

Ronaldo and Messi don’t live in Ceuta

The only ones who are not evicted from the city are the 850 miners who walked in this week, who were housed in a warehouse and a lot of them, according to a volunteer told Efe, They were trapped crossing as they were told that in the Spanish city they could see footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Red Cross takes care of these boys with the support of the army which provides them with bunk beds. In addition to taking care of their accommodation and upkeep, Spanish police are testing them for the coronavirus and, in some cases, others to determine if they are over 18.

“An uncertain future awaits minersWe talked about sending 200 back to different communities, which should be done from our point of view, because the conditions in the warehouse are not adequate, they are overcrowded, ”said Pérez.

Returns are back

The images of the massive entry were followed by those of the expulsions by the Spanish army, a “hot” return very criticized by human rights organizations and which, as the lawyer reminds us, refuses them. international rights of potential asylum seekers.

“All the people are fired, the people who managed to stay are very afraid, escaping the police”, resume.

In this sense, he explains that among the 8,000 people who have crossed there are potential asylum seekers to whom he cannot recommend going to the police in search of this protection “because order is back” .

“Victims of conflict or persecution fall apart because the individual procedure which implies that there is an interview with each person, with interpreters and lawyers is not respected ”, he explains.

During this time, the city is gradually regaining its calm: “there is unease on the part of the population, we are afraid of the hate speech that can be provoked, there are people who give food and clothes, but another part of the population prefers not to enter, which, along with the hate messages of some political leaders, can blur coexistence, ”he notes.