A Venezuelan in Catalonia: 'since I Left Venezuela I Haven't Felt This Insecurity'

Security has become a matter of state in Catalonia. The negligence, and even permissiveness of the rulers over the years, has decaused into an unsustainable situation in many Catalan cities. The figures indicate an increase in the most serious crimes, which heightens the sense of insecurity among citizens.

Not everyone thinks the same. The left accuses the "far-right" of inflating the data to create a false sense of insecurity among the public. According to ERC and other groups, it is all a matter of false perceptions.

Alicia Sanz, who ran in the last Catalan elections for the Workers' Front, has interviewed several residents fed up with insecurity in Terrassa. The location is not coincidental. This city has experienced one of the highest increases in insecurity, especially in the most humble and degraded neighborhoods.

Shopkeepers and residents of the Arenas neighborhood in Terrassa have voiced the crime situation in the city. Among all of them, Héctor's testimony stands out, a Venezuelan who has been in Spain for six months. "Since I left my country, I hadn't felt unsafe walking down the street again," he stated.

Héctor's Testimony

This is very striking because Venezuela has one of the highest insecurity rates in the world. However, Héctor is clear about it. He sees similarities between Terrassa and Venezuela.

"I was a victim of crime in Venezuela many times, and now I feel that fear again walking down the street," he explains. He denies that Spain is a racist country. He believes the problem is mainly caused by "people from very different cultures who don't want to integrate."

Héctor believes the police are tied hand and foot when it comes to curbing crime. "If they arrest a criminal and the next day they're on the street, the police get fed up and people get tired," he explains.

Reflection of What's Happening in Catalonia

César, a resident of Arenas, laments the degradation of the neighborhood and clearly points to Moroccan immigrants who don't want to integrate. He says that there used to be places to go out peacefully at night and where now people no longer dare to go out. He himself is afraid to walk peacefully because "there are people who can harass or rob you."

Another neighbor explains that this was a residential neighborhood and one of the best areas of Terrassa. "Now they've come and occupied the cheapest apartments, we've been experiencing a streak of street robberies," he explains. He himself was recently robbed by two teenage kids, and a friend of his was mugged while withdrawing money from an ATM.

Antonio is the owner of a bar run by four generations of his family for more than fifty years. He explains that Arenas has always been a neighborhood of very humble and hardworking people. Now he says they even steal during the day and blames the laws for the permissiveness that has led to this situation.

The video also features two neighbors fed up with the official narrative about security in Catalonia. "These aren't isolated cases or perceptions," they exclaim, pointing to repeat offenders of Moroccan origin. They lament that there is fear of talking about these things.