The Magi do not reach the Cañada Real: "We will not get tired of asking politicians to return the light"
El sol se esconde detrás de las nubes y aún permite observar la vida en la Cañada Real, antes de que caiga la noche de Reyes, la que se conoce como la noche más mágica del año. Pero aquí hace frío y llueve sobre mojado. Las casas cubiertas con zinc no abrigan de las bajas temperaturas. “Amar a oscuras”, susurra un grafiti de colores vivos. Sus calles hablan todo el rato. El humo de las chimeneas apunta al cielo y algunas placas solares posan esperando el sol de un nuevo día. Es el segundo invierno sin luz para los habitantes del Sector 6 de la Cañada Real. Este año no les pilla desprevenidos.
Two sectors, five and six, of this settlement, one of the largest in Europe, suffer cuts of light for more than a year.They receive 2022 in the shadow.More than 4.000 people live without electricity supply since October 3, 2020, including plus 1.800 are boys and girls.People's tiredness is perceived.They find it hard to understand how this situation can be extended over time living just 13 kilometers from Puerta del Sol."Many come here to ask, but nobody does anything," says a neighbor.
Asked by the Magi responds: “I took a toy truck to my three -year -old grandson.He opened the package and did not see it because we are without light.I had to turn on two flashlights to make him see what it was true, ”he adds.His name is Vicky Vázquez, he is 41 years old and has been living in the settlement 20."This has been the only gift that the Magi have brought home," he adds.
“We will not tire of asking for light, not only to the kings also to the politicians of the Community of Madrid.That we put counters and we pay our bills ”, appeals.While putting the firewood in the fireplace, remember that many have been claiming accountants for many years and issuing the contracts, a claim to which the Ombudsman joined last November.
According to the Naturgy Electric Company Los Cortes were caused by a rise in tension in the illegal crops of marijuana."The most outrageous thing is that in this part where there is drugs they have light, but they punish humble families and especially our children," says angry."They treat us like animals.This is like any neighborhood in Madrid, there are good people and bad people, ”he says they pay just for sinners."I have hope.Of course I have it.They have to return the light, ”says Vázquez.
"Now we spend much more.My husband has been looking for firewood.We can only be in a room, since the rest of the house is frozen ”.They have a generator that light a couple of hours when it darkens and that is when they take the opportunity to recharge the mobiles and prepare dinner.“On Christmas Eve we lay down at nine in the afternoon.We had something and slept very soon because we could not allow ourselves to throw more gasoline to the generator, ”he says.
In the bathroom a small flashlight has placed.The taps are thirsty.Without light, there is no water."3 correspond to us.800 liters of water a week, but does not arrive without electricity ".He has wounds in his hands and since last October he has been prescribed antidepressants: “I have anxiety, at the limit.I would like to invite all political leaders with their children to come to spend a few days with me.I am sure that then they put the light ".Teach the rest of the house with pride.Everything has well placed and presumes that he painted the walls: “In another life it would be an artist.I like drawing and painting.This is my home.We have been a lifetime here.Here we have our life and here we want to stay if they give us alternative, ”he says bluntly.
Between stigma and grief
In that Madrid that is not seen, young people like Cristina who are 17 years old live and the current situation weighs: "I can't listen.His life goes out when the mobile is turned off: "This is very boring".
In addition, outside the settlement he faces stigma and rejection."I say I'm from La Cañada and there is La Cruz," he says.Has stopped inviting friends from outside home.This is one of the main problems facing the inhabitants of La Cañada."It is a very unknown place for people from outside," says Miguel Ángel Cornejo's head of Cáritas projects in La Cañada Real.In fact, its purpose this year is "to publicize those who are not here what this is".Remember that the distributors of large companies do not arrive here and that there is much rejection."It causes stigma or grief," he adds.
The innocence of children makes them more unconscious of the reality that surrounds them."They live it naturally because they were born and grown here," recalls Cornejo.They are 1.813 boys and girls who are affected by light cuts.Apart from the difficulties they carry when doing their homework, what they do not support is the impact of winter: “The mothers who come here tell us that they prefer the cold to the rain.They see that it is more difficult to get hot if the clothes get wet or if the houses drip up ”.
"The situation is extremely complicated.I am not optimistic to be resolved.From time to time there are signs and it seems that there is intention to solve the problem of light.But the solution does not arrive.Recently the Cañada commissioner met with the neighbors and talked that at the moment the light will not return, ”says Cornejo.According to neighbors and oenegés, the entire electricity should change, make the facilities in the houses and there are many parts that should agree.
The six sectors extend over Coslada and cross municipalities in Madrid and Rivas to Getafe.In addition, "if the long -term objective is to realize the population, they do not make sense to make such a large investment," adds the head of Caritas.The former acting defender before leaving showed his "serious concern" about the situation in La Cañada in a 10 -page resolution in which he also claimed an urgent solution to the arrival of winter.
"I prefer to go hungry than not having light"
For more than a year without light the residents of the settlement have not stopped lifting their banners with "Light for La Cañada".In October they constituted the Civic Platform for Light Support in Cañada Real, composed of more than 50 civil society organizations together with neighborhood and community associations."I prefer to go hungry than not having a light," says a neighbor.
The inhabitants of the settlement have denounced this situation before the Community of Madrid, the City of Madrid and that of Rivas.His cause reached the high commissioner against children's poverty, the European Parliament and of course before the Government of Spain.They have filed demands at Naturgy offices, the company that supplies electricity in the area.
Although light cuts affect mainly to sector 6, which is the largest and most populated, sector 5 also faces intermittent blackouts."There the neighbors have managed to agree.They alternate so that the light did not jump, ”explains Cornejo.Thanks to Community Communication and Organization, the Cortes de Luz challenge.
Israel Vargas is 30 years old and opens the doors of his house to teach the papers his grandfather lived in La Cañada Real.The settlement began to be inhabited since the sixties.His grandfather paid taxes: "I have the documents when he paid his taxes and invoices," he says among all the documentation.Does not take off your coat."We slept by shivering and this is not normal.I can't afford a rent in Madrid, ”he says.He teaches several family homes, there are three generations that have lived here and this is the place that has seen their children born.
“If they realize we would accept it, but this is our home.I do not know life out of here and with Luz lived dignity, ”he adds.They are concerned about the situation of the most vulnerable.The rights of the elderly and childhood are not guaranteed in these conditions."What hurts me most is that my children can't go to school and that they are illiterate like me," interrupts his wife Tamara Jiménez.The little ones not every day have dry clothes to be able to go to school: “I have to wash their face with cold water and there are days that clothes have not dried.Here you wash by hand and it takes for many days the clothes to dry.Children are all constipated ".
The Horizon of Realojo, still distant
When a bridge passes the part of sector 6 without asphalting.There is still some family living, however, many in this part have been real.Dispossed debris and huts are seen.It would be the dream of a majority.“The conditions for the real -outs are strict and very specific.For example, it would be for people registered since 2011.What will happen to the rest? ”Asks the head of projects in Cañada Cáritas.
In mid -November the Executive Committee of the Pact for the Cañada Real Galiana - conformed by the Government Delegation, the three municipalities of Madrid, Coslada and Rivas Vaciamadrid and the Government of the Community of Madrid - a road map was set with 21 performanceswhich includes the reality of 160 families in sector 6.During the next two years it is planned to reach 300 families of the more than 800 living now.The objective agreed between administrations is that sector 6 disappears.
"This year or the Christmas tree we have put," says Tamara.It has no light to illuminate it.Here the only gifts that have arrived this year have been those of the NGOs.Nor has there been ride due to pandemic.
As we move away, what breaks silence and darkness are lights fed with solar panels that illustrate messages.An initiative, for the second time, of the Boa Mistura artistic collective.Christmas lights that speak in the name of the community: "Luz for La Cañada", "We continue fighting", "We continue in the dark" or "We want contracts".Lights that speak, pray and remember that there are 4.000 people who are still waiting for a solution.
