Empty promise: new political group speaks up for depopulated rural Spain
Support for España Vaciada in villages such as Milmarcos could threaten the old ruling duopoly
Judith Iturbe grimaces as she thinks about August and what it means for the residents and rhythms of Milmarcos.
At the height of summer, the population of this small and beautiful Spanish village, which sits close to Castilla-La Mancha’s border with Aragón, rises from just 44 to about 1,000.
“For me, August is the worst time of the year because all these people come from the city with their urgent requirements,” says Iturbe, who runs a tiny brewery in Milmarcos. Twenty-one years ago, she and her partner decided to leave their hectic jobs and lives in Madrid and start over.
If it was quiet they craved, they have not been disappointed. The only people on the streets of the village this afternoon are two older residents who sit on garden chairs by the church tower to chat and soak up the rays of the low winter sun.
The peace and quiet, however, comes at a price. The doctor comes through just once a week, the village’s three children have an hour-long bus ride to school, and Milmarcos has precisely one shop and one bar. As Iturbe points out, only half-jokingly, this corner of Guadalajara province is one of the most hollowed-out parts of the demographic realm known as La España vaciada – the hollowed-out Spain.
Decades of depopulation have left huge stretches of rural Spain starved of people, attention and investment, and prompted the country’s Socialist-led coalition government to establish a ministry for the demographic challenge.
But for many in such areas, change has not come fast enough. At the end of September, an association of more than 160 local and regional groups decided to run as a joint platform in regional and national elections.
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