Bogdana Tsvetanova is a Bulgarian journalist who have lived and worked in Spain for six years. She publishes all-immigrants' newspaper Espana: Puertas Abiertas and the Bulgarian-language monthly newspaper Nova Duma. Tsvetanova also works for Spanish televisiуn TELEMADRID.
Bogdana Tsvetanova answered questions of Milena Dinkova
Q: What do you know about the killing of the two Bulgarians in Madrid on February 26?
A: At first I thought they were Slovaks as the biggest Spanish news agency EFE reported so and because there are many cases when newspapers including El Mundo report about incidents that involved "Bulgarians" that later turn out to be from another Slav country.
I think it is obvious that the Bulgarian victims of the shooting were involved in a turf war between criminal gangs. According to witnesses of the killing, the assaulters were two men with Kalashnikov submachine guns. One of them had a long hair and a lather jacket. They spoke Spanish so we can assume they were not immigrants as their victims. A witness heard one of the attackers shouting: "He is still alive! Kill him, kill him!"
In my opinion, the killed Bulgarians were in the car stealing business. This is the "specialty" of Bulgarian criminals who operate in Spain. I mean that is all they do - I haven't heard much talk of either Bulgarian pimps or drug dealers or forgers. They were killed in a very posh Madrid neighborhood and I suppose they were some kind of criminal bosses.
I can't tell whether they were connected to those nine Bulgarians who were arrested over car thefts and burglaries in Madrid end-February.
Q: Having in mind the two incidents mentioned, what is the public opinion in Spain about Bulgarians who live and work there?
A: I would say it is quite favorable. You see, these are isolated cases. Things like that happen from time to time but I think Bulgarians are quite well-behaved compared with 150,000 Romanians who live in Spain. They have attained such notoriety that even in cases when police nip Bulgaria thieves, people take them for Romanians.
As far as I know, Bulgarians suffer very bad reputation in Italy but definitely this is not true for Spain. Since I first came to Spain, I've heard about Bulgarian prostitutes just once while Colombian, Venezuelan, Russian and Ukrainian women have established solid positions on this "market."
Most of the Spaniards thinks Bulgarians are decent and hard-working people. If they need employees, they prefer Bulgarians to any of the Latin Americans. That is why Bulgarian immigrants easily catapult themselves to more important position wherever they work.
Q: Do Bulgarians in Spain help each other?
A: I think they do. Bulgarians in Spain do not have a good community work but in case of need they can rely on compatriots. They are a lot of Bulgarians who help with money, food and job.
However, there are tens of Romanian associations, let alone the associations of he Latin Americans. The only Bulgarian association was created two months ago by ten enthusiasts.
Q: What do Bulgarians in Spain assess the work of the Bulgarian embassy in Madrid?
A: I think the Bulgarians are not very pleased with the work of the embassy. But in my opinion, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. The embassy is made of people and they are Bulgarians, too. I know some of them and I think they are ready to work hard but I guess the resources are limited.
Here is one example. On occasion of Romanian national holiday, their embassy gave a reception to 400 people in a four-star hotel. I don't want to get into particulars about what Bulgaria's embassy offered on occasion of 24th of May - one of our most important holidays. I will only mention that all Bulgarians were disappointed and I felt embarrassed because my colleagues from the Spanish television got the impression that we are a nation poor in money and in spirit - you know - a shamed-faced nations.
Q: What do Spaniards know about Bulgaria?
A: Almost nothing. They know about soccer player Stoitchkov and in Bulgaria were "very cold." Well, more intelligent people know interesting facts about Bulgaria - on some topics even more than me. Once a Spanish friend asked me a question about ancient Thracia that I could not answer.
However, the gap between intelligent people and those with less education is huge. I think the general knowledge of the average Bulgarian is at a higher level.
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