A group of 19 young Venezuelans has appeared early this Monday in Gún dependencies confirm various sources involved in the administrative process. All of them belong to a baseball team, which has moved to Spain with the alleged objective of participating in sports meetings at European level. The team landed at Barajas airport, in Madrid, and from there he traveled to Barcelona. In an emergency process, the National Police has summoned all of them next Thursday to carry out the interviews in which they will explain the reasons for their asylum application.
The team is called Team Guevara and participates in a Sub-23 Latin American senior league, created by Julio Guevara. The coach and president of the competition ensures in their networks that young people have enrolled in a tour called “Europe 2025”, which aims to “forge sports ties with international clubs.” Without success, to contact him.
Young people, including two minors, have briefly told agents who had planned various sports meetings. One of them should be held in Madrid, as indicated, and was annulled due to bad weather. They have also explained that they played a match in Barcelona, but they have not specified against which team, according to police sources. They have also detailed to the Police that during these days they have slept at the Madrid airport and on the street, in Barcelona.
The National Police have accelerated the asylum request procedures, and has already summoned the young for Thursday. In the case of Venezuela, it is complicated that asylum prosper, but people are usually welcomed for humanitarian reasons, police sources explain. That supposes that they are ending up granting a residence and work permit. The agents now investigate whether the request of the 19 kids has been spontaneously, seeing in Spain without any other option and in the street, or if it was planned.
In his social networks, Guevara hung a video four days ago in Madrid, which announces that meetings in the capital and also in Barcelona. Its trail on the different social platforms indicates that the team is in Europe since the beginning of March, and that they have also traveled to Italy, where they have seen with the Modena Baseball Club.
Young people have been referred to social services, in order to give them an accommodation option waiting for their situation in Spain to finally be resolved. The two minors are in a parallel process, as unaccompanied migrants, and may not attend personal interviews to request asylum until it has a general tutelage of the Generalitat, according to sources known to the process.
