A group of Spanish citizens, originally from the poorest countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, delivered 55,000 signatures to the Register of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid on 17 November. With these signatures they intend to ask “forgiveness from the poorest countries for the debts they have with countries like Spain”. The signatures were collected in the campaign “Without doubt, without debt”, which is a pun in Spanish ( sin duda, sin deuda ). The citizens, wearing traditional dress, were accompanied by the organizations that promoted the campaign, including Caritas, Manos Unidas, Confer, Justice and Peace and Redes. The Congress received the signatures on the eve of the final debate on the bill for the management of the foreign debt, already passed by the Senate. “Although the bill takes on board some of our concerns, we would like it to be more generous to the impoverished countries”, said Mercedes Barbeito, coordinator of the campaign. “Civil society must participate in all the processes on the debt”, she added, and “the Spanish government must take steps to cancel all the debt that the indebted countries owe to Spain”.
