When you watch the daily news reports, you frequently run into at least one story about immigrants.

While the world seems more dynamic than ever, what we can now see through social media has been the story of millions of people over the past thirty years, especially of Latin Americans.

Between 1998 and 2015, around 4.6 million immigrants in Europe identified themselves as Latino or Caribbean. Despite the economic crisis of 2008, this flow has been increasing and has a wide variety of profiles.

Among professionals, refugees, and citizens with dual nationality, this group of residents represents a vital force in the societies they’ve chosen to integrate, even when governments are not very aware of it.

The need to address low salaries and the precariousness that Latin immigrants are often subject to in Europe has given rise to a political movement by and for Latin Americans in Spain: the SOMOS MIEL Movement.

The Independent Latin American Movement (MIEL) is defined as an "independent group, based on the individual freedom of each citizen, in the rule of law, in the independence of justice and the democratic system," as it’s web page explains.

Its president, José Cordeiro, is a Venezuelan immigrant, son of Spaniards, which according to the movement's approach transforms him into an #EuroLatino.

Spokespersons of MIEL said during a press conference in Madrid that the movement is constituted as "the Voice of Latin America in Europe,” and raises several work routes: the simplification of the migration process for professionals with university degrees, breaking with the prejudice inside the Foreigners' Detention Centers (CIE), and to be representatives of the Latin American reality in the continent.

Given the next European parliamentary elections, MIEL hasn’t wasted any time and has joined the ballot of candidates to represent Latinos in the highest spheres, now counting on a list of "more than a score of Eurolatinos" from Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

"The vote of Latinos in Europe will increasingly condition the electoral results, especially after the advance of populism, the disintegration of bipartisanship, and the outcrop of far-right parties," the platform explains. "However, it seems that a new movement has shown up to pick up a vote that, from now on, will condition much the electoral debate: the Latino vote could place an MEP in the elections on May 26 and open the door to a new situation on the Spanish political map."

To learn more about this initiative, you can visit their social media accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/somosmiel2019/

https://www.facebook.com/SomosMiel2019

https://twitter.com/SomosMiel2019