Bars, food markets, fruit shops, fishmongers, domino clubs, traditional taverns, churro stands, candy kiosks, haberdashery… always in the South Sector You can experience neighborhood life and it’s one of the most vibrant places in Córdoba during the week. There is still something of this old, increasingly cornered Cordoba. But, on the other hand, it is one of the poorest places not only in the city, province or region… but also in Spain.
Next to the neighbor Guadalquivir industrial zone and palm trees They form a triangle of marginalization which, year after year, appears at the top of this disastrous list. The agitation of the neighbors cannot hide this other Córdoba of inequality. The southern sector is the thirteenth poorest district in Spain, with an income of 9,197 euros per capita. Guadalquivir is the seventh poorest neighborhood in the country, with an average annual per capita income of 8,433 euros. Finally, Las Palmeras occupies ninth place, with 8,492 euros per capita.
ABC Córdoba wanted to recover the notice neighbors and traders from the southern sector and Polígono del Guadalquivir, neighboring neighborhoods that share the same problems. And we must begin by describing, after certain declarations, a “of the record” which is repeated several times by turning off the recorder, and which refers to a certain layer of the population which is dedicated to medicineor what reject jobs. Or they have black income of doubtful origin.
Also that they are governed by a notable lack of education which even leads them to attack the common spaces of the neighborhood of vandalistic way. All of these discussions take place at different points in the report. But they never stand up to the recorded conversation, rather they wait until the journalist has finished his work to make these points.
But apart from them, the reasons The factors considered to explain the poverty of the neighborhood are multiple and go in all directions. Teresa and Francisco Suárez They are brothers and have lived in the South Sector all their lives, they even joke about their different trips around the neighborhood: from Motril Street to Paso Cristo del Amor and from there to Avenida Granada. “Poverty is mainly due to the unemployment rate and lack of education: people do not continue their studies and cannot find work,” Teresa said. His brother Francisco recalled that this situation is aggravated because “even the Inem course Even workshop schools, if children stop their studies, cannot now find a way to learn a trade.
At the municipal food market, Toñi takes care of the fishmonger. “The problem we see is that the neighborhood is made up of very old peoplemany have been goldsmiths or were devoted to constructionso since the brick crisis, it has not raised its head.
An aging neighborhood
In one of the clubs in the southern sector, many people are playing dominoes and a large audience gathers around, including Luis. “All this is due to Stopto politicians since no one cares about stiff people”, he noted. His friend José Manuel returns to the question of construction and jewelry: “it’s a workers’ quarter“, previously qualified for sectors as important in Córdoba as jewelry or construction, but both have disappeared, and today a little bit counts more than the fact that corrupt people buy a Maserati or a Ferrari.”
“It’s all due to unemployment, politicians and the fact that no one cares about stiff people”
Nigerian and living in Cordoba for seven years, Adaobi Okonkwo settled in the Guadalquivir industrial zone. He explained that his situation is different, since African immigrants help each other. “What I see is the very neglected neighborhood compared to others in Cordoba and with many elderly people. However, he admitted that his situation is good compared to the original one.
“THE poverty is inherited and it is inherited if policies are not taken to avoid it,” said the resident of the industrial zone of Guadalquivir, Manuel Patiño, well known in Córdoba for being the head of the publishing house De Papel. He currently lives in the neighborhood to take care of his mother: “Many cultural or educational activities could be organized, but very little is done to fight poverty.”
On the border between the Guadalquivir industrial zone and the southern sector is the Ayamonte Passage. There is another dominoes club which, in turn, serves as a bar. Various people are chatting animatedly at the entrance. A debate ensues between them about the very few options available to a worker in both neighborhoods, who ultimately, as they conclude, can only have the chance to enter a Mercadona or go to a local bar, yes, for four or five euros an hour and paying for half the day he actually spends. “It’s one of the neighborhoods where the worker charge less», Said Antonio Velasco, spokesperson for the group. Of course, this highlights the solidarity existing between neighbors: “we help each other as much as we can”.
Along with Ciudad Jardín, the southern sector and the Polígono del Guadalquivir are the neighborhoods that receive the most immigrants, and this is seen daily, with people from different nations walking through its streets, or even the headquarters of the Cordoba Association of Pakistanisalready installed in Jaén Street. Originally from Guinea, Mamadou Camara, who insists that the word is clear and not sloppy, arrived in Spain nine years ago. “The South Sector is a welcoming neighborhood, even if it is true that there is a lot of poverty underneath, but with good people“, he admitted.
Another outside view, but this time closer and Spanish, since it is a citizen of Torrelavega, in Cantabria, is offered by Marco Antonio Fernández, who does pull-ups in one of the gymnastics areas of the neighborhood . He has lived in the neighborhood for twelve years. “The neighborhood leaves something to be desired, we miss it facilities and also of culture“Things are not taken care of the way they should be.”
