In the beginning of 2005 the government of Spain pioneered a new operation, called Wasp #1 (Avispa #1 in Spanish). This operation had been accomplished against the criminals, emigrated from the Post-Soviet countries. One of them was Georgian oligarch and criminal Tariel Oniani, who has been living in Barcelona since 1997 till 2005. The Spanish magazine “El Pais” published the names of Russian criminals, called “Vori v zakone” (“Thieves-in-law”) and one of them was Oniani. The article announced that Spanish society can’t accommodate to the Russian mafia, laundering illegally acquired money in the Kingdom of Spain. The operation Wasp #1 has been failed and The Ministry of Internal Affairs pioneered another operation, called Wasp #2 and it succeeded in the end of 2005. The majority of criminals have been arrested and the others, among them Tariel Oniani, escaped from Barcelona. In July of 2008 Russian police detained him in Moscow with eleven reputed crime bosses of former Soviet Union.
There was an accident in the summer of 2008, when Police of Catalonia arrested five young males, who were accused of robbery. They were from Georgia’s northern city Lentekhi (Svaneti). The ex-consul of Georgia in the Kingdom of Spain, Irakli Kurashvili can remember some other facts, similar to this, during his working period. But he said: “It’s impossible to make an exact statistic of Georgians, living in Spain, because of illegal emigrants, but I can tell that there are about 5000 Georgian emigrants legally in Spain and 3000 out of 5000 live in Catalonia. 2000 Georgians are from Svaneti, but almost all of them work in factories, on buildings, in restaurants and some have their own business,” he said, “In spite of some criminal accidents, the others aren’t responsible to their actions.” A present collaborator of Embassy Elene Mdivani claims, that according to data of last year there are no facts, which can reveal presence of, so called, Svanetien Bands. And the present consul of Georgia Achiko Sokhadze can’t say an exact amount of the Georgian prisoners, detained in Spain, because he claims, this information is confidential.
“Jarji was 21-years-old, when he left for Barcelona,” says Lali Khorguani, a sister of emigrant Jarji Khorguani. Nowadays she lives in Tbilisi and receives 2000 Euros monthly from her younger brother, working in Barcelona. Khorguani’s family has been living in Zeskho since XVII century till 2003. Then they moved to Tbilisi and after father’s death Jarji went to Munich, then to Brussels and at last he has reached Barcelona. He was obsessed with this city, because of his passion for Spanish football club Barca. During some years he has been building his new life with his wife and newborn daughter. Now he has his own construction company and employs only Georgian people, who come from Svaneti’s small and foggy towns. “The first year was a real nightmare. There were some days when I was hungry during 24 hours or more.” – said Khorguani, “But I had a great faith…” According to him, he always knew, he would never fail in his life. First he was working in the port as a worker, but the wages were very low to survive in the European megalopolis. Then he has begun a new work as a factory worker, but the health hadn’t aid him. He suffers with heart disease from childhood. By accident, Khorguani met a Georgian businessman, living in Catalonia, who helped and supported him like a real father, but he never says his name, though this person isn’t in Spain any more. Jarji Khorguani has four children and all of them speak Catalan and Georgian a little bit. He lives in the suburb of Barcelona and he is a boss of a big construction company, full of Georgian workers. “I saw him two years ago,” – says his sister with regret. According to her, her brother has helped a lot of people from his small town and employed them on some work. These people help to their families and send them some money every month, she says. On the question, what is his dream now, he answers, that the only dream is to hunt for aurochs with his father and sons in the forests of Svaneti.
A small flat of Khorguani in the suburb of Tbilisi.
Khorguani is not an exception. There are other Georgian emigrants in Catalonia, doing business and trying not to disconnect with their motherland, though their children, born is Spain, speak in Catalan or Spanish languages. Even some of them have Spanish names. They also differ from other Georgian emigrants by the number of children. One of the influential businessmen in Barcelona is Beso Khabuliani. He has very large family too. He is a holder of a big factory there and helps other Georgians by employing them. But the economic crisis, so called “infection” of the whole Europe, has touched the Georgian emigrants also.
During last year the Kingdom of Spain has deported nearly 100 Georgian emigrants. Nobody can confirm the exact figure. The expert of international relations, Alexander Rondeli writes in his book, that it’s impossible to balance the process of migration. When the country deports a group of illegal emigrants, it receives a new wave of migration at the same time.
According to the basic data of the National Bank of Georgia, Spain takes the fifth place in transfer of money to Georgia after United States of America, Germany, Greece and Russia.
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