Recently we opened a chapter of the Guardian Angels in Barcelona where crime has skyrocketed in the subways and streets. A lot of pickpocketing, jostling and snatching and running away. Nicole Orlando a transplanted NewYorker reached out to us months ago. Here family was originally from the Fordham section of the Bronx where we first began our efforts over 40 years ago. In fact she remembers years ago a Guardian Angel giving her a business card on the subway in NYC. Years later she remembered receiving that GA card and reached out to us as Barcelona’s crime problems soared.
Nicole and the Barcelona Guardian Angels began patrolling about 2 months ago. The people were so grateful for their presence in the city’s time of need. But then old wounds were ripped open in this part of NE Spain. It is in the province of CATALONIA that Barcelona exists. For years many of the residents of Catalonia, whose Govt. is in Barcelona, they have been at odds with the National Govt. in Madrid. Some Catalans want independence from Spain while others just want autonomy. Recently the leaders of the Independence movement were given long prison sentences and citizens took to the streets on their behalf. Peacefully and at times there were riots in the streets of Barcelona. The Barcelona Guardian Angels stayed above the politics of it all and regrouped. Nicole Orlando, the chapter leader, on her yearly trip to New York to visit her family spent time with the NYC Guardian Angels patrolling the subways and took the time to sit down and talk with me and KG Oda. We made some adjustments and upon Nicole’s return to Barecelona the GA patrols resumed. Listen to the link as Nicole tells her and the group’s story in Barcelona.
