Huelva Gate : Spanish strawberry pickers are also denouncing alleged sexual abuse

Suspected of sexually assaulting four of his Spanish workers, an individual who runs a strawberry farm in Aljaraque (Huelva) has been arrested, says ABCdesevilla Huelva Monday.

The four women have filed a complaint against their manager on the 7th of June, says the same source.

This arrest comes as a 47-year-old man was arrested on May the 25th for blackmailing Moroccan workers into having sex with their managers. The suspect was released later and is awaiting his trial, after an investigation was opened by the Prosecutor’s office in Huelva led to his arrest.

In Almonte, a third complaint was filed by five other women against one of their employers. The latter gave himself up to the authorities.

For the record, several women working as strawberry pickers in Huelva’s farms have decided to break the silence denouncing sexual and labor abuses they are subjected to. Most of the women who reported abuses to the Spanish authorities are Moroccan.

According to the same source, a report conducted by the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality association (FEMM) was presented on May the 15th at the European Union to shed light on the situation in Huelva's fields.

The report indicates that «foreigners working in Huelva, regardless of their origins, run the risk of being oppressed, controlled, and isolated».

For the same study, «employers can be abusive» and workers can be heavily exploited, threatened and sexually abused.