The barely 60 inhabitants of the Zaragoza town of Villanueva de Jiloca are eager to receive Leire, the first baby born in the town after 30 years. The girl and her mother are still in the Calatayud Hospital waiting for medical discharge.
The event has transcended the local scope and the arrival to the world of Leire has been news in media such as Radio La Comarca or Heraldo de Aragón.
The mayor of Villanueva de Jiloca, Basilia Torres Cuadrado, has been in charge of announcing the good news, welcoming the little girl and sharing the news with her neighbors. "We've all been pregnant," she said. And he added: "It is very encouraging to see how the real census is adding instead of subtracting."
No generational change
It is not for less, because Villanueva is one of the at least 11 municipalities of the Campo de Daroca region and the Jiloca area that do not have any registered neighbors under 15 years old. That is, there are no children or generational change, the sign of many peoples of the so-called emptied Spain. Throughout Aragon the figure rises to 60 municipalities without neighbors under that school age.
Therefore, the mayor, belonging to Chunta Aragonesista, insists on the importance of increasing the child population in the towns and municipalities of emptied Spain as a solution to fight against depopulation. Among other issues, to be able to reopen the school. "We accept anyone who wants to come and live here, but what we really hope is that families arrive, that they bring youth," said Basilia Torres Cuadrado.
And so it happened with Leire's parents, a couple from Extremadura, who, after living in Daroca, wanted to settle in a small town, with the aim of living "as within a big family". They were looking for a well-connected enclave and being close to towns like Daroca, Zaragoza or Teruel and in Villanueva de Jiloca they found that.
The new parents bought a house and "shortly after being installed they announced that they were pregnant," according to the mayor.
The whole municipality has turned to them throughout these months and the neighbors are eager to meet the little girl, who still remains in the Hospital of Calatayud with her family.
Village with bar
Basilia Torres points out that Villanueva de Jiloca does not currently have any initiative to attract new settlers, but highlights the recent award of a rehabilitated house to a family with two minor children. Likewise, after some time and some failed attempts, the village bar reopened in May last year.
Undoubtedly, it was an important event for the town, given the essence of this social and meeting center for the day to day of its neighbors. The new managers are Jorge and Silvia, of whom the mayor, Basilia Torres, said then that they have "a lot of desire and enthusiasm to do things and to be part of the life of Villanueva and the Shire."
Coinciding with the birth of Leire, Villanueva de Jiloca has recently inaugurated a mural, the work of local artist Javier Domingo Ballestín, with the slogan "Equality, freedom and future". It represents four generations of rural women, workers and with offspring and, according to the mayor, it is a tribute to all those women who work and live in the town, including Leire, something that "is difficult, but it is possible".
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