Qatar, the small millionaire country where everything is gigantic

It hardly appears on the map for how small it is Qatar. Very difficult to discover that little dot in the Persian Gulf. However, inside everything is gigantic, spacious: airport, highways, sidewalks, shopping malls, stadiums, press center, departments. Everything has unusual dimensions for us. A symptom that goes beyond size: everything is designed with greatness. “Here you can see that there is a lot of money,” say the many Argentines, Mexicans and Ecuadorians who got off the plane with us.

Indeed, Qatar is the world’s third largest natural gas reserve, right now there are three hundred ships in the bay carrying gas for half the world. And there is oil too. There is money, yes, but you can see that money, in the streets, in the subway, in the buildings, in modernism, everything is brand new. And that money is also noticed in the peace of the people. Everything is absolutely relaxed, almost silent. There is no social tension, nobody is tense. We cannot bring them news from the West, they have it before us.

Everything works. We ordered an Uber from the airport and the app informed us: the car arrives in a minute. At the minute it was. The taxi driver, in a white tunic, waited for ten of us, but he did not lose patience or charge us a surcharge.

Among the ton of criticism with which the United States and Europe have bombarded Qatar was that of the tremendous requirements to be able to enter the Arab country. Never, in so many years of travel, have we entered a country so easily. Not even a migration official attended to us, we went through one of the automatic booths, the ones where one supports the passport on an electronic reader and two glass doors open. And nothing else, from there, to the street. Not even when we arrive in Buenos Aires is it so simple and brief. The journalists, who arrived so many apprehensive, are surprised.

However, he continues to preside over the mystery. Knowing how everything is here, because of how different it is. It’s a weird city, Doha. You don’t see people walking the streets, only cars. The silence stuns in any area, the Qataris are not one to go around shouting, much less bombastic. They don’t raise their voice. The climate is very similar to that of Guayaquil. About thirty degrees with humidity, but perfectly bearable, at least at this time of year.

We met at the airport with Santiago Rubio Henao, a young Colombian student who has lived here for two years and is studying International Relations and Foreign Services. A highly educated boy who takes advantage of the World Cup to earn an extra in tourism. He enlightened us a lot. We asked him how he felt there.

-Very well, it is a wonderful country, full of opportunities, very open to migrants and tourists. Conditions are guaranteed to come. There may be less good things, as in all places, but in general the positive is more -, he started.

-Do you think it can be a good World Cup?

-It will be an excellent World Cup, trusting that everything will turn out well.

-You will have read the acid criticism that is made of Qatar, mainly from Europe and the United States.

-Of course, there are good and bad things, but you have been unfairly criticized. Regarding the working conditions of stadium workers, for the last five years there have been legal changes that have improved the labor relationship. Thanks to the World Cup, various constitutional amendments were made and today workers enjoy rights that they did not have before.

-And the issue of discrimination?

-It is a reality, it happens with certain nationalities. It’s something the government is trying to move forward with as well.

-With the women?

-With women it depends, with Western women there is a lot of stigma, it is believed that the laws are too strict but the truth is not that, yes you have to respect cultural norms, abide by what the authorities say, but there will be no problems for walking on the boulevard showing affection. Logically it is a matter of being respectful.

-What do you attribute so much criticism to?

-A very strong propaganda campaign must have very large interests behind it. And, as I said previously, they seem unfair to me.

The World Cup is present in absolutely everything, from posters and murals throughout the city to the flag-lined streets and even on the 10 Qatari reais bills, one side of which bears the effigy of the Lusail stadium, where the final will be played on the 18th of december.

They are the first postcards of Doha, just arrived and when our first “World Cup” day has not yet passed.

But the impression is optimal. This is the closest thing to the future.

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