Cualquier cantidad de películas, poemas, canciones, pinturas e historias se han dedicado a los abrazos, ese simple acto de rodear al otro como muestra de afecto. Decía el poeta chileno Pablo Neruda que "un abrazo es expresar la propia existencia a los que nos rodean". El uruguayo Mario Benedetti aseguraba que "un simple abrazo nos enternece el corazón, nos da la bienvenida y nos hace más llevadera la vida".
En plena época de los abrazos prohibidos o limitados, el fotógrafo español Emilio Morenatti, Premio Ortega y Gasset de Periodismo Gráfico 2013, ingresa en una residencia de ancianos de Barcelona para retratar cómo los mayores, los más vulnerables de esta pandemia, se han ingeniado la manera para que en sus vidas no vuelvan a faltar esos gestos que contienen y fortalecen, porque como decía Neruda en su poema La Magia de un abrazo, son ellos los que nos permiten "arrancar un pedacito de sí para donarlo a algún otro hasta que pueda continuar el camino menos solo".
Y fue un plástico lo único que pudo interponerse entre Agustina Cañamero, de 81 años, y su esposo Pascual Pérez, de 84 años, quienes por primera vez en 59 años de matrimonio pasaron 102 días separados por el confinamiento.
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In their first encounter in more than 100 days due to restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Isabel Pérez López, 96, reacts before receiving an embrace through a plastic film screen from her visiting daughter, Beatriz Segura, 67 at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed the screens to resume relatives' visits to residents. In the presence of tearful nursing home workers, mother and daughter held each other for minutes through the layers of plastic. Segura said she was looking forward to take her mother out for a meal at a restaurant while López said she looked forward to visiting a beauty salon for a long-overdue haircut. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Dolores Reyes Fernández, 61, holds her father's hand José Reyes Lozano, 87, for the first time in nearly four months as visits resume to a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020 following a virulent outbreak of the new coronavirus. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed screens made of plastic film to resume relatives' visits to residents, halted in mid-March. Daughter and father toppled down the structure holding the screen as they eagerly reached out for each other in the presence of tearful nursing home workers. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Agustina Cañamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the new coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed the screens to resume relatives' visits to residents 102 days after a strict, nationwide lockdown separated them. As she and her husband broke out into tears while kissing through layers of protective masks and the transparent plastic film, Cañamero said that the couple had never spent such long time with no physical contact in 59 years of marriage. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Agustina Canamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the new coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. The fear that gripped Agustina Cañamero during the 102 days she and her 84-year-old husband spent physically separated during Spain's coronavirus outbreak dissolved the moment the couple embraced through a screen of plastic film. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Dolores Reyes Fernández, 61, touches the face of her father José Reyes Lozano, 87, for the first time in nearly four months as visits resume to a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Dolores Reyes Fernández, 61, holds the hands of her father José Reyes Lozano, 87, for the first time in nearly four months as visits resume to a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. At the height of Spain's coronavirus outbreak, nursing homes locked out visitors to try to shield their residents from the virus killing so many elderly people. One home in Barcelona has allowed family visits to resume through plastic screens. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Isabel Pérez López, 96, receives an embrace through a plastic film screen from her visiting daughter, Beatriz Segura, 67 at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020, Isabel Pérez López, 96, receives an embrace through a plastic film screen from her visiting son-in-law Jose Maria Vila, 69, at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In their first encounter in more than 100 days due to restrictions to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Isabel Pérez López, 96, reacts before receiving an embrace through a plastic film screen from her visiting daughter, Beatriz Segura, 67 at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed the screens to resume relatives' visits to residents. In the presence of tearful nursing home workers, mother and daughter held each other for minutes through the layers of plastic. Segura said she was looking forward to take her mother out for a meal at a restaurant while López said she looked forward to visiting a beauty salon for a long-overdue haircut. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Dolores Reyes Fernández, 61, holds her father's hand José Reyes Lozano, 87, for the first time in nearly four months as visits resume to a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020 following a virulent outbreak of the new coronavirus. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed screens made of plastic film to resume relatives' visits to residents, halted in mid-March. Daughter and father toppled down the structure holding the screen as they eagerly reached out for each other in the presence of tearful nursing home workers. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Agustina Cañamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the new coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed the screens to resume relatives' visits to residents 102 days after a strict, nationwide lockdown separated them. As she and her husband broke out into tears while kissing through layers of protective masks and the transparent plastic film, Cañamero said that the couple had never spent such long time with no physical contact in 59 years of marriage. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Agustina Canamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the new coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. The fear that gripped Agustina Cañamero during the 102 days she and her 84-year-old husband spent physically separated during Spain's coronavirus outbreak dissolved the moment the couple embraced through a screen of plastic film. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
In this Monday, June 22, 2020 photo, Dolores Reyes Fernández, 61, touches the face of her father José Reyes Lozano, 87, for the first time in nearly four months as visits resume to a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain. Even when it comes wrapped in plastic, a hug can convey tenderness and relief, love and devotion. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
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© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Agustina Cañamero, 81, and Pascual Pérez, 84, hug and kiss through a plastic film screen to avoid contracting the new coronavirus at a nursing home in Barcelona, Spain, Monday, June 22, 2020. The Ballesol Fabra i Puig elderly care center installed the screens to resume relatives' visits to residents 102 days after a strict, nationwide lockdown separated them. As she and her husband broke out into tears while kissing through layers of protective masks and the transparent plastic film, Cañamero said that the couple had never spent such long time with no physical contact in 59 years of marriage. Nursing homes in Spain have been particularly hit by the novel virus, which has claimed at least 28,300 lives nationwide. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
La reanudación de las visitas en los centros de mayores también permitió el reencuentro entre Dolores Reyes, de 61 años con su padre, quienes pasaron cuatro meses sin verse por la pandemia.
Reencuentro de Dolores Reyes y su padre después de cuatro meses separados
© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Beatriz Segura no ocultó la gran emoción que lo provocó reunirse con su madre después de cuatro meses sin verla ni poder sentir su calor. Una de las primeras propuestas que le hizo al verla fue invitarla a comer a un restaurante, pero su madre le confesó que lo primero que quería hacer cuando saliera era ir a un salón de belleza.
Isabel López se reencuentra con su hija, Beatriz Segura, después de 100 días sin verse
© AP Photo / Emilio Morenatti
Miles de familias en España quedaron separadas o desintegradas por una pandemia que se ha cobrado la vida de más de 28.300 personas.
