A story in Spains’ 20 Minutos about Ecuadorian and Colombian immigrants in Madrid getting nose jobs with the goal of obtaining a more European look caught our attention today because, well, it’s sad. But also because midway through the article, after listing the obvious pertinent information like how many immigrants doctors estimate come in a year (anywhere from 1000 to 2500 in the Madrid area) and why they do it, (because they don’t want to stand out as foreigners), the paper chimes in with this extra bit of information:

Besides immigrants, these interventions are also on the rise with cocaine addicts who use it to reconstruct the nasal partition.

Oh..kaaay. That kind of seems like another story, doesn’t it? Must be since reporter Beatriz Castrillo returns immediately to the immigrant angle, profiling a construction worker named Padrazo Angel (pictured above) who moved to Madrid from Ecuador in 2002. Padrazo got a nose job and says it not only helped his self-esteem, but will make getting a new job much easier. No attempt is made to clarify whether he falls into the cocaine addict camp or not, but hey, what are details when it comes to journalism? Later, at the bottom of the article, the following “related” headlines appear:

A study detects that unemployment in Madrid is high for Spaniards and low for immigrants (26/05/08)

The resident immigrants in Madrid send 5.6 daily million to their countries (07/05/08)

Gee, wonder why they don’t want to stand out as foreigners.

Los inmigrantes llenan las clínicas de cirugía estética para operarse y parecer europeos [20 Minutos]