The Canary Islands, on the verge of reliving the 'dock of shame' crisis

 

 

“What has to happen for the Government of Spain to look at the Canary Islands and act?” Fernando Clavijo asked himself this morning from El Hierro, where the migratory flow is constant with daily arrivals of cayucos. An arrival of cayucos that has already surpassed all the assistance resources on the island, leaving the residents of El Pinar temporarily without medical attention.

 

The situation is serious, but this last week it seems to have gotten out of control. On the night of Monday to Tuesday, the cargo ship Vos Pace, flying the Netherlands flag, rescued several migrants from two boats in Moroccan waters. The instructions that the cargo ship crew received were to leave the migrants in Morocco, however, when the migrants found out about these plans they rioted with knives and threats of taking their own lives and harming themselves if they were not taken to the Canary Islands.

 

Something that the crew of the Vos Pace finally agreed to, which went to Fuerteventura. Already in the Canary Islands, the riot resulted in nine detainees who, after giving statements in an alleged case of piracy, have been released.

 

A fact that already made clear the tension that is being experienced on the Canary Islands route and, above all, the serious situation that migrants live in their countries to the point of rioting and threatening self-harm in order not to be returned.

 

This same Friday, another “record” was set in this immigration crisis. More than a thousand migrants arrived at the archipelago in 13 cayucos that were distributed between El Hierro, Tenerife and Gran Canaria. A situation that accelerated the transfer of migrants to Tenerife because in El Hierro, both the assistance services and the personnel were completely saturated.

 

These transfers are not without controversy, since this Saturday 200 migrants spent the night outdoors in the port of Los Cristianos, in Tenerife. 

 

Added to all this are the demands from the Maritime Rescue personnel, who work shifts of more than 24 hours for consecutive days and who claim not to have a permanent position to be able to leave their things or clean up in El Hierro.

 

Despite the fact that the situation is worsening day after day in the archipelago and all this seems to be causing images like those that could be seen during the pandemic to be revived again with more than a thousand migrants crammed in inhumane conditions on the dock of Arguineguín, from the Marlaska peninsula, assures that “Spain has the means to face the situation that the Canary Islands are going through” and that “irregular immigration is a challenge for Europe”