The erratic, slow and colonial migration policy in the Canary Islands by the Government of Spain and the European Unionn European se has rushed so much, has been pushed to such an unsustainable limit that it has left a seriously worrying panorama, with no margin for error and on the verge of collapse. A collapse that, of course, will be felt sooner in any municipality in the Canary Islands than in Brussels or Madrid.
A collapse, to begin with, of lives. Hundreds of people have died in 2024 alone. Thousands in this déTens of thousands of people have died since the first two survivors of the Canary Islands route reached the island of Fuerteventura 30 years ago.
It is unacceptable to accept as a banal reality the fact that thousands of people have died by drowning, hunger or thirst trying to survive an unjustly unbalanced and unequal system that condemns to death and pushes towards a suicidal adventure in the ocean.éyear to a part of the population that could wellto migrate safe if other routes were possible, legal and safe.
The nonsense alsoén affects, and this is especially irresponsible, the reception system of minors, of childrenChildren who are abandoned, who arrive alone. Who arrive without adult reference persons. Who are overwhelmed by the spaces for care. Who are cared for with precarious means, in anomalous circumstances, and without the protection of the rights that protect them. Who begin to be easy targets for the prostitution mafias. Who, when they turn eighteen, find themselves on the street, homeless, without a future. Who are used as a weapon to sow hatred, racism and xenophobia.
The Canary Islands have been demanding institutional loyalty time and again and expressing objective needs that point to saturation.n ofl workWe predict that autumn will be caotic if legislative changes are not achieved. It is necessary to modify Article 35 of the Immigration Lawa, that allowthat when an Autonomous Communitythat's allé collapsed, especially in border communities, may ask the State to transfer minors to other territories. This modification had the unanimous support ofNime in This archipelago, the of all the councils and town councils, social organisations and political groups, but it fell on deaf ears last June in the Congress of Deputies.
The betrayal of the Popular Party - which in the Canary Islands says one thing and in Madrid another - and the cowardice of the Spanish Government in facing the drafting of a Decree Law that would fight for a majority in the Spanish Parliament, caused the failure of a measure that, if approved now, allowI would like to outline a different scenario. Less damaging, no doubt. Sometimes one thinks that when these decisions are made, the real consequences for children who need urgent care in local societies are not taken into consideration. And it seems that this is not the case. Tension, political tactics and dirty tricks prevail, seeking to defeat the other. And it is not that they do not know how to reach an agreement, in the Canary Islands they do it with great ease to put forward motions of censure against progressive majorities.
Now, the Government of the Canary Islands in an actionn desperate and inédita maintains that police custody will be sufficient for the reception of boys and girls and that it will not open the doors of its centers, ordering the organizations that manage these spaces to do so, demanding that the minor beé affiliated and with a determined age, something that does not fit the reality of the emergency and that can generate serious setbacks in the coverage of the fundamental rights of minor survivors.
Canarian Coalition, launches asIt is a challenge ignoring that he cohabits in the Canary Government with whoén prevents the reform in Madrid and supports in the Congress of Deputies whoén irresponsibly resists reforming by Decree Law the norm that would allow continued progress in modifying the reception system.
The PSOE and the PP, I insist, are playing a game in which the Canary Islands are not even a bargaining chip. With the colonial shadow game they are perpetrating, they are keeping the media spotlight on themselves without getting to the heart of the matter. If this were to happen in any other Autonomous Community on the peninsula, the matter would have been diluted by territorial continuity. They are using the isolation and remoteness of the Canary Islands to postpone decision-making, allowing island society to clearly and evidently observe that distance matters. That distance is oblivion and marginalization. That distance and colonial, media, political and social centralism distance and hide reality.
An example of what was expressed above could be seen this summer when the President of the Government of Spain made a tour of the country.sessions of West Africa and the Canary Islands. He promised programs and aid in the different countries, as every year, without Europe, without continuity, without solid structures.
The same thing he did when he visited the Canary Islands, promising money but no structural changes. The only solution that the President of the Government of Spain offered during a break from his holidays in Lanzarote was to allocate fifty million to this Community to help with the costs of reception. A patchwork, a kick forward that does not improve care. A prolongation of the determination to turn us into a space of detention, into a prison island.
A textbook step forward with the best of smiles. The weakness of the state Executive and the lack of parliamentary support are conditioning the search for alternatives and solutions to this issue. Not to mention the inaction of the European Union, which seems to be focused on the Mediterranean and the East. Look at Italy's insensitive euphoria these days, boasting of having reduced the arrival of immigrants in its country by 80%. Here it has increased by 123% because Europe has been concerned about attracting Meloni by attending to his demands and disregarding our reality.
So far in 2024, almost 25.000 people have arrived. More than ever before at this time of year. I maintain that it is unacceptable to condemn so many people to this mortal risk. I also maintain thatéLikewise, no minor can be left helpless by action or omission. And although I understand the position of the Canary Islands Government, I cannot support a change of attitude making what was valid and in accordance with the law just a few weeks ago not so now. And that the consequence is not to take in any minor.n niñoo niña, even if it is necessary. Children cannot be harmed in this strategy of confrontation. And I share the desperation, the impotence and the anger of the Canarian government (although I accept the paradox that a part of it is absolutely complicit in what is happening).
The path of confrontation will not solve anything and I urge that an agreement be reached as soon as possible, otherwise the loss of human rights and lives will be greater. And the mirror in which they will have to look will return an image nothing edifying.
Antonio Morales Mendez
President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria
