The Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, described today in Congress as "a disaster" and "an unmitigated tragedy" the recent shipwreck off the coast of Lanzarote of a boat in which at least twenty-one people died, including fourteen minors.
Rubalcaba also wanted, at the beginning of an appearance to take stock of the policy developed in 2008 by the Executive for the prevention of illegal immigration, to express the Government's "condolences" to the families of the victims and extend it to "all the people" who over the last few years "have lost their lives while trying to reach our coasts.
"I want to start by remembering these anonymous dead for us, but not for their families, friends and compatriots," Rubalcaba said before beginning an intervention in which, among other things, he stressed that cooperation with the countries of origin and transit to prevent departures from their own coasts is the best way to avoid tragedies like Sunday's.
In their initial interventions, the different spokespersons also had words of remembrance for all the victims of attempts to enter by sea, and some, like the spokesperson for the PNV, Emilio Olabarría, stressed that the latest tragedy "has shaken us".
The Sive
Regarding the Sive, the Minister points out that this is the reason why the rescue was not carried out in time and points out that other shipwrecks have already occurred for this same reason.
The Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said today, during his appearance in Congress, that the Integral Exterior Surveillance System (SIVE) did not alert last Sunday to the arrival of the boat that later shipwrecked due to the poor condition of the sea because it is an ineffective radar system against cases in which the boats are small and "there is a lot of waves"
"The SIVE, which works magnificently well, has a problem when there is a lot of waves and the boats are very small", Rubalcaba said in response to questions from several spokespersons after indicating that last year the implementation of this system in the Archipelago was completed with eight new sensor stations in the Western Islands.
"The waves themselves cover what is a superficial view of the sea, that is the reason they have given me and it seems quite convincing," he said, explaining the information that had been provided to him about the accident by those responsible for border control.
In this sense, he also indicated in response to the PP's immigration spokesperson, Rafael Hernando, that this has also been the reason why in other occasions there have been shipwrecks of boats that have not been detected and after mentioning a shipwreck that occurred some time ago off the coast of Almería, he insisted that this is "the most sensible explanation" of what happened on Sunday without prejudice to the fact that more details may be known in the future.
On the other hand, Rubalcaba thanked the deputy of Coalición Canaria, José Luis Perestelo, for his willingness to dialogue on immigration matters and, after indicating that "there is still much to be done", he assured, with respect to his demand for dialogue between both administrations, that the Executive of which he is a part "has a good relationship" with the regional Government and "we hope that it will continue to have it".
