El Hierro faces these weeks an increase in migrant arrivals by boat, which has broken the downward trend recorded this year. The situation on the southernmost island of the Canary archipelago led to the convening of an Interministerial Immigration Commission, to declare a Migratory Emergency on the islands and to allocate fifteen million to provide more places and speed up transfers to the mainland.
"People who talk about invasion have not read what invasion means," emphasizes the president of the Cabildo of El Hierro, Alpidio Armas (PSOE), during an interview on the morning show Buenos días, Lanzarote on Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
Armas has once again taken to the media spotlight due to the increase in arrivals of cayucos to the island in recent weeks, a reality that has been amplified by the instrumentalization of migration during the election campaign.
Over the past weekend, 1,300 people arrived in precarious boats in the archipelago, most of them to this small island with 12,000 registered inhabitants. When arrivals increase unexpectedly and are concentrated in a short period of time, the speed of transfers to Tenerife or Gran Canaria and from there to the mainland is crucial to avoid overcrowding of refugees.
"If we have transfer capacity to Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the impact on El Hierro is much less," explains Armas, who points out that once there is capacity in the centers of the capital islands, it is easier to speed up transfers and maintain available space for more arrivals, and when this does not happen, it is when resources are strained. After these transfers are expedited, a thousand migrants remain on the island.
At the same time, he points out that he requested in the interministerial commission, to which he was invited by Minister Ángel Víctor Torres, that a field hospital be set up at the CATE of El Hierro to alleviate the island's hospital.
"98% of El Hierro's population does not see them"
"An invasion must involve a forced entry with weapons and violence, it must have the intention of occupying a territory" and "there must be a military organization, an army," explains Alpidio Armas, who warns that an invasion cannot be confused with the arrival of people in an irregular situation because that arrival puts pressure on the reception system's capacity.
Despite the visibility of the arrivals of migrant people at the port of La Restinga through social networks and the media, the president of El Hierro defends that the agility of the transfers prevents the survivors of the Canary route from spending much time on the island. "Salvamar will look for the people, take them to the pier of La Restinga, they will be triaged, taken to the CATE of San Andrés, their identification will be done, they will be transferred to Tenerife via ferry and 98% of the population of El Hierro will not even see them or know they are here," he adds. On the southernmost island, the journeys in precarious boats are longer than the crossings that reach Lanzarote, which is reflected in the transfers to the emergency room.
The Hierro leader defends that Canarians have emigration in their DNA. "We Hierro people have all been, in one way or another, our parents, our grandparents, in South America," he recalls. "We Hierro people are solidary, empathetic and we try to ensure that the people we receive, the people who come here looking for a better life, during the time they are in El Hierro, 12, 24 hours, have a broth, have a tea, etc.".
Despite this reality, Alpidio Armas denounces that "there are parties that make use of these circumstances to obtain electoral gains." In his case, as a candidate for the Senate for the PSOE on the island for the general elections, he rejects the use of migration as an electoral banner.
Listen to the full interview on Radio Lanzarote
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