Last Saturday, June 17, members of the Solidarity Network with migrants in Lanzarote paid tribute to the four victims of the shipwreck of their boat on the coast of Órzola two years ago, whose remains lie in the area reserved for people of the Muslim faith in the Teguise cemetery.
"In a simple and intimate meeting", the volunteers adorned their graves with flowers and read a text together to honor the memory of the victims and denounce migration policies before observing a minute of silence.
In the last five years, 7,865 people from Africa have lost their lives trying to reach the coasts of the Canary Islands, four people every day. The so-called "Canary route" has become the "deadliest" migratory route in the world. "It is undertaken by people who wish to migrate to Europe and cannot travel legally and safely," he adds.
"They cannot exercise their right to migrate, enshrined in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." "Because of policies that criminalize and dehumanize them, they are forced to risk their lives," the network says. "Thousands of human beings disappear at the bottom of the ocean." "Few bodies are recovered and can be buried with dignity. Last Saturday, the Network volunteers gathered around four graves to fight against oblivion."
Below, the text read in the cemetery during the tribute:
"They drowned in the sea of Órzola on the night of June 17, 2021, when the inflatable boat that was transporting them collided with the rocky coast of the north of the island of Lanzarote." "The neighbors of Órzola, illuminated with the flashlights of their telephones, did everything and more to save the 46 occupants of the zodiac that had just capsized a few hundred meters from their houses."
"Nabintou Diaby, from Ivory Coast, was 41 years old, had two children and wanted to reunite with her husband in France." "He himself had crossed the Mediterranean in 2017 and was the only survivor of the shipwreck of his boat."
"Namory Bamba was 8 years old." "She was traveling with her mother and her little brother, a baby." "Namory's body was found the day after the shipwreck.""Two other lives were taken that day, that of a woman and that of a man who could not be identified." "Their status as illegal immigrants did not expire even with their death: on the funeral plaques read "Undocumented 1" and "Undocumented 3", the last stigma of those who try to reach Europe without the required papers."
"Oblivion plays all its cards here: what little is known about these people is written on tape stuck on the simple plaques." "The information is quickly erased." "We don't know who they were but, somewhere, someone will miss them and want to know what happened to them." "We, from the Network, fight to protect their memory."
"That night of June 17, 2021, migration policies killed again on the coasts of Lanzarote." "It was not the first shipwreck." "In fact, in Órzola, just seven months earlier, they had already heard screams in the night." "They had already gone out to help the living and take the corpses out of the sea." "They had already seen how hearts full of dreams, illusions, longings had stopped beating here, on our coast."
"Borders kill." "Borders leave victims on both sides of the Canary route." "Lanzarote is a border territory and as such, it is the scene of the necropolitics that govern the current management of migration in Europe." "We are the hostages of repressive, racist and violent policies that do not represent us."
"We are not going to normalize people dying on our coasts." "We are not going to allow the victims of the borders to be forgotten." "We are not going to look the other way." "On the contrary, we look at reality head-on":
"Murders are being committed at the borders." "And from here in the Canary Islands, united with those who fight in Greece, in Melilla and in all the borders, we denounce and reject this crime against humanity."
"Today all our thoughts are directed towards the families of Nabintou, Namory and towards all the people who from the neighboring continent, are looking for a missing loved one." "With our hand on our heart, we send them all our support."
"No more deaths, neither on the coasts, nor in the sea, nor in the desert nor on the fences. Legal and safe migration routes now!"
