The Canarii magazine presented its latest issue in Lanzarote. A monograph dedicated to the relations between the Canary Islands and the Sahara. The event took place at the Sociedad Democracia in Arrecife, and was attended by about thirty people, including some Saharawis.
The presentation was attended by the magazine's editorial advisor, José Parrilla Curbelo, and its coordinator, Michel Jorge Millares, who gave an overview of the five-year history of this magazine, "a benchmark, being the only publication in Spain that disseminates history from the local level".
In this sense, Michel Jorge Millares highlighted three aspects of the publication. The disparity, for having addressed all kinds of topics, from sports and economics to gender violence; the temporality, for having talked about all stages of history; and the territoriality, for having addressed information from all the islands of the Canary Islands.
Issue 21 of the magazine shows through various perspectives the relations between the Canary Islands and the Sahara of which, in Millares' opinion, "we know almost everything". Thus, through a dozen articles, fishing and economic relations between the two territories are addressed. There is also an article dedicated to the first construction in the Sahara, the fort of Mar Pequeña, built by Diego de Herrera, one of the conquerors of the Canary Islands. It also analyzes the Franco era, "where relations between the Canary Islands and the Sahara were greater".
This monograph also discusses the "lamentable" decolonization that the Sahara has experienced and that "has left an open wound, becoming the longest-lasting conflict the UN has had". "An occupation has developed, which has only served to separate a good part of the Saharawi population, which has remained in the refugee camps," says Millares.
The journalist also highlighted "the natural resources" of the Sahara, although he specified that it is necessary to resolve the conflict through a referendum "so that the Saharawis can decide their future".