The national general secretary of the Canarian Coalition, Fernando Clavijo, made a call this Friday in Lanzarote "to the responsibility and sensitivity of Spain and Europe" to stop the deaths that are being recorded on the Canarian route, described as the most dangerous in the world.
Clavijo, who held a working agenda with officials from the Red Cross on the Island and Emerlan, Association of Emergency and Rescue Volunteers of Lanzarote, in which the secretary of the nationalist formation on the Island, Midalia Machín, and the national executive secretary of Migration, Oswaldo Betancort, participated, criticized "the abandonment and contempt of the administrations of both the State and the Government of the Canary Islands" in the midst of a tragic resurgence of the migratory crisis that has already left almost 500 dead and has increased the arrival of migrants by 150% compared to last year", when 24,000 people arrived to the Islands in a small boat or canoe.
The leader of the Canarian nationalists referred to the 2,800 unaccompanied minors under the tutelage of the Government of the Canary Islands and the lack of collaboration from a State that "attends to other territories such as Ceuta while abandoning the Canary Islands." "We think it is good that President Pedro Sánchez and a delegation of ministers traveled to Ceuta to collaborate and manage the migratory crisis, but what about the Canary Islands? Why is the humanitarian drama not addressed here? Why does the State leave this land alone with the reception of 2,800 boys and girls who have to be educated, to whom dignified attention must be given?".
In this context, the national general secretary of CC warned that "unfortunately, we are seeing today that the forecasts of NGOs and entities that have warned that we are facing a crisis much worse than the one experienced last year in the Islands are being fulfilled, and we are doing so with a president of the Government of the Canary Islands who is neither here nor expected, who does not appear when islands like Lanzarote face a new wave of small boats and canoes alone and, what is worse, of deaths of innocent people who have risked their lives in search of a better future".
Fernando Clavijo denounced the lack of sensitivity and contempt of the president of the State, Pedro Sánchez, "on vacation just a few days ago on this Island, a vacation that he was unable to interrupt when a small boat sank a few kilometers from the Palacio de la Mareta and in which several people lost their lives." "Not only is there no political will, but there is no commitment, what there is -he insisted- is contempt and abandonment of the Canary Islands." Clavijo appealed to the same responsibility of the state government with the conflict in Afghanistan. "We think it is good and we support Spain's involvement in the repatriation of Afghan collaborators and refugees, but it is not justifiable that they save lives in Afghanistan while allowing hundreds of people to lose their lives in this part of Europe and, what is worse, do nothing to prevent it."
The secretary of the Canarian Coalition of Lanzarote, Migdalia Machín, pointed out in this regard that the people who arrive to the Island and the Canary Islands from the African continent "do so also fleeing from armed conflicts, hunger and misery. They are people who decide to risk everything and who in many occasions, more and more often unfortunately, lose everything, even their lives." At this point, she appealed to "responsibility" and demanded "measures, planning and protocols to prevent the repetition of past mistakes and for this land to stop feeling abandoned by the administrations", in reference to the Governments of the Canary Islands, Spain and Europe.
For his part, the national executive secretary of Migration, Oswaldo Betancort, insisted on the need for Spain and Europe to "dictate migration policies" capable of responding to this humanitarian drama. He also reproached the "submissive" attitude of the Government of the Canary Islands "despite the fact that this land has been in a critical situation for a long time." "We are seeing at this moment that we have not learned anything from the very recent past, and I say it here, in Lanzarote, on an island that has been waiting for two years for the Comprehensive Exterior Surveillance System, SIVE, without infrastructures to welcome so many people and that has demanded the Government of the Canary Islands to take action."
Betancort described as a failure the management of a Canarian Government that "despite sharing political color with that of the Government of Spain is not able to get a single commitment to face this humanitarian emergency."