The Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Carolina Darias, insists that the Civil Guard report on the operation of the SIVE (Integrated External Surveillance System) in Lanzarote on the afternoon of February 15, is "sufficiently explanatory, credible and convincing." The events set forth in an internal report of the Armed Institute on the details of the agents' actions on the afternoon when a boat sank and 25 immigrants died, do not give rise, according to Darias, to consider that there was human or technical failure.
Darias, who made these statements at the end of the presentation of the 060 Network held in the capital of Gran Canaria, was convinced of the veracity of the facts contained in the report prepared by the Civil Guard, and therefore "there will be no investigation", contrary to what the Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, maintained this Wednesday, although he objected that it would be investigated based on official opinions, and not on "leaks".
However, and against the first version in which she assured that the SIVE had not detected the boat, now the government delegate confirms that there were warnings, but "the typical signs" of the arrival of a boat to the coast "were not given. The first echo detected by the radar occurred at "1.4 miles from the coast, a very novel fact due to its proximity to land and which suggests that it may be a boat that instead of approaching, is moving away from the coast." Darias added that "the course of the boat was not the usual one either, since it first went northwest, then south, stopped and resumed its march."
The conclusion of the Armed Institute's report says "in its entirety", Darias pointed out, that "the SIVE detected an echo that could correspond to the shipwrecked boat, but due to the place, time and state of the sea, the sensitivity of the radar decreased. This caused it to detect the echo of the boat intermittently, so the operator estimated that these indications were not sufficient to consider that the boat was suspicious."
The delegate insisted on her "total confidence" in the action of the State Security Forces, "whose main mission is to save lives" and asked that "no one doubt it." The shipwreck of this boat "is a tragic event that affects us all", but the SIVE, is "one more of those available to monitor the coasts, with its actions and limitations", she concluded.
Darias acknowledged that the system "can be improved", but it will have to be the agents and technicians who determine the necessary improvements.
ACN Press
