They are "outraged". The Canary Islands victims of terrorism state that it was not the politicians, and in the case of Lanzarote, the senator of the PSOE Marcos Hernández, who have achieved that this condition is recognized, but it has been the Canary Association of Victims of Terrorism (ACAVITE) the only one "that has helped them at all times." They have also been supported by the general directorate of support for victims of terrorism of the Ministry of Interior.
Both the relatives of those killed in the attack against the fishing boat "Cruz del Mar" as well as in other attacks against Canarians in the former Spanish Sahara assure that they were already recognized as victims of terrorism, but that now, with the new law that was ratified in the Senate, they will be able to receive aid and social benefits in education, housing, reservation in public employment, as well as equalizations in compensation "retroactively". This new law does recognize for the first time as victims the three survivors of the "Cruz del Mar".
In the Canary Islands there are more than 300 victims of terrorism and, many of them, are represented by ACAVITE. "They are the only ones who have stood up for us, presenting amendments in the Congress and the Senate, working for real and not like the politicians who then want to take credit," says one affected person, referring to the [senator of the PSOE, Marcos Hernández, who assures that "he doesn't even know him".->59655]
"The victims have not been helped by either this senator from the PSOE, nor the one from the PP, Loly Luzardo," although they appreciate that the PSOE and the PP "have raised their hands at the last minute due to party discipline to approve this law." Another of those affected states that the president of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero, "promised two years ago to pass a Canarian law that would recognize them," and he hasn't even "received them yet."
One of these victims, M.H., lost five relatives in the "Cruz del Mar." The only politician who says he "lent a hand" was the former senator Cándido Armas, who managed to have this family recognized as victims of terrorism in 2001, when they began to receive compensation. "It is not now when this condition has been recognized as Marcos Hernández says," she denounces.
Next to her, S.P. sits, who lost a relative in an attack in Fos-Bucraa, in the Sahara. "I was declared a victim a year ago," she explains. "Finally, and thanks to ACAVITE, we have justice and dignity, because it is enough that they humiliate us," says one of these victims in tears. "We have been alone for many years. It has been more than 30 years of struggle for some politicians to come now and take credit," indicates another affected person.
