The deputy for the islands of Lanzarote and La Graciosa and insular president of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-bc), Yoné Caraballo, has traveled to the refugee camps of Tindouf (Algeria) to learn about the reality in which Saharawi women, men and children live after almost 50 years of the Moroccan invasion of the territory of Western Sahara.
In an expedition with different public officials from the Canary Islands, the deputy is verifying first-hand “the courage and strength of the Saharawi people in the face of a situation that has lasted almost 50 years, but that, contrary to dying, the people are still more alive than ever and with the hope of returning to their legitimate place.”
According to Caraballo, “given the dramatic situation of living in a refugee camp and practically having international aid as exclusive resources, the Saharawi people do not give up and try to continue with a political and social model that seeks to guarantee a certain Welfare State to its citizens.”
“I have been pleasantly surprised by the high awareness they have of the Welfare State, public services and the right to equality. With the few resources they have, they maintain an advanced network of public policies and do not deny continuing to strengthen it,” says Caraballo, who asks his health colleagues in the Canary Islands to visit Tindouf to “help train Saharawi health professionals who need not only material but also technical support.”
Another positive issue that Yoné Caraballo points out is the “high political and institutional presence of Saharawi women, with practically all the governors being women and representing 42% of their parliament.” Faced with this, the deputy “recognizes that he had a certain prejudice in terms of gender equality, which has been dismantled by seeing how political and community power is configured.”
Overall, Caraballo expresses his “recognition to the Saharawi people for their tireless struggle and their willingness to continue harboring the hope of returning to their original land.” In the same way, he points out that this visit has served to remember the stories and experiences that his grandfather told him about Western Sahara, about the Canarians who resided there, and about the historical and identity ties of two neighboring peoples.
“After this visit I see more clearly than ever the need for the Canary Islands to have a strong Canarianism that fights for its land, for its identity and for its autonomy against Spain's inertia to yield to Moroccan expansionist theses, and of a Government of the Canary Islands that for the first time turns its back on the Saharawi people,” says Yoné Caraballo.