An old aircraft carrier that was once a gala of the French Navy and today turned into a colossal mountain of toxic and radioactive material that supposes a considerable environmental risk denounced by authorities of different countries and not a few non-governmental organizations has been walking since yesterday through the corridor of international waters between the islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura towed by another ship without finally stating what its destination will be, even if it passes through a port in the Mediterranean Sea, towards which it is heading.
The aircraft carrier in question gave in its time honor and prestige to the always proud Gallic homeland, as it is one of the Clemenceau class built, in honor of the historical politician of that country who was prime minister of the country’s Third Republic Trans-Pyrenean, but today it is nothing more than a monumental conglomerate of Scrap not at all convenient for the environment, since, as the aforementioned environmental NGOs denounce, it carries material as toxic as several tens of tons of asbestos with which it was built in those times when the so-called asbestos was used even in schools, but also residues from its participation in nuclear tests carried out by France in the Pacific Ocean (although also in Algeria and whose isotopes are still detected among the tiny particles that the haze brings to the Canary Islands from the Sahara, happily in this case without danger to the population).
Just yesterday, a Dutch-flagged tug hired by a company that took over this aircraft carrier, first named Foch and, after being sold to Brazil, it was called Aerodrome Sao Paulo and then Nao Sao Paulo, it sailed at the slow pace that dragging such cargo between international waters such as those between two of the largest Canary Islands, very close to one of the main economic engines of the Archipelago such as the south of Gran Canaria.
The current regulations, derived from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea identified by Montego Bay (Jamaica), the place where it was signed, limit all types of action by the Spanish authorities despite the existing risk, as explained last night to DIARY OF NOTICES port authorities, who did not hesitate to point out that, knowing the characteristics of such peculiar transport, they have been denied any authorization to dock at any Canarian port, taking into account the logical precautions involved in this kind of environmental ‘bomb’ which, unfortunately, , stalks the Islands right now.
All kinds of sources consulted by this newspaper, including the Brazilian authorities, who consider that this disastrous convoy should never have set sail as the Last day 4, until the Turks, a priori destination of the same and that it has already announced that it does not intend to authorize its docking in any port of its country. Unofficial sources also pointed out last night that the old aircraft carrier has not changed her course and is still on her way to the Mediterranean Sea because she is now waiting to be scrapped on a Greek island, an end to be confirmed in any way.
But the most important thing is reflected in the communication that NGOs such as the Belgian NGO Schipbreaking Platform and the American Basel Action Network sent on the 8th to the Government of Spain and which is in the possession of this newspaper, whose objective is for our country to prevent the old Gallic aircraft carrier from passing through the Strait of Gibraltar, given that it lacks sufficient power to do so in the Canary Islands.
Specifically, the letter explains that, on the one hand, the aircraft carrier breaches the international treaty signed in Barcelona back in 1975 for the protection of the Mediterranean because there are still tons of asbestos in it, as Greenpeace denounced in 2006, but also, beware , radioactive waste resulting from the nuclear tests carried out by France in the Pacific Ocean from the mid-sixties of the last century onwards, especially in not a few tons of cadmium used as paint for protection, approximately 170. They also denounce ecologists that the immense ship that concerns us carries almost 650 tons of heavy materials whose discharge into the ocean would be catastrophic, 20 of them especially or highly toxic, depending on the chosen translation. Nobody is unaware that, we must insist, we are facing a real ecological time bomb whose waste continues to be a hot potato that no country wants to take responsibility for.
There is also the fact that when the Dutch tugboat set sail from Brazil on the 4th pulling the old French aircraft carrier, it did so despite the refusal to do so by a federal judge from that country, who acted accordingly and as a preventive measure, although not for environmental reasons. but for the sake of an organization that under the name of Emerson Miura claimed the conservation of the ship for its historical value. In this regard, it should be noted that the Foch was bought by Brazil from France despite its obvious decline in 2000 and that, after suffering two fires and although it was requested that the ship be modernized -which could have allowed it to provide service until the end of from the 2030s-, it was decided to withdraw it and sell it instead. In 2017, the Brazilian Navy decided to remove it from service, and now it is walking around the Canary Islands.
It is requested that he be stopped in Gibraltar
A letter in the possession of DIARY OF NOTICES It proves that the Belgian NGO NGO Schipbreaking Platform and the American Basel Action Network contacted the Ministry of Ecological Transition on the 8th to warn of the serious environmental risk posed by the transit of the old French aircraft carrier through Spanish waters. Of course, given that the Canary Islands are still unable to protect their waters, the warning refers to the imminent passage of this environmental ‘bomb’ through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Monitored by island authorities
There they have the capture of the international maritime traffic service that informs about the position of each ship by satellite control system. The highlight is the tugboat APL Center that pulls the old French aircraft carrier in a snapshot taken shortly after 5:00 p.m. yesterday. Port sources detailed last night that there is constant monitoring of the passage of this ship through waters near the Archipelago and that, under no circumstances, is it authorized for it to call at the island port.
The island waters, at the mercy of all pirates despite everything
The Canary Islands is not a state and therefore, according to the rules of International Maritime Law, it cannot require the Spanish State to control what happens in the waters that separate islands such as Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, where yesterday it circulated at a snail’s pace (maritimely speaking) a tugboat that pulls an antediluvian French aircraft carrier (militarily speaking) resold to Brazil and then repudiated by said authorities and that is loaded with toxic and radioactive materials of such danger that neither in that country nor in Turkey was it authorized to set sail, initial destination point for its scrapping, they want it to arrive. It is hoped that the improvement in relations between Spain and Morocco will finally make it possible to delimit the median with the Canary Islands, but the reality is that, right next to the main economic engines of the Archipelago, such as the tourist areas, those who impose their particular law are mafias such as human trafficking, which have turned this part of the Atlantic into a graveyard. Also, seen what has been seen, those that put the Canary Islands at risk in something as sensitive as the environment. Not to mention the continuous drug trafficking from the neighboring continent, incessant despite the commendable efforts of the State security forces and bodies, with its brutal impact on Canarian society.
