Complicated night on the Canary route. After risking their lives on the Atlantic odyssey, the nearly 200 people who arrived at Tenerife irregularly between Friday and early yesterday they had to sleep their first night on land at the foot of the pier in Los Cristianos. The Concrete became a bed due to the saturation suffered by the reception and affiliation centers on the island. Some images that had not been observed since the migratory surge in 2020, when the port area of Arguineguinin Gran Canariahoused 1,261 people at ground level.
The rebound in arrivals to The iron, where 1,983 migrants have landed since Tuesday –90 yesterday–, is also taking its toll on the neighboring island, which is the preferred destination for the transfers that are being carried out to decongest the accommodation resources of El Hierro. On Friday, hours before the collapse in the municipality of Arona, they had been referred from the meridian island about 500 arrived in an irregular situation.
That day – Friday – the Archipelago experienced an unprecedented peak since the migratory crisis that occurred during the pandemic. In a single day, thirteen boats touched the Canary Islands with 1,169 people on board, to which must be added those sighted yesterday, five with 286. According to sources from the emergency services, the 93 occupants of the last cayuco sighted on Friday in waters near Tenerife and the 121 who were there in the early morning yesterday could be the migrants who had to cover themselves with blankets to withstand the night cold of the port.
The mayor of Arona, Fátima Lemes, explained yesterday that the council’s resources cannot cope with the pace of irregular landings. “We are assigning Local Police agents to this emergency and neglecting other needs, such as the security of a municipality with so much tourism,” she stressed.
He is concerned that migrants are not being provided with decent humanitarian care, as well as the image that is being given to visitors. And the beach where those who come to enjoy their holidays bathe is also the arrival point for those who risk their lives in the Atlantic.
The ships that make the connection between the capital island and El Hierro dock and set sail at this port. La Gomera and The Palma service that according to the City Council has not been affected by the migratory phenomenon.
The councilor also emphasized that the corporation feels “abandoned” by the State, which is responsible for adults in an irregular situation. “Madrid is not taking into account that we are islands, that we lack human and technical resources for a situation of this magnitude, which completely exceeds our capabilities,” she stressed.
Clavijo sees it as “outrageous”
Along the same lines, it was stated president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who yesterday described as “outrageous” what happened at the aronero landing site and the passivity of the central government in the face of the lack of space in the reception centers, but sources from the Ministry of Inclusion have specified to EFE that there are places. They affirm that the Tenerife network has space and point out that the problem is the lack of places in the Temporary Care Centers for Foreigners (CATE), where the newly arrived are up to a maximum of 72 hours for the first affiliation procedures. police.
Apart from the cayuco that arrived yesterday morning at the Los Cristianos dock with 121 people, they also managed to sight the four coast on this same island, El Hierro and Fuerteventura. Meridian Island received one at dawn with 80 people inside and another early in the morning with 10 men. Meanwhile, a few kilometers from the Majorero enclave, one with 53 was intercepted. The last one of the day was located south of Punta Rasca with 22 occupants and taken to Los Cristianos by Maritime Rescue.
A slight decrease after the migratory frenzy on Friday that continues to leave El Hierro as the nerve center of the Canary Islands route. Since Tuesday, a number of people in an irregular situation equivalent to 18% of its population –11,154– have arrived in this enclave.
To free up the strained accommodation resources on the island, yesterday another 584 adult migrants were transferred from the port of La Estaca to Tenerife on a boat chartered by the central government. On that dock, the president of the Island Council, Alpidio Armas, reproached the regional Executive for not having the same agility as the State for the referral of unaccompanied minors. He noted that the children and adolescents who remain on the island are being cared for “in the way they can,” which is “not at all convenient,” and in resources that are not appropriate “to accommodate anyone.”
Some criticisms that the leader of the island socialists delved into, Angel Victor Torreswhich demanded that Clavijo and his PP partners in the Government exercise their influence “and knock on the doors” of other autonomies so that they agree to take care of part of the migrant minors who have arrived in Canary Islands. Right now, the Archipelago alone protects more than 3,000.
Since the beginning of the increase in boats at the beginning of August, the Ministry of Social Welfare, which declared a social emergency this week to expedite procedures and care for unaccompanied minors, assures that it has transferred 333 from El Hierro to the capital islands. In a statement released yesterday, the area headed by Candelaria Delgado indicates that after the outbreak of the crisis policy and social in Senegal, 573 children and young people have arrived in La Restinga, of which 240 remain in El Hierro. He clarifies that the Ministry is opening emergency devices on other islands and that next week they plan to refer at least 100 to meet the objective of only around 50 remaining on the island.
