The European Commission (EC) is aware of the increase in migratory flows to the Canary Islands in recent weeks and “monitors” the situation, said this Monday the community spokesperson for the Interior, Anitta Hipper.
“We have seen an increase in arrivals. States are closely monitoring the situation,” said the community spokesperson at the institution’s daily press conference.
The unprecedented migratory surge since 2020 in recent weeks in the Canary Islands continued this weekend and left scenes such as two hundred sub-Saharan migrants sleeping on a dock due to the lack of space in reception centers.
Last Friday alone, more than a thousand migrants of sub-Saharan origin arrived in the Canary Islands in thirteen cayucos, of which six arrived on the island of El Hierro, four on the island of Tenerife and another three on the island of Gran Canaria, according to Salvamento sources. Maritime.
The island of El Hierro, the smallest and western island of the Canary archipelago, located more than 1,000 kilometers from the African coast, became the destination of many of these precarious boats that arrive overcrowded in the last week, also transporting many minors. .
The situation on this island of just over 11,000 inhabitants forced hundreds of migrants to be diverted to the neighboring and larger Tenerife.
