The president and vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo and Manuel Domínguez, have made a call of supplication to the Government of Spain and the European Union after the shipwreck of a canoe on the island of El Hierro, in which nine people have died and fifty are missing: “We are in a situation of humanitarian crisis in capital letters. We need help, the Canarian people need help, they need “that helps those who come looking for a better life and we cannot bear this pressure anymore.”
This was stated in statements to the media after several members of the Canarian government were urgently summoned in response to the humanitarian tragedy that occurred this morning near the coast of El Hierro, after a canoe capsized, in order to gather all the information about what happened and reinforce all the services that depend on the autonomous community because “unfortunately, just as we knew was going to happen and we had warned, “Things are going to go wrong.”
Fernando Clavijo and Manuel Domínguez wanted to regret this “sad tragedy” and added: “It is unlikely that we will be able to rescue more bodies in the next few hours, although work continues on the ground, but it will be in the next 2-3 days when, due to the circumstances of fraction and others, corpses may appear “according to the currents, probably further to the east of the archipelago”.
Likewise, they wanted to convey their support to all the Maritime Rescue personnel, the State security forces and bodies, local police and Regional Police, volunteers, the Red Cross and the population of the island of Hierro, who “they have turned to this circumstance once again, giving the Canarian people and the public security and emergency services a sample of the professionalism and stoicism with which they have been supporting, for a long time now, a workload, a physical, work and emotional pressure that is address this sad reality that we are having to live”.
He also wanted to thank the president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóowho “contacted and sent a WhatsApp”; to Minister Torres, who “has also made himself available” to the Government of the Canary Islands, and to the Secretary of Justice, who also contacted the Minister of the Presidency, Nieves Lady Barreto, for the purposes of the autopsies that must be carried out on the bodies. who have been rescued, “because the problems in El Hierro are logistical.
Fernando Clavijo explained that, until September 15, The Canary Islands have registered the arrival of 26,758 immigrantsmore than the same period last year, which was a record. He added that the Atlantic Route continues to be the most dangerous in the world, since every 45 minutes a migrant dies trying to reach our coasts, a situation that “must serve us all in the immediate and urgent search for an agreement that will allows this phenomenon to be adequately managed”.
“We cannot resign ourselves to this being just another sad event, we need public administrations to find those meeting spaces and agree with agility and serenity because in the coming months this is going to get worse. It is our responsibility to give an immediate response to a management that has to be much better, much more appropriate and much more civilized because the Canarian people deserve it and also those who, fleeing hunger and death, seek the coasts,” said the Canarian president.
Clavijo took advantage of his intervention to thank the vice president of the Government “not only for the collaboration and the exercise of always being there, but also for the ease with which we connect at any time, get down to work and try to face it with integrity and with serenity this phenomenon”. He also insisted that Today is a very sad day for everyone. but also for the Canary Islands and for those of us who dedicate ourselves to politics, because this is further evidence that we are failing and we cannot afford it.”
A “bitter” day
For his part, Manuel Domínguez has shared that today he is a “bitter daya day in which, those of us who have entered politics voluntarily to help people, understand that what is being done is not fulfilling its objective.” He added that this new tragedy is a reflection of “a crisis situation “humanitarian in capital letters”, so he begged all administrations for help: “We need help, the Canary Islands people need help, those who come looking for a better life need that help and we cannot bear this pressure anymore.”
The Canary Islands vice president indicated that the effort “has to be carried out in the transit countries or in the countries of origin to prevent these people from leaving in search of a better life and constantly risking their lives.” He insisted that this is a moment in which he hopes “it shakes the conscience of many peoplepolitics is agitated so that all the pertinent agreements are reached and, above all, so that it allows us to carry out that effective and efficient policy that, after all, is what we are pursuing.”
Domínguez admitted that the Government of the Canary Islands He no longer knows what else to do to make those who have to make decisions on immigration policy see that this help is pertinent and urgent.” “We extremely need help for the Canary Islands in a situation like this.” He hopes that “if Lampedusa’s cry was heard outside the borders and everything that was pertinent was activated from the European Union to be able to help them, the cry of the Canary Islands is also heard today (…) and makes everyone understand the difficulties we are experiencing up to this moment” .
Asked when the meetings between the Government of Spain, the Canary Islands Executive and the PP will take place to try to unblock the reform of the Immigration Law, Fernando Clavijo acknowledged that “There is no date for the agreement.” He wanted to make it clear that the Government of the Canary Islands will continue working and insisting that this agreement can be reached soon and he hoped that next week this “can give a push and move forward.” “Time is on us. Every 45 minutes that it takes us to look for that meeting space, every 45 minutes that we do not do everything in our power to avoid these tragedies, they are dead, they are people whose aspirations and dreams are cut short. dreams of a better life and who perish in the sea”.
