The magistrates Court of Instruction number 2 for San Bartolomé de Tirajana on Monday swiftly dismissed proceedings initiated by the mayor of Mogán Town Council, who filed complaints regarding the migrant situation on the Aguineguín harbour, which has made headlines around the world.
Following the judge’s in-person visual inspection at the Red Cross camp last Friday, judicial authorities declared that the facts described in the Mogán Town Hall’s denuncia (complaint) does “not meet the characteristics of the crime for which it is filed” making clear that in the absence of the actual conduct it described, it could lead to no other outcome than the case having to be dismissed without even being heard “since it is understood that the denounced facts are not relevant for criminal purposes” in the given situation.
Images © El Sur Digital GC Bueno, swiftly dismissed
The investigating judge highlighted, in her order to dismiss the complainant’s case, that during her visit to the port it was “clear” that the situation in which the migrants find themselves at the Arguineguín pier is “deplorable”.
The mayor of Mogán, Ms Onalia Bueno, had postured in front of the main southern courthouse, clutching the pile of legal papers, for several photographers and other press, on October 28 to denounce, in her own words, the “subhuman conditions” that she claimed existed in the port of Mogán.
The case is closed. There will be no further action on that front.
There are some, in knowledge of the facts, who may question the humanitarian motivations of this particular southern mayor.
Mayor Bueno, who has marched for the cameras through the streets of Arguineguín, alongside hundreds of protesters publicly expressing, in many cases, fiercely xenophobic statements about irregular migration, while herself appearing to insist she is no racist, but a concerned realist.
Mayor Onalia whose first response to hundreds of migrants being summarily marched by police out of her “camp of shame”, and left in the streets, last week, was to quickly organise coaches to transport them away from her town, assisted by at least one known far-right activist, only to then unceremoniously leave the poor wretches in a Las Palmas city square, without further guidance, resources or plan. This led to local residents spontaneously showing up, with food and water, in solidarity with the abandoned individuals, before a remedy was found. Up to 80 of whom are now thought to be sleeping rough in the island capital.
The mayoress who the day following her arrest as part of a Guardia Civil investigation into alleged electoral fraud and other irregularities, deflected attention the very next morning with a press briefing down at the port, shamelessly implying that her criticism of the Spanish State’s handling of the migrants had directly led to her arrest.
There will be plenty more observers, however, who simply question how hard it could have really been to correctly describe a “deplorable” situation, in full view, repeatedly grabbing the attention of an entire population, along with the world’s press who have been sent daily to cover the story of that 400m sq dockside which has accommodated, at times, more than 2,000 people, forced to sit and sleep in crowded conditions on tarmac, in some cases for 15 days at a time, sharing a portaloo with up to 200 of their unhappy companions.
Any observer has to wonder exactly what crime it was the Mogán legal team were engaged in accusing the Spanish Government of having committed, and how it could have been so swiftly dismissed.
It seems clear that time and money has been wasted, though we do have some mildly interesting images published of a workaday mayor, herself under ongoing investigation, standing pyrrhically outside a courthouse. We venture that these may not be the last such images we see.
No, no Bueno. No tan bueno.
Edward Timon .:.
