Category: Demonstration
Latest Gran Canaria News, Views & Sunshine
The Canary Guide #WeekendTips 24-26 March 2023
Plum tree blossoming in Tenteniguada March 2023
It’s the last weekend of March already and Spring is here; winter is behind us and the summer weather is already hotting up on Gran Canaria. The hillsides are in full bloom, particularly up in the mountain summits; it’s Carnival Weekend in Arguineguín and the last of the carnival festivities for this year are happening around the island. With summer just around the corner, clocks Spring forward this Saturday and Sunday night when 1am becomes 2am 🕐. On the north of the island, one of the biggest seasonal trade fairs is happening, gathering produce and people from 11 municipalities, ENORTE will be celebrated in the historic Rum capital of the island, Arucas, this weekend.
Gran Canaria Weather: Temperatures of 31ºC in the shade and slight calima as we head towards a warm spring weekend
Its a perfect Gran Canaria springtime weekend ahead with light calima sands blowing in from the Sahara, temperatures in the shade of 31ºC, light breezes and blue skies. Remember too the clocks spring forward by an hour this weekend.
Illegal Trafficking: President of Gran Canaria “Animal Welfare” Association Investigated for Falsifying Export Certificates and Suspected Mistreatment of Animals
A rogue individual, living on Gran Canaria and operating an unlicensed and unregistered facility supposedly dedicated to animal welfare, has been referred by the Guardia Civil to the Canarian justice system for illegal trafficking and documentary falsification of certificates required for the safe transport of animals into the UK. The operation, she has run for nearly a decade, is suspected of collecting around a quarter of a million euros for this activity in just one 18 month period, keeping large numbers of unregistered animals in inadequate conditions, and illegally transporting animals from the island, without proper zoosanitary checks, across Europe by air, sea and land, destined for recipients in the United Kingdom.
Between January 2021 and October 2022, the investigated Association irregularly exported 482 dogs to the United Kingdom
The president of the Association falsified export certificates and presented them to the UK authorities.
Leaked documents raise further concerns about welfare in proposed Las Palmas octopus farm that would be first of its kind in the world
The proposal by Spanish multinational Nueva Pescanova to create the world’s first commercial octopus farm on Gran Canaria has generated a great deal of controversy. The company aims to produce one million octopuses a year for consumption worldwide, three times the number currently caught in the wild by Spanish fisheries. However, the project has been condemned by many scientists who regard the proposed method of killing the octopuses as “cruel”. Confidential documents obtained by the BBC reveal that the creatures would be killed using water as cold as -3°C, which many experts believe would result in a slow and stressful death.
Three Men Detained, without bail, for An Alleged Gang Rape, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Hotel
Three men were arrested and charged with sexual assault after having allegedly gang-raped a young woman in a hotel, in the Santa Catalina area of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Thursday, March 16, 2023. The woman, who is 21 years old, reported the incident at the hotel’s reception, claiming that she had been raped by the men and could not remember anything after accepting a drink from them.
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Maritime Rescue operations have increased this week, with all indicators pointing to greater numbers attempting the crossing by boat in 2021
As the springtime arrives and the weather becomes less hostile, so The Canary Islands, and the 100km+ stretch of ocean separating us from the African coast, are likely once again to become the focus of Maritime Rescue operations in an increasing trend toward irregular migration that is good for no-one, not The Canary Islands, not the currently absent tourists, not the residents, not the governments, not the police, not the EU, and least of all, the migrants themselves. After last year’s huge increase in patera arrivals many had hoped we had already lived through the worst of a situation about which we were being forewarned as early as summer 2019.
Search and Rescue flight path on Wednesday
All the current indicators, however, point to a further increase in migrant arrivals this year, and even after Spain’s and Europe’s failure to properly prepare, and their subsequently inadequate response in 2020, many fear the worst is still yet to come. Gran Canaria’s Sasemar 103 Maritime Rescue (Salvamento Maritimo) aircraft have once more located boats adrift this week, the latest carrying about 40 people on board who were about 81.5 nautical miles (149 kilometres) southwest of Maspalomas (Gran Canaria). It follows the rescues of nearly 100 others, including women and children, in the preceding days, many of whom were in need of critical medical attention.
Salvamar de Salvamento Marítimo
Once found, the maritime rescue sent their Guardamar Concepción Arenal vessel to the area where the boat was located – a journey of about three hours to reach the exact point -, which also meant alerting a passing ship, which was in the area, the ‘Alicia’, to request they approach the migrant boat to help keep track of its movement and the people onboard. The prevailing currents in the area travel away from The Canary Islands, had they not been spotted they almost certainly would have perished in the open ocean as many do, without a trace, and without anyone ever knowing what has happened.
The maritime rescue Sasemar 103 has continued to search the stretch of water between Africa and the Canary Islands, Europes most dangerous migratory route, in the hope of locating any more boats that may be adrift, as this one was found only after several warnings about various vessels that have left the coast of Africa in recent days, although currently maritime rescuers do not know how many might still be found. Another one was rescued on Tuesday night not far from Gran Canaria.
Editor’s Thoughts:
While many oppose migration in open boats to The Canary Islands (practically no-one supports it) particularly following a 750% increase in arrivals during 2020, simply put, it is a fact that we are having to deal with. There is literally no way to stop people risking their lives unless we invest longterm in improving their situations in their countries of origin. Failure to do so is to simply accept that people in poverty will always try to find ways out of poverty. We need to help them do that, or they will try to find any way they can with or without us, and that means more arrivals without any control.
Indeed there are those who oppose any type of maritime rescue efforts to prevent loss of life, but really, is there anything anyone can do in the short to medium term to stop would-be migrants from getting into rickety boats, often overloaded and not fit for purpose, in their attempts to escape the effects of climate change, poverty, hardship, oppression and conflict in Africa? Those adrift that we don’t rescue are simply never heard from again. Their failure is simply no deterrent, just letting people die does not stop others from trying, as the information is never heard by others who, rightly or wrongly, think the potential improvement to their lives worth more than wasting away in the place they were born.
All indicators so far this year point to an even greater increase in maritime migration in 2021, with more than double last year’s numbers, the second highest number of arrivals in history, already having been registered during the first two and a half months of this year compared to the same period last year.
Anti-immigration protesters have focused on the temporary use of empty tourist hotels, as accommodation, in recent months, while internment camps were being constructed to try to deal with the large numbers who had already arrived. Almost all migrants that were briefly accommodated in otherwise empty hotels on the south of Gran Canaria have now been moved into camps to await deportation, or those with asylum claims (less than 10%) transferred to the mainland. A further protest against migrant arrivals has been organised for Saturday the 20th March, where organisers will attempt to create a “human chain”, asking participants to all dress in white, in order to try to send some sort of public message about their dissatisfaction concerning people trying to come here in the first place. The actual message behind the demonstration is not really very clear yet, though the event will apparently be filmed from a helicopter and so we are expecting a video production to subsequently make clear the organisers intentions.
While 23,023 individuals were recorded arriving by boat last year, all mostly stuck on the islands due to COVID restrictions closing down international travel, stopping repatriation or deportations, more than 17,000 of those arrived in the last four months of the year. There were many who feared that large numbers of people unable to continue on their journeys towards mainland Europe would result in mass criminality, however crime actually went down last year, with a total of just 122 crimes involving migrants having been recorded in the 80 days prior to January 20th, 65 of those being falsified documents, and another 45 of those related to “security” issues having resulted from altercations among the migrants themselves. While there have been some isolated cases of young migrants allegedly stealing booze from local businesses, and at least one accusation of serious sexual assault, all of which have resulted in immediate arrests and investigations, in general there has been little by way of trouble, with the exception of an occasional social media hoax, several false reports and a few would-be vigilantes with knives trying to present an atmosphere of mayhem, where there is none.
Irregular migrants, with nothing to do, and not allowed to leave the islands, have certainly been more visible, in the absence of any tourists for the last year. While many have few if any resources, there are those of them who have enough support to survive a few months. They receive no financial aid, and so quickly become dependent on the reception network, where they wait in hope, slowly realising that 90% or more of them will be told to return to their points of origin without ever getting to mainland Europe.
Small numbers of residents in the south have certainly felt less secure, many women report feeling intimidated by groups of young men hanging around the streets. However there have been very few actual incidents. To try to allay public fears, about 40 extra Policia Nacional were drafted in to police the situation more visibly, and 20 or so of our specialist Guardia Civil tactical response unit, GRS8 based on Tenerife, were posted twice to the south of the Gran Canaria to ensure a very visible presence on the streets, however they have primarily been relegated to traffic controls and stop and search duties. One GRS8 officer consulted (not an official spokesperson) directly told The Canary News “Right now we are mainly here to help Canarian citizens and foreign residents to feel safer. Though we have been called to isolated incidents, our skill sets have not been required, so we observe and make sure that we are visible to the population, carrying out patrols and traffic stops. There is not a serious security issue right now on Gran Canaria, it is more public relations to keep everyone calm.”
By far the biggest concern so far has been the handling of unaccompanied minors, more than 2,600 of whom are currently under the care of the regional government’s child protection services, with very little support having yet materialised from mainland Spain, with the exception of some extra finances, and wholly inadequate facilities being used to accommodate the youths among residents living in empty tourist resort towns.
Like it or lump it, we face an even larger influx of migrant arrivals this year, and therefore maritime rescue operations. Everyone, including Spain’s own recent Ombudsman’s report, agrees that the response has been wholly inadequate, and we as a society need to improve how we deal with the reality of something that cannot be easily stopped in the short term. We face the potential of a quickly growing crisis, primarily humanitarian, here on Europe’s southernmost maritime border, if Spain’s central government and the EU do not act quickly to ensure that this archipelago does not become a prison, for both irregular migrants, and residents alike over the coming months.
With growing unemployment and an economy in free fall we can expect more tension from the resident population who see increasing migration as an existential threat on top of so many other calamities over which they have little or no control. This will take a lot of energy and many years to effectively overcome, but right now we need to calmly deal with the realities of the situation. We either work together to get through it, or more angry voices, offering no real solutions, continue to polarise our communities.
Edward Timon.:. Editor
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Spain’s Ministry of Migration Cautiously Trumpet “Canary Islands Plan” To Accommodate Migrants In Camps For Processing
Spain’s Ministry for Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations have announced the opening of a warehouse, ceded temporarily by Bankia to the central government, in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria industrial estate of El Sebadal, next week, offering 500 places to accommodate migrant arrivals, to be managed by the Fundación Cruz Blanca. Several camps were announced in November, within the framework of what is known as the Canary Islands Plan, which is to be able to offer 7,000 bed spaces to accommodate migrant arrivals awaiting processing, on three islands: Gran Canaria (three camps), Tenerife (with two) and Fuerteventura (one), following the arrival of more than 23,000 individuals via the Atlantic Canary Route, throughout 2020.
This Friday a second camp for migrants on Tenerife has begun to operate, at the old Las Canteras military barracks, in La Laguna, providing 1,642 places, and managed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The use of the space has been unblocked following months of wrangling with the City Council of La Laguna, which ordered a stoppage of the works because “they did not comply with urban law.” These obstacles have now been overcome.
The Canarias Plan camps and places (*expandable places in Las Raíces). Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration
The Migration Ministry have confirmed that the provision of these places now allows for the freeing up other accommodation facilities, such as hotels, “which temporarily served as an emergency reception resource.” And, “as the schedule is fulfilled, for referrals to all resources already operational within the Canary Islands Plan” so they will proceed “to the definitive closure of these temporary sites.”
In a statement, the Migrations ministry explained that up until February 15, 761 workers (437 direct care workers and 323 basic and auxiliary services employees) have been hired to manage the camps, a figure that will increase with the opening of the new sites. Specifically, they indicate that, on Tenerife, the public company Tragsa has hired 250 people and has required the services of a total of 65 companies to carry out the works at the Las Raices and Las Canteras sites.
On Tenerife, the Las Raíces macrocamp, 1,000m above sea level, began to receive migrants on February 5, when a hundred people were transferred, during a snow alert, when temperatures had dropped to just 8ºC. This led to initial refusals to enter. Since then, however, more than 600 people are now staying at this space with each of the tents sleeping at least a dozen people. There is a general lack of information about their future and the conditions at some of the reception centres have led migrants to organise protests outside this old army barracks.
Demonstrations have also taken place at a camp located in the old León school, in the capital of Gran Canaria, in a neighbourhood known as El Lasso, where migrants at one point held up banners to protest against the de facto blockade, and their fear of deportation. At the old Canarias 50 Regiment’s barracks, in the original neighbourhood of La Isleta, in the capital, heavy rains at one point caused sewage to flow right through accommodations and some of the people inside threatened to start a hunger strike. There have also been transfers to the El Matorral camp, on Fuerteventura, a space located on a plot of the old CIE Foreigners Internment Centre, which has capacity for a further 700 people.
The Ministry say they have ensured that all operations have been overseen by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), “which has supervised strict compliance with international reception standards.” In addition, in November they provided “a unit dedicated exclusively to migration coordination on the islands, in order to carry out continuous monitoring.”
During this last week of February, the General Director for Inclusion and Humanitarian Attention, María Teresa Pacheco, visited Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura, and held meetings with Spain’s Government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, with local entities, NGO managers of resources and neighbourhood associations.
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Spain’s Government Delegate is committed to processing irregular migrants legally and correctly
Spain’s Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, on Friday strongly refuted Cabildo de Gran Canaria President Antonio Morales’s suggestion that the Spanish State might be trying to turn Gran Canaria into a “prison so that migrants do not reach the continent”.
Pestana repeated his commitment to prioritise repatriations, returns and expulsion for all irregular arrivals who cause problems, or are involved in any type of criminality or violence. He also, once again, made clear that organisers of illegal protest gatherings, such as those that have occurred, or been attempted, over recent days and weeks on the island, will lead to fines or other enforcement measures.
The delegate, who represents Spanish Central Government here on the islands, makes clear that referrals to other regions of Spain have been hindered due to the current restrictions in place to deal with the pandemic response. Now, he pointed out, with improving control of the epidemiological situation “little by little capacities will be increased.”
After meeting separately with the mayors of both of Gran Canaria’s main southern tourism zones last week, where he announced increased deployments of police and Guardia Civil to help reassure the resident populations, Pestana has focused not only on perceptions of crime, but lamented the various increases in expressions of hatred and xenophobic outbursts that have been taking place in some sections of Canarian society. The Government Delegate stressed the importance the Spanish Government has placed on correctly processing migrant arrivals because “the more repatriation capacity we have, the sooner we will advance toward normality and [reduce] the pressure on the island, which has always been a welcoming land”.
Spain’s Government Delegate emphasised that migrants who misbehave will be repatriated, whether it is due to problems in the reception centres, or any type of criminality such as robbery or violence. In direct reference to deportations and detentions in Foreigner Interment Centres (Centros de Internamiento de Extranjeros) Pestana makes clear “Some have been directly repatriated and others have been transferred to the CIEs” facing charges or pending expulsion.
Pestana rejected the spread of “hoaxes and false accusations” pointing out that there are clearly some people who seem to be interested “in hate speech.”
As for the claims of a de facto blockade, made this week by some migrants, and their legal representatives, encountered by those who try to fly to the peninsula using their own resources, Pestana says that “the figures deny it,” given the fact that, of 17,600 migrants who have arrived in the last six months, just 11,500 currently remain on the Islands.
“Gran Canaria is not a prison, that is false” and “we are going to continue working for better management of immigration, with more resources and improvements” said the delegate referring to works planned on the grounds and around the foundations of the CIE immigrant processing centre in Barranco Seco, in Las Palmas, which he described as having “a modular structure that creates stable capacity”, in addition to planned new spaces.
With regard to protests rejecting immigration, he indicated that one had been requested for this Saturday in San Bartolomé de Tirajana, which has had prior and legal communication, reiterating that the leaders or organisers of illegal acts and gatherings are being located and that punishments for illegality will be “forceful”.
Pestana, concluded by reconfirming there will be a “de-escalation in the occupancy of hotel accommodation” as the new spaces are opened.
Editor’s Comment:
In fairness, for most residents on Gran Canaria, it’s been pretty quiet all round, despite occasional disturbances, some isolated cases of clear criminality, and all the noise that has been made by some, who live near to those few hotels who have been providing temporary accommodation, who are fearful of so many strangers.
There is a section of the population who are vehemently against migrants having ever been temporarily accommodated in otherwise empty complexes, and there are some lost souls who would have us believe that there are burning cars in the streets and armed gangs roaming the lawless neighbourhoods, but that simply is not true.
Not at all wishing to belittle anyone’s feelings, which of course must be addressed, and occasionally there have indeed been valid concerns, but there has also been a lot of agitation, mixed messaging and out-and-out fear mongering, sometimes fuelled by questionable local politics. The Spanish Government clearly misread and mishandled much of the last few months, despite all the advanced warnings, let’s hope lessons have been learned.
It is ironic, however, that despite all the demands for migrants to be moved elsewhere, without ever suggesting a valid alternative, and the falsely equating our lack of tourists with empty hotels assisting the Government in ensuring thousands irregular migrants are kept together and not left on the streets without resource, that the security forces felt they needed to deploy extra police not simply to monitor paperless strangers, but in a concerted effort to reassure fearful residents and indeed protect migrants themselves from xenophobic violence.
Let’s hope everything calms down a little now. But we should expect the likelihood of more arrivals, as Winter turns to Spring and the impossibility of trying to monitor thousands and thousands of kilometres of open ocean leads more individuals to attempt the crossing in open boats on Europe’s most dangerous migration route
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The Mogán Town Council condemns the use of any type of violence and incitement to hatred and calls for the calm of residents
At last something like leadership as Mogán town hall condemns all violence and incitement of hatred, in particular the angry mob who visited the apartment complex yesterday where migrants, unconnected to the original events, are being temporarily accommodated.
They used the opportunity to remind everyone that the local mayor has given an ultimatum and plans to try to fine any hotel that still has migrants staying after December 31. Coincidentally, also the date originally agreed and signed by the hotels with the Spanish Government and the Red Cross back in September when they agreed to work together to resolve the migrant camp crisis on Arguineguín dock.
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The Mogán Town Council condemns the use of violence as well as any speech that incites hatred and, therefore, the incidents that occurred during the morning of yesterday, Saturday, December 12, in Arguineguín, where a group of residents decided to go to the doors of one of the hotel complexes that house migrants to express their disagreement with their stay there days after an alleged altercation between a group of migrants and a young man from the town occurred:
The mayor of Mogán and the local government group reject the methods used by the residents participating in this episode and ask both these and the rest of the population of the municipality to act responsibly and to remain calm.
The Moganera council is aware that the situation is complex and that this outbreak of irritation may be the effect of more than four months of tension accumulated by neighbors since the migratory crisis began. However, this does not justify what happened. Violence and hatred are never the answer.
The Consistory continues working to ensure that tourist areas recover their natural activity and thus restart tourism, the main economic engine of the island, since almost 80% of the direct and indirect jobs of the Canaries depend on it.
The mayoress has already communicated to the apartment complexes and hotels in the municipality that host migrants that they must cease the function of reception centers on December 31. Otherwise, a sanctioning file will be opened for non-compliance with laws such as 2/2013, of May 20, for the renewal and modernization of tourism in the Canary Islands, 7/1995, for the Canary Islands Tourism Organization, or 4/2017, of July 13, on Land and Protected Natural Areas of the Canary Islands. The mayor asks the State that the migrant persons housed in tourist facilities be relocated to other public facilities that are duly equipped.
More information: https://www.mogan.es/1-noticias/4649-comunicado-el-ay Ayuntamiento-de-mogan-condena-el-uso-de-cualquier-tipo-de-violencia-e-incitacion-al -I hate-and-call-the-calm-of-the-neighbors-and-neighbors
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Cara al Sol – Fascism marches with its “face to the sun” as far-right vox party protest in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria
Editor-in-Chief – Edward Timon .:.Spain has come a long way over the last 45 years and since it became a “Social Democracy” with the 1978 passing of the Spanish Constitution, being celebrated across Spain this weekend, during the 6th of December Constitution Day holiday culminating on Sunday. Almost all Spanish political parties celebrate the country’s transition away from the ultra right wing dictatorship under which it spent four dark decades. Though Spain’s far-right vox party confess mixed feelings. The party itself was formed by groups of conservative politicians who splintered from existing parties including the Partido Popular (PP) and ultra-right-wing Falangist parties that were the legacy of Francoist Spain. Now a protest in the holiday resort of Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria risks helping to increase tensions and add to the rise of the far-right from the ghostly ashes of what was thought to be Spain’s long dead fascist fervour.
The vox party has seen a significant increase in support since their founding in 2013, and although they struggled to find votes at first, in the last general election they managed to gain 10% of the votes cast nationally, becoming the third largest party in the country, and have a majority in Andalucia and a significant following in several areas of the country. They define themselves as anti-feminist, anti-islam and anti-immigration upholding what they call traditional Spanish catholic family values, and an unwavering allegiance to military institutions and members of the security forces, within whose ranks they hold some influence.
Their propaganda has found resonance among conservative and rural populations based mainly on fear generated by an increase in migration across the mediterranean over recent years, and this year has been fuelled by the massive increase in irregular migrants arriving on The Canary Islands throughout 2020. Some questionable local politicians here in the archipelago have also sought to capitalise on local frustrations, to further their own profiles, by appealing to protectionist ideals and by feeding the fears of ordinary people who feel excluded by the policies of Spain’s left-wing coalition Government led by the socialist PSOE party and Podemos. It has certainly led to an increase in far-right anti-immigrant rhetoric within the social discourse of The Canary Islands. Vox are a particular style of political party, claiming to represent the Spanish people, while consistently using hatred and division as a method to grab attention. Far from simply being unruly, there are many sinister questions over who they really are, what they really want to achieve and who exactly is behind them.
Is there a link between US military support for an Iranian militia and their ability to leverage a huge donation to found far-right vox party in Spain?
Most people, even among their supporters, have little or no idea as to how the vox party was initially funded. Almost all of the €972,000 collected to form the party came from the members of an organisation that, at first glance, seems incongruous with the beliefs espoused by the party itself. Practically all of money raised to create vox came from one unlikely source, known as the MEK (Mojahedin-e-Khalq), The Islamic Liberation Army of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran.
The MEK were themselves formed in the 70s by islamic marxist revolutionaries fighting against the British backed monarchical dictatorship led by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who, in 1953, had overthrown the democratically elected government of Iran. They quickly then became one of the main centres of opposition to the the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, who achieved the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, and put an end to the 2,500-year-old Persian monarchy
Exiled from Iran, the MEK were then funded for two decades, with near limitless resources, by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, earning them a listing by the US and United Nations as a dangerous terrorist organisation. Following the Iraq conflict starting in 2003, which led to Hussein’s downfall, the MEK were taken into protection by the US military, in places like Fallujah, where they were seen as intelligence assets in understanding and opposing the Iranian regime. When the newly installed Iraqi government refused to allow them to continue there, even though the group had been by then removed from designated terrorist watchlists, the US, along with several high profile European politicians, saw them as an alternative Iranian government in exile, and persuaded the group to leave Iraq. In 2013 they moved the more than 3,000 core members of the MEK to Albania, with the help of a $20 million donation to the UN Refugee Fund to help them resettle. The camp that the MEK now inhabit near Tirana was revealed, in 2018, to be less to do with refugees and more akin to a secretive military camp, constructed by the US military, from which the group’s worldwide operations are coordinated. And it was from here that MEK members across Europe and the world were instructed to send money for the formation of vox in Spain, who gathered nearly €1 million to create the party which stands staunchly against what they fear as the islamification of Europe. Is there a link between US military support for the MEK and their ability to leverage a huge donation to found this new far-right party in Spain?
Alejo Vidal-Quadras & Maryam Rajavi of the MEK
It has also been widely reported that the MEK has collaborated with Israel’s Mossad, including in attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists, according to U.S. officials. The MEK has called the allegations of their role in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists “patently false.” Though there may again be those asking questions following the recent assassination of one such prominent scientist in the last week.
The controversial funding for vox was through many smaller transfers coming from individual supporters of the MEK in various countries, many think in gratitude to Conservative Spanish politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras, for many years an MEP and advocate for the MEK. Vidal-Quadras went on to become one of the founding members of vox attracting the support of ultra-nationalist conservatives to create a party focused on their fear of an “Islamist invasion” that was the “enemy of Europe.”
Santiago Abascal, of the Vox party
Despite having openly criticised Spain’s regional political system, lobbying instead for centralised control from Madrid, and having stood fervently against state funding for serving representatives elected to government, the success that vox has recently achieved has meant that now nearly €3 million of Spanish government money is being used to finance its activities in Andalucia and across Spain. Vox party leader Santiago Abascal himself is alleged to have drawn his own wages, along with others in the party, directly from the MEK startup fund.
That the party want to disempower regional governments has, up until this year, often been seen as an obstacle to their gaining any real support here in The Canary Islands, but this year’s atrocious handling of a sudden yet predicted increase in migrant arrivals has it seems given the party a foothold, where social media networks have been used to great effect to spread misinformation and patently false claims that feed on the fears of a population already reeling from massive unemployment and great uncertainty in the face of a global pandemic that has reduced the primary economic activity of tourism to the islands almost to zero.
The rise of far-right politics on Gran Canaria
Mogán mayor Onalia Bueno leads protest march through Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria – © Bard Ove Myhr
The local mayor of Mogán, whose town hall administers several of the more popular tourist resort areas of Gran Canaria, has claimed in the media that she cares for the rights of migrants, yet repeatedly marched alongside vox activists and supporters. Many see this simply as a vain attempt to garner a more national profile, and harvest feelings of unrest among a population whose poverty and social needs too often go unaddressed, all while large urban projects are green lighted that benefit big investors, and large contractors, but seem to do little to support employment locally. That she herself was arrested, again, in September under investigation, again, for alleged electoral fraud has not been lost on observers who fear that she and her right-leaning CIUCA party, itself an offshoot of the PP, may simply be making a lot of noise about the migrant crisis as a method of distracting attention from their own alleged criminality.
Santiago Abascal, of the Vox party, at a campaign rally in Granada Photo: Picture-alliance/dpa/A.Camara
Now vox’s leader Santiago Abascal has decided to visit The Canary Islands and his party plan, this Friday, once more to join a locally organised protest in Puerto Rico, ostensibly to “Save Tourism”, after some of the migrant arrivals that had built up, in a makeshift camp in the port of Arguineguín over the last few months, were temporarily accommodated in hotels and apartments, primarily left empty due to coronavirus restrictions having reduced tourism this year to nearly zero. The organisers say they are apolitical and only want to ensure a recovery for tourism in the area, however also have called for the immediate removal of migrants from tourist accommodation, saying it harms the image of the destination.
So we have to ask the question, despite the temporary nature of the migrant situation and the fear generated by misdirection, misinformation and the politics of hate, whether the arrival of the far right onto the streets of Gran Canaria’s southern tourist zone is now in anyway going to improve the already damaged image of a tourist resort left empty by issues mostly unrelated to the sudden arrival of African migrants en masse to the area? Migrants whose growing numbers have been exasperated by closed borders preventing any quick repatriations, as per the usual Spanish frontiers policies.
Cara al Sol, the name of vox’s official anthem, was supposedly written by none other than the executed leader of Falange, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, whose fascist military coup led to the Spanish Civil War and the installing of the brutal dictator Franco who ruled spain for four decades, before he himself died in 1975, leaving the country in disarray following two generations of regressionist policies. After so much progress and progressive change to civil society in Spain, how can it be that these views are once again rising on the streets and in the already complicated politics of this still-young democracy?
Today these fascists are responding to the dog whistle of disquiet in this peripheral region of Europe on the southernmost frontier of Spain and have decided to loudly use the crisis to promote ever more tension. What was a tranquil sunny outpost is fast becoming a crucible for what could be one of the most important struggles of our time for the hearts and minds of ordinary Spaniards suffering from a global economic crash brought on by a pandemic for which no-one was properly prepared. The consequences of the rhetoric behind much of this protest in Puerto Rico may last far longer than even the effects of the global pandemic having wrought havoc to a tourism reliant economy.
Protest in Puerto Rico against migrants, with Mogán mayor Onalia Bueno – © Bard Ove Myhr
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The Canary News
Blood & Gold: The ‘Discoverer’ and the brutality of conquest
by Timon .:. | 11th October 2022 | Crime, History, Immigrants, Military | 0 CommentsMany in Spain celebrate the national day, October 12, as a day for all Spaniards to revel in Spanishness, and remember an empire, replete with displays of military might, with marches and the waving of flags coloured blood and gold. For many, it is not a day of...
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Disturbing paradise: A small group of foreign residents feel themselves “besieged” by youths living in a Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria hotel
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by Sanna | 7th April 2021 | #TheCanaryMigrantCrisis, Business, Immigration, politics | 0 CommentsÁngel Víctor Torres, the President of the Canary Islands, met in Madrid this Tuesday with Spain's Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Function, Miquel Iceta, to conclude the process of transferring strategic competences, including coastal management, financial...
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Migratory flows headed for the Canary Islands continue to worry the Regional Government who fear “a constant humanitarian crisis”
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50 more feared perished at sea as Maritime Rescue search the ocean in response to warnings and a distress call from a sinking rubber boat
by Timon .:. | 25th March 2021 | #TheCanaryCoronaVirus, #TheCanaryMigrantCrisis, Alerts, Immigration, Transport, Transport | 0 CommentsThe Salvamento Maritime Rescue search plane that has been tracking the 100km-wide strip of ocean between Fuerteventura and Tarfaya (Morocco) this morning has not yet managed to find any sign of a rubber inflatable boat after the distressed occupants put out a call for...
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Meanwhile on Tenerife: Feisty British immigrant couple wrestled to the ground by Policia Local after illegally parking in disability space
by Timon .:. | 23rd March 2021 | Community, Crime, Immigrants, investigation, News, Police, Transport, Transport | 0 CommentsTwo brits living on Tenerife have been involved in a brutal street fight with Policia Local agents on the south of Tenerife. A British citizen, of about 50 years old, remained detained on Monday evening in the cells of the Adeje Local Police, after being denounced...
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Maritime Rescue operations have increased this week, with all indicators pointing to greater numbers attempting the crossing by boat in 2021
by Timon .:. | 18th March 2021 | #TheCanaryMigrantCrisis, Demonstration, Editor's Thoughts, Film, Government, Immigrants, Immigration, Maspalomas, Migrants Gran Canaria, Mogán, News, Police, politics, Transport, Transport | 0 CommentsAs the springtime arrives and the weather becomes less hostile, so The Canary Islands, and the 100km+ stretch of ocean separating us from the African coast, are likely once again to become the focus of Maritime Rescue operations in an increasing trend toward irregular...
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Transfer of migrants from the Port of Arguineguín camp begins with noisy protests
This Wednesday afternoon the first transfer of migrants from the Port of Arguineguín camp, by bus bound for the military tents of the newly set up Temporary Attention Centre for Foreigners (CATE) in Barranco Seco, Las Palmas, left just after 6pm, to the sound of jeering from a small group demonstrators at the port, waving Spanish flags and other symbols. The group of about 50 migrants was the first of 200 scheduled to be transferred this Wednesday from the port, a number alluded to by Mogán’s mayor yesterday. The newly erected migrant processing facilities, in the capital of Gran Canaria, had been arranged by the Spanish Migration Ministry and the Army last week, with preparations expected to be finalised this week.
Transfer of migrants was already planned
The fact that the plans were already in place to start the transfer of migrants on Wednesday raises several important questions regarding the sudden, and erroneous, eviction of more than 200 of them from the port on Tuesday, sparking national headlines and ubiquitous outrage and an ongoing investigation into how and why they were simply left to fend for themselves, first in Arguineguín and then transported to the capital to be left right outside Spain’s Government Delegation buildings.
Meanwhile, this afternoon in Las Palmas, Spain’s Government Delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, made clear to journalists that neither he nor his team gave the order for the departure of migrants from the Arguineguín camp, on Tuesday, particularly without accommodation planned, which caused a situation he said “will not be repeated”.
Pestana did not wish to go into more detail, at this stage, about where, or from whom, the instruction came to march 227 Moroccan migrants from the Red Cross camp, but confirmed that they had all been at the port for more than the 72 hours legally allowed, and expressed his disapproval of it having happened at all without facilities prepared for them to move to. The Ministry of the Interior has opened an urgent investigation to find out why the situation occurred at all.
“It is evident that there has been a coordination error that we have to solve. The magnitude of the migratory problem facing the Canary Islands is paramount. We are talking about increases of more than 1,100%, with arrivals already having exceeded 18,000 people” he remarked.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s Interior Minister declared, this morning, at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, that he has ordered a start to the transfer of migrants from the Port of Arguineguín to the Barranco Seco military camp. The number of people on the dockside stood at 2,301 this Tuesday, about the same number of people who live in the town, while the capacity of new camp stands at just 800.
Today Pestana met with Sophie Muller, the head of the UNHRC refugee council operations in Spain, and this afternoon he met with the general director of the Policia Nacional, Francisco Pardo, the operational deputy director of the Policia Nacional, José Ángel Gonzalez, the Canary Islands Police superior chief, Rafael Martínez, and the sub-delegate in Las Palmas, Teresa Mayans, to visit the new CATE facility in Barranco Seco.
Anti-Immigration Protesters
Meanwhile, this Wednesday afternoon, outside the Arguineguín port, a ramshackle group of protesters demonstrated against the very presence of migrants at the Arguineguín dock. The group, carrying Spanish flags, and other nationalist symbology, caused heightened tension as protesters, many not wearing masks properly or observing social distance rules, harried journalists, and belligerently sought to hamper police efforts to ensure a smooth departure, following yesterday’s embarrassing scenes, that were broadcast on news channels throughout the country.
Slogans shouted included “Illegals Out!”, “Criminal government!”, “Government resign”, and the old chestnut “We are not fascists, we are realists!” all of which were seen and heard during the two recent Saturday demonstrations through the town, following a banner demanding “Stop Illegal Immigration”, and which appeared to be led by local mayoress, Onalia Bueno, and known far-right activists.
This Wednesday afternoon, even as the removal of the migrants began, their sparse protest held banners demanding “Stop the invasion plan” and “They do not respect our rights or our culture.” Cries accusing migrants of being “xenophobic to Canarian people” were also heard. Bueno was nowhere to be seen, having spent much of the day making statements to the press.
Guardia Civil troops photographed protesters IDs and visibly applied controls to the situation to prevent missteps in, what everyone agrees, is an already very difficult situation. The small, but loud, rabble did what they could to grab the attention of the press.
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Canary Islands Migration: Ukraine war exasperating food shortages, poverty and unrest in the West African Sahel
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Gran Canaria shame as delinquent Mogán mayor closes The Food Project for no good reasons: No Tan Bueno
First, an apology to our tens of thousands of regular readers, we have been somewhat absent over the last few weeks, sorry. We have been fully engrossed in an attempt to stop the eviction, without alternatives, of the most amazing group of volunteers it has been our honour to work with for many years. Normal service from us will resume shortly, sadly the doors of The Food Project in Arguineguín have been nonsensically closed by a heartless town hall offering no solutions to the needs of their own people.
On August 4th this year it came to our attention that a small item had been added to the agenda of a town council meeting in Mogán on the south west of Gran Canaria, set for the following day, august 5. The proposal was surprising, a move to evict our only local food bank distribution point, known as The Mogán Neighbourhood Food Project (Proyecto Vecinal de Alimentos de Mogán). No warning had been given, no invitations to dialogue to try to protect this vital volunteer-led project and no alternatives were being offered.
Is the mayor of Mogán planning to destroy TheFoodProject in Arguineguín?
This afternoon it came to our attention that Item 6 on the Ayuntamiento de Mogán council meeting agenda for (tomorrow) Wednesday August 5th is a sudden proposal, without warning, to evict http://TheFoodProject.es in Arguineguín from the premises where they have been serving the poorest people in our community, as the only food bank in the area, and helping hundreds of local families, for years, by supplying emergency rations of food once a week to the most poverty stricken in our area of southern Gran Canaria.
The Food Project is 100% volunteer led and funded through donations from across the resident population, as well as receiving help facilitated with European funds, they mainly work to gather what they can to help those in need.
We need to make a loud noise, and find exactly what Ciuca Mogán Mayor, Onalia Bueno, plans to do to ensure people don’t go hungry if they don’t get the help they need from this project.
How will Proyecto Vecinal de Alimentos de Mogán Nabohjelpen help feed the more than 300 deprived and neglected families that the local administration should be taking responsibility for?
Why now? In Summer? In the middle of an economic crisis?
#Mogán #FoodBank #BancoDeAlimentos #TheFoodProject #TheLongWalk #GranCanaria #SaveTheFoodProject
Posted by TheCanary.TV on Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Our editor made a plea on video, viewed more than 10,000 times, for others to become aware of the issue. The town council must have been surprised by the amount of interest suddenly shown in agenda item 6 for that private meeting of councillors, just before the August holidays were due to begin. The serving mayoress, Onalia Bueno (currently under judicial investigation, not for the first time, due to seemingly insurmountable evidence of alleged election fraud) along with her councillor for social services, Tania Alonso, called a hastily organised press conference. They had no plans, however, to defend their decision instead choosing to go on the offensive, making demonstrably false accusations about the project and the facility, provided by Mogán, in which the project carry out their work. Over the last two months their claims were not only refuted but repeatedly proven to be false. This, to them at least, was no problem however as they had no intention of allowing recourse nor discussion on the matter.
The food project appealed. For several years they had requested meetings to discuss their work and show the current administration, elected in 2015, what it was they do and to find ways to work together for the benefit of the local people who needed assistance. The eviction notice was served on September 10, following the delivery of more than 7 tonnes of food during which local police repeatedly demanded to see identification from journalists documenting the arriving provisions. The eviction was served an hour after the journalists left.
The date for the eviction was set for October 17. Ironically the UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The day following World Food Day on October 16.
The Long Walk, a 3 day coast to coast charity walk, began as did a Hunger Strike by lone activist and advisor to the project, Emma Colao of Equality LGTBI+. She was joined the next day by a local volunteer known as Mimoun and then, having completed an 80km 3day trek across the island, our editor Edward also joined just in time to take Emma’s place, who had been advised she needed medical intervention. The only response from Mogán was that they would refuse to discuss the issue. Emma ate no food for seven days, drinking only water. Edward continued for 11 days and Mimoun was in his fifteenth day of hunger before a local priest, father Adrian, stepped in and offered to mediate, hoping to broker a solution. The hunger strike was suspended as the first opportunity for proper dialogue opened up, however Alonso made very clear to the priest that there would be no further discussion of the matter.
Having collected more than 1,200 physical signatures, and well over 2,000 supporting virtual signatures, on a petition opposing the senseless eviction, and having camped outside the municipal offices in Arguineguín for 2 and a half weeks, it was decided to deliver the petition in person and protest directly to the main town hall in Pueblo de Mogán. Unfortunately the main coastal road, open to non motor traffic, has been closed for several years due to a landslide that no one has yet found a solution for, so the protesters were forced into having to walk 25km over rough terrain, from the project to their municipal capital, to make an 11am appointment (Oct 16 – World Food Day) with the main registry to lodge their petition against eviction. To no avail.
This Saturday, without further legal or democratic avenues left open to them, the project cleared out all of their remaining resources from the dilapidated council owned building, from which they have operated for 12 years, cleaned up after themselves and handed back the keys to a project that has over the years helped countless thousands to overcome extreme poverty, illness and bad fortune by simply ensuring that those who need help can eat.
The volunteers who have taken such good care of those most in need over that time, all showed up to help ensure they were leaving in an orderly manner, clean rooms and best intentions. It is a day of sadness and shame for Mogán.Jenni Hymoff, coordinator of the project had this to say:
“Today, Saturday 17 October, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The Mogán Neighborhood Food Project hands over the keys to…[sobbing]
The volunteers of the neighbourhood food project are handing over this building, which belongs to the people, to the Mogán Town Hall.
In order to comply with the will of a mayoress and a councillor, from Social Services, who have blatantly lied to the people of Mogán, about public opinion of us, who have attacked our good reputation and who have lied directly, we are handing this over to you and we hope, ladies, for want of a better name to call you, that you will treat well these people you have left behind, withdrawing some of us from the activity that we have carried out for 12 years with dignity, with respect, with honesty. And with love for the users and respect for them, and we hope that you will too, even if it’s a small part of that behaviour, and will respect the people who are having such a hard time right now.
Thank you to all the people, entities, organisations and groups that have supported us for 12 years, for everything. You guys are great. Thank you.”
Emma Colao, activist and human rights lawyer has helped to advise the project since they first came under threat, helping to lead a coordinated strategy of action in the hope of finding assistance to bring the shameful situation to a satisfactory conclusion. she had this to say:
“Three months of proceedings, seventeen days of demands in a public plaza, by means of a hunger strike, 25 km, which is the distance from this municipal dependency, Arguineguín, to the Town Hall, where the current mayoress, Onalia Bueno, has taken refuge, and without access, by foot, to the policies that are supposed to be nearby.
All of this without a response from the City Council, without an approach, simply to understand what the situation was or to be able to open up a channel not for negotiation but for dialogue. And all this under one simple motto “we don’t get off the donkey” [Canarian phrase: no nos bajamos del burro, meaning “even if we are wrong we continue on our path”].
That is the motto that they should probably use for the next election campaign with Ms. Onalia Bueno and her electoral entourage. Which Equal LGTBI+ will follow. Today the Mogán Town Council, in charge of the current government, has decided that this municipality is not so good [no-tan-bueno] for people in precarious positions.
It’s not so good [no-tan-bueno] for people in poverty, it’s not so good [no-tan-bueno] for people who really need help. We are going to continue with actions that are to be contemplated according to the political actions and decisions that are adopted by the council, since if they do not meet with arduous opposition they are going to find one through Equal LGTBI. We will soon announce what more actions we will take. It is true that we do not feel defeated at all. Let’s move on. An occupational alternative will be found. The pity is that it will not be taken care of by the one who promised to defend the interests and fundamental principles of democracy in this town. These people have forgotten what democracy is. Let’s bring it back, at least let’s try.
However, perhaps with Onalia it was not so good for Mogán.”
There can be no justification for the outrageous actions of the so-called mayor of Mogán and her collaborators. No genuine public servant could have allowed such a travesty to unfold in public view. If there is a mind for democracy and justice on Gran Canaria, then this is a wrong that must be righted. At a time when nearly 700 people rely on the aid provided from the EU and Las Palmas food banks, and through private donations (at no cost to the tax payer) it simply cannot be allowed to stand that a delinquent local council can just turf a project like this one out on to the streets. There will be consequences. The people of Mogán must demand fairness, and some honesty from their public officials, because if they do not then it is their children who will suffer in the end. Democracy must be won each and every day, but sometimes it takes great injustice to motivate people to think about the future of their town and their children. We can only hope this episode has served to wake people up to the necessities of keeping public servants in check. The food project will eventually continue, but simply put, only because they refuse to give up on anyone. Not even you.
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Activist Emma Colao hunger strike to protest delinquent Mogán mayor’s eviction of The Food Project #SaveTheFoodProject
Canarian trans-feminist and gender rights activist Emma Colao, from the association EQUAL LGTBI+, has announced radical action in an effort to try to highlight the need to #SaveTheFoodProject in Mogán. From this Wednesday, September 23 at 10:00 a.m. she has declared a hunger strike to protest outside the Mogán municipal offices demanding occupational alternatives for the Las Lomas de Arguineguin AV Food Distribution Project, who, by October 17, are threatened with eviction by the delinquent mayor of Mogán.
There are many causes and associations working to improve day-to-day life and social reality on the island of Gran Canaria. This holiday paradise is often a little embarrassed by some of the extreme poverty it hides. At times of hardship, like 2020, it becomes more and more necessary that these groups find ways to work together and support each other, particularly when they have come under attack from self-interested, and allegedly corrupt, political players, as is the case in Mogán right now. The local mayor, Onalia Bueno, along with her councillor for social services, Tanya Alonso, both of whom were arrested last week on suspicion of electoral fraud, seems to hell bent on closing the only facility of its kind in the area that provides food and advice to the poorest members of the community. Among their arguments against the service is that some poor people might get extra help, more than the council provides, despite the fact that the council play no part in assistance provided by The Food Project, other than allowing them use of this dilapidated building. Everything else is supplied from private donations, with the assistance of The Food Bank of Las Palmas and the EU Food Bank.
The mayor of Mogán wants to evict a food bank for alleged sanitary problems despite all their inspections in order and no evidence whatsoeverImage: Alejandro Ramos
Having ignored, since Bueno’s CIUCA party seized power in 2015, repeated requests to meet with the Mogán Neighbours Food Project (Proyecto Vecinal de Alimentos de Mogán run by the volunteer association AV Las Lomas de Arguineguín) the town hall held a closed meeting at the beginning of August in which they decided that they would evict the volunteer-led food project without recourse. When this (quietly added) agenda item was uncovered, Bueno and Alonso hastily organised a press announcement, in which they suddenly pointed to were all sorts of alleged problems with the project, despite not having visited the premises nor communicated this at any time beforehand, nor had they tried to assist in finding any solutions; they just said that the reason they were ejecting the volunteers was due to sanitary deficiencies, alleging, quite unfairly, that the project caused rodent infestations, that the property was uninhabitable and that the electrical wiring was dangerous, among other supposed offences. They offered no evidence whatsoever for any of this, essentially slandering the project to tarnish the good name of a facility which has diligently provided food to the poorest families in Mogán for more than 11 years.
Activist Emma Colao
Activist and campaigner, Emma Colao, the president of the association EQUAL LGTBI+, has highlighted the social, economic and political context that the Canary Islands are currently going through, saying that there is a real and tangible need to maintain projects such as this one, now more than ever. Her hunger strike to protest the senseless closure of a volunteer, food bank supported effort to feed the poverty stricken, at a time of great economic hardship will demonstrate a certain conviction in the face of restrictions limiting the right to protest en masse.
Colao stressed, in a statement, that they are fighting “for a fundamental right”, for the right to food. Pointing to the fact that what help is available, is patently insufficient to meet the needs of poverty stricken people, this in one of the wealthiest tourist municipalities in Spain, saying “Projects like AV Las Lomas de Arguineguín are completely necessary, and to deny the truth, appealing to the administration, is to take refuge in alternative realities where the procedures of local administrations are effective in a social context, like the one in which we find ourselves”. The association denounces that in too many cases there is a wait of up to five weeks, just for an assessment appointment with social services, and emergency aid is not effective in multiple cases. “If it is necessary to take a risk, I will.” added the rights activist Emma Colao.
“I will remain on hunger strike until an occupational alternative for The Food Project is offered that meets their needs. I know when I will start, but the end date will depend on Mayor Onalia Bueno. I appeal to her ethics and morality.”
Desde @EQUALLGTBI instamos a la alcaldesa de Mogán @OnaliaBueno, a reconsiderar una alternativa ocupacional para el Proyecto de Reparto de Alimentos.#huelgadehambre#Aporofobia#NoMasPrecariedad#LGTBI @MunicipioMogan @eldiarioeshttps://t.co/7uCzTJn9np
— Emma Colao ?️? (@ColaoEmma) September 20, 2020
The municipal government of Mogán announced in August the planned eviction from this municipal space, of the only organisation in the area dedicated to the distribution of food for the most needy people and families, quoting totally unsubstantiated hygiene & sanitary issues. The Las Palmas Food Bank, which supplies part of the food distributed by the Las Lomas de Arguineguín Neighbours Association, has responded to these accusations with a letter from its president, Pedro Llorca, making clear that they ensures that all partners comply with every requirement and have passed all relevant inspections, as has this facility repeatedly. At a press conference, the mayor criticised provision of food at the Association’s premises, the accumulation of belongings in their yard and tried to suggest that there could be rats in the facilities. All of this is demonstrably false, say the volunteers, who only last Thursday were visited by a Agricultural Ministry inspector
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