On August 27, they accomplished 30 years since the arrival of the first boat in the Canary IslandsThe “deadliest route” of all those used by mafias to bring people in an irregular situation to Europe, according to accumulated data, surprised with a first landing in 1994.
But the nearly 1,500 kilometers of high-seas crossing that separates the views from Mauritania, the usual origin of these boats, to the islands, have discouraged their massive use. At the end of the government of Felipe Gonzalez (PSOE) and in the years of Jose Maria Aznar (PP), was a focus that required little attention, with a maximum of 9,875 landings, during the worst year (2022). Until the call canoe crisis from 2006.
The epidemic (more than 31,000 arrivals) then shook, according to the Canarian government, all the structures of the islands. He governed Spain José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (PSOE), who was able to solve the problem. In one year, he reached a comprehensive and multidisciplinary agreement with Mauritania. And the road was blocked.
In 2007, this number fell to 12,000 irregular migrants and in 2010, only 196 people arrived on the shores of the Canaries. Since then, after being accused of “subcontracting” migratory pressure “so that they remain in Africa”, the model has served as an example to other countries in their relations with ours and to the European Union itself.
Actually, Pedro Sanchez (PSOE) visited the country last February accompanied by Ursula von der Leyenso that the President of the Commission can see on site the work of the joint patrols, the contribution of equipment and resources that Madrid is bringing to Nouakchott.
Promote the regulations of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum concluded in Brussels under the Spanish presidency. But we had already had problems with Mauritania for two years. And with the rest of the West African coast.
“It’s a combination of circumstances,” Spanish sources on the ground explain. “The main problem is the war and terrorist instability in the region,” but there is much more. On the one hand, this Italy and Greece have done their job this year, and the mafias have diverted their business to Spain.
But it happens above all that what had value 15 years ago “is no longer useful”. And that these countries “have learned the lessons of the Moroccan experience”, insist local sources.
The assault on Ceuta in 2021, promoted by the regime of Mohamed VI for political reasons, served as an example to other countries. If Algeria has stopped controlling its coasts and today the Balearic Islands, Alicante and Murcia are suffering, the Canary Islands have been saturated for two years, now at “unbearable and inhuman” levels, according to their Minister of Social Protection. Candelaria Delgado.
In this sense, the advisor recalls that “today, 379 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands in 3 boats. Among them were minors, 59 unaccompanied minors.” And he insists: “It is a humanitarian tragedy that is normalizing but that requires urgent policies, measures and resources, which requires the involvement of the State and the European institutions.”
After the success of Zapatero’s model, not only was the plan copied on other roads, but the years of the popular Mariano Rajoy (PP) kept the level crossing blind. The worst year, 2018 with 1,307 migrants undocumented arrived in the islands, it is precisely the one in which the Popular Party had lost the government in June, because of the motion of censure of Sánchez.
“This PP government had drawn up the agreement and provided the necessary money,” explains a former member of this Council of Ministers.
But today, the “circular migration” offers proposed by Sánchez “are pilot plans” that were only 141 people in one year in Senegal. “And any initiative of this type in Mauritania and Senegal will be of the same volume,” at least in the short term, emphasize the sources involved in these programs. “The emergency is something else,” and we do not pay attention to it.
“Spain should demand Europe’s involvement” by placing Frontex patrol boats on the high seas, say sources from the autonomous governments concerned, who prefer to remain anonymous given the precariousness of their situation.
“And NATO must be interested in the southern flank,” adds the Moncloa entourage. Sánchez is working hard there and that is what he has demonstrated force this point in the Madrid Strategic Conceptwhich has governed the Alliance’s strategy since the 2022 summit in the Spanish capital.
But the reality is that this “requires troops on the ground”, and the government does not plan to send troops to the region, from where the French army has just left, harassed by jihadism and expelled by the military junta that prefers mercenaries of Russian origin.
Data for 2024, compared to 2023, predicts “a catastrophe”, according to Fernando ClavijoPresident of the Canary Islands. Last year ended with the landing of more than 39,000 irregulars on the islands: in mid-August, the official data was already alarming, recording only 9,800 arrivals. “But in the fall calm returns, we are already at more than 22,000, and at this rate we can reach 80,000 people, whom we will not be able to serve.”
