Around 23,000 people have arrived in the Canary Islands in cayucos in 2023. In October alone, 7,500 have landed (most of them on El Hierro, an island of 11,400 inhabitants), a figure that easily exceeds any previous record. Activity at sea does not stop. During this morning, Maritime Rescue has rescued another 233 immigrants. Traffic on what is known as the ‘Canary Route’ skyrocketed in the summer, as a result of the political crisis in Senegal, which is causing thousands of people to flee the country, and this flow is expected to continue during the fall.
Fernando Grande-Marlaska, acting Minister of the Interior, postponed a meeting scheduled for today with Senegalese authorities to chair the meeting of the Immigration Coordination Authority in Las Palmas, which was also attended by the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo. , and the Government delegate on the islands, Anselmo Pestana. Afterwards, the minister announced that the Government is going to reinforce the fight against migration by deploying two Civil Guard planes, one in Senegal, “which will begin to work immediately on predicting and shortcutting departures”, and another in the Canary Islands. The aircraft will be on the Senegalese coast to help both the authorities of this country and those of Mali and thus prevent “irregular departures” and, thereby, “continue saving” the lives of immigrants trying to reach the European Union. across the ocean.
Marlaska has pointed out that cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of migration is “the best way” to confront illegal immigration, and has highlighted that the work carried out has prevented the arrival of 12,500 people to Spain this year: ” “There are no magic solutions or shortcuts, but constant and sustained work over time.”
Regarding the island of El Hierro, which has been saturated over the last few weeks with constant arrivals of cayucos day after day, Marlaska has indicated that the Spanish can feel “proud” that the institutions have “muscle “sufficient” to face situations of “rebound” in the arrival of boats, and has stressed that the Interior is dedicating “all means” to confront a migratory wave caused by the political situation in the Sahel.
For his part, Clavijo, who in an interview given yesterday to this newspaper requested more aid from the State to confront the migration crisis, pointed out after the meeting the detection of “small necessary improvements in terms of spaces and personnel” and has referred especially to the situation of unaccompanied minors, about 3,800 right now in the community, and the need to expedite their distribution on the peninsula.
Both Marlaska and the president of the Canary Islands have assumed that this phenomenon will not stop in the near future, and have stressed the need for the EU to “have a single response” to this migratory wave.