General Holiday Enquiries, Hints and Tips

General Holiday Enquiries? Got General Hints & Tips? Post Them Here.
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I haven't been to any of the Canary Islands for donkeys years, but I just thought I'd ask - is there a link between a lot of immigrants coming from the African countries, and crime sprees?
It just seems like a bit of a generalisation to me - the papers report more immigrants arriving, and so if they're not locked up in a detention centre, they'll all be out looting and pillaging for 40 days.

I'd imagine if there are a lot of immigrants arriving, you would certainly see them about while you're on your holidays. It doesn't seem likely that each island in the Canaries would have the manpower or the resources to keep every new arrival from the African countries in detention centres while their paperwork is processed.

Hopefully you will get some more concrete information on the situation soon,

Elaine
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There is a slight drop according to this article in the Tenerife News here.

The Canaries are no different from anywhere else when it comes to crime it is just that because they are a holiday destination the media will pick up on it, I'm sure you will have a good holiday with your folks when you go.
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Hiya Val

The problem is one that is worrying the Spanish Authorities so much, that they have now last week deployed 3 aircraft and 3 boats to patrol the seas and have extended the radar surveillance around the Islands.
Diplomatic discussions between Madrid and the countries involved, with hope of repatriation of these people have been slow and fruitless, the actual figure of the ones who have been sent back, stands to date at around 200.
I have been following this for quite some time and have read many articles in the Spanish National newspapers.

On Wednesday 17th, 1000 more immigrants arrived, this brought the total for this year so far to over 6,000 and in the year 2005 the total figure of immigrants that actually made it on to Spanish soil within the Canary Islands was 4715.

Those figures are the official figures, but they do not include the ones who made it undetected before the problem was brought to light, or the number who have drowned in the sea in the attempt, and it is estimated that thousands have sadly drowned.
Madrid has openly stated, that they have been caught out with the shift in route by the Mafia that trade in human cargo from places like Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Niger .Spain concentrated on blocking the route from their enclaves in Morocco, namely Ceuta and Melilla.

Tenerife in particular cannot hold anymore, the situation is in crisis with many old police stations and barracks being opened up to "house" them.
To relieve the pressure, these people are transferred to Mainland Spain, where after 40 days if they have no papers or refuse to say where they have come from, then they are free to go wherever they want....and this is NOT pleasing the Spanish population :twisted:

This procedure may be a short-term measure to relieve the situation within the Canary Islands, but I personally think it is just shifting the problem to another area, namely mainland Spain.

Now for anyone who takes an interest in Spain, they will already know that the country has problems with the Eastern Europeans flooding in, and various Mafioso operating all along the Costa's, in particular from Russia, Romania and Albania and persons from the sub- Sahara who arrived illegally before the route from Morocco was "blocked".

There are people who want to dismiss this issue and gloss over it :roll: but facts and figures can prove that the rise in crime and the number of foreign prisoners held in Spanish jails have risen dramatically I did have the figures somewhere, and I'm sure I can find them again, if I have too. :wink:

You don't have to have a degree in immigration to work out for yourself, that these people will have to resort to crime to survive"¦even if they have never committed a crime before in their lives.

Besos xxx
SanJi
  • Edited by Sanji 2006-05-19 09:40:26
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i am sure we will have a great holiday.. we have a holiday in the canaries at least twice per year and have seen some sights ( tropical storms etc) over the years and nothing has put us off going there..but as the parents are coming, we just want to be able to give them some concrete info more to set their fears at rest than any concern we have ( parents knocking on abit, recent ill health and never set foot in canaries).

The link was useful..thanks allmen..
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Sanji.. is the problem just restricted to Tenerife or has it spread to the other islands?
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Val.

Let me make this quite clear, I am not wishing to deter anyone from visiting Tenerife, but I just wish people would face up to the facts, that there are problems which might manifest themselves in a rise in crime within the Islands.
I'm not suggesting that the Islands have been over taken with illegal thugs committing crime everyday.....
I do not want the lovers of Tenerife on my back, thank you very much, but we ALL will have to accept, that changes will occur on the Island, it is inevitable....Mainland Spain is not the place it was 5 years ago and that also is a fact.
I have had many happy hours on Tenerife and it gives me no pleasure to join in this discussion.
The reports that I have read concentrate on Gran Canaria and Tenerife, and I would say that definitely Tenerife has taken the headlines each time.

Last year, the Canarian authorities issued papers of residency to 20,000 people who were originally illegal, in an attempt to " manipulate" the figures, that act (in certain peoples opinion), opened the flood gates and helped create the problems that are occurring today.

The Spanish quite frankly don`t want them and tension is rising in Madrid.

You and I will just have to be more vigilant and take more care, but anyone who thinks this problem is over exaggerated, IMO is a fool to themselves and need to take the rose tinted glasses off for a while.

I`ve just read this from the national paper of Spain El Pais, http://www.iht.com/pdfs/elpais/ep2.pdf this is the English version...and HERE

sanji xx
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cheers sanji, that info was very useful..i have no intention of NOT visiting the canaries, as i said before, they are our fave destination and we go a couple of times a year to one island or another. It would seem that tenerife is suffering more than most, but i think geographically, tenerife is probably the first place they hit.

i too would not wish to defer anyone from travelling to tenerife, i was merely wishing to try and seek reassurance for both sets of parents who are more concerned about this situation than we are.
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Read this from this mornings Times newspaper...... :roll:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2188413,00.html

I also read in a Spanish paper that the prime minister Rodríguez Zapatero refused to meet Carlos Gonzalez Segura, the head of the Canary Islands until they stopped the derogatory critism that has been publically launched against Madrid, accusing them of acting too late and not sending the resources to the Canary Islands to deal with this issue.
Tension is not only running high on the Islands, but it is at breaking point on mainland Spain. IMO.
This issue has made the front page headlines in Spain for months....I know because I have read it. :wink:

This problem does not only affect the Canary Islands, but also Mainland Spain where the immigrants are released in both places, after 40 days. :roll: it`s becoming a far reaching problem including serious health issues.

How are these people going to survive after they have been released, without any papers to enable them to obtain the benefits of the Spanish Social system. ?...some will find work with the people who exploit labour, but many will not, in an already over saturated market.

Looking at the figures of the rise in crime after the influx of Eastern Europeans into Spain, then I`ll let you all come to your own conclusions :roll:
The figure has now been ammended to 7, 500 immigrants so far this year.

sanJi x
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Hmmm, tensions certainly are running high if the natives are torching buildings etc. The islands are totally reliant on the tourist industry for their revenue and any bad publicity could certainly have a negative affect long term..i would say it is down to the Spanish Government to deal with the obvious problem.. or maybe they feel that as the canaries are so far away from mainland Spain they don't have to bother ( out of sight out of mind!). This problem will only increase unless more resources are diverted to tackle it. It is such a shame for the Canaries to be damaged in this way..
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2763-2189775_1,00.html

I have just read the lastest figures which read......
The five centres of internamiento of immigrants in the Canary Islands, in addition to a police station of the National Police, hold at the present time 2,269 immigrants, according to the facilitated data today by the Delegation of the Government.
The greater number of immigrants is concentrated in Tenerife, with 1,218, followed by Gran Canaria, with 721, and finally Fuerteventura where there are 330.
Most of the immigrants (661) are in Tenerife in the Police station of Las Americas, although they are going to move 90 of them in the next few hours to a provisional of internamiento centre. which already has 373 all men and another centre that has 194 immigrants amongst them a child and six women, all waiting to be processed, therefore any further additions will result in the 40 day "holding limit" passing....which means release to them.

In Gran Canaria, there were 121 immigrants in a centre of Internamiento, to whom approximately 600 were added that was transferred yesterday from Tenerife.
The other 330 immigrants who arrived on board from boats from the African coast are in Centre of Internamiento in Fuerteventura.
The number of immigrants retained in the Canary Islands varies daily, as more arrive daily.

My maths tell me that approx 7,500 have arrived this year, and there are 2,269 being held on the Canary Islands,...so where have the other 5,231 gone.?
Don`t go there Sanji :roll: :zip

SanJi x
  • Edited by Sanji 2006-05-22 13:28:02
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at a guess, a few have been deported to Madrid to disappear into Europe and are probably on their way to the UK as we type...a few more will have disappeared in the Canaries and are making a living robbing tourists or selling lucky lucky cards and the others....do you have access to any figures for successful deportations back to country of origin/whence they came Sanji? This is certainly interesting stuff and i bet most holiday makers will not even be aware of this side of the coin...i certainly had no idea until approx December when there was a robbery of one of the electrical stores in LC and the police appeared from nowhere and caught the guys doing a runner. they were illegals and i don't know what happened to them after that..me being naive, i just thought it was an isolated incident and carried on with rest of hols oblivious.

Are there any recorded invasions of Lanzarote?
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saw a bit of a documentary comment type of thing on BBC News yesterday...there are over 7000 illegals that have invaded Tenerife alone so far this year..the governor of the canaries ( or mayor?) was on saying how the islands were really struggling to cope with this influx as there is no room in the holding centres and they wanted more help. Now the spanish government has a fleet of vessels that works 24/7 sailing around just waiting to pick up the illegals as soon as they land in their rickety little boats. There was a guy on from Morrocco saying that they needed to come to Tenerife as their families were poor, starving, no money for food etc..but then it was revealed the cost of a journey ( which some people don't even survive) was £600 per person..if they can afford £600 per person, they can afford food. So who is really to blame for the mess..is it the immigrants themselves or is it the unscrupulous bloke who is charging £600 per person to transport them and then dump them on the shores of Tenerife? It is such a shame this beautiful island is being used in this way.
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So who is really to blame for the mess

Hi Val.
Who is to blame, ? Well, I would start with the government of the countries involved, some of the officials of these countries are running around in limousines while the people starve, and the lack of investment in the country just gives them no hope.
Then, the Mafioso who trade in human cargo, promising these people a better life and taking the money off these poor souls, whilst waving them goodbye in a vessel not fit to sail in a pond, never mind the ocean.
The corruption of the African governments who waste and divert any aid that is given to them by the western world....but, we had best not go there and this is just my view. :wink:

A lot has happened since my last post, but actually nothing has happened, apart from within the last hour, by a speech given by the Prime Minister.
The immigrants are still arriving daily and now they are actually being escorted into ports like Los Cristianos
Spain has asked for help from the EU, and nine member states have now drawn up a plan to patrol the seas off the West African coast, hoping to stop the journey to the Canary Islands before it even gets going, but as yet, this plan has not been put into practise . Therefore, they are still arriving, loaded up in rickety boats each day, 376 arrived yesterday

Several diplomats from Spain went over to the African countries involved and will be setting up Embassies in certain countries, in a bid to start diplomatic discussions with the various heads of governments, in an effort to improve relations and begin a process of educating the people and more importantly cracking down on the trading of human cargo that the mafia are so deeply involved in.

It certainly beats dealing in drugs....human cargo is a more lucrative market and there is no shortage of supply for these people who trade in a dream, and promise a life out of poverty.

The President of Senegal actually made me swear at the computer last week :twisted: when he stated that he would only take these people back if he received more aid.
The European Commission approved about two hundred and fifty million dollars in aid to Senegal about four years ago, spread over 5 years and the International Monetary fund wrote off all Senegal's debt, but despite this, many of the peanut farmers who make up 70% of the population have not been paid for their crop by the government the farms are state run.
Quite frankly I think he doesn't want them back because this means more people to feed, but when a President starts bargaining in human lives, then that says it all for me. :twisted: IMO.

In Tenerife the Canarians are also not very happy people, :cry: last week a group of underage immigrants were moved into a village in what was "glossed over" as a temporary situation, the villagers stated that they usually leave their doors open and fear things will now changed, and their biggest fear is that these immigrants will never be removed.

The figure now stands at 9,500 immigrants, who have landed within the Canary Islands to date, which is double the total figure for all of 2005.

I personally think that they will never go back to their respective countries, I also think that the Spanish government know that too.
We only have to look at our own figures in the UK for actually removing illegal immigrants and the mess the Immigration Department is in, making headline news recently.

Whilst I have been composing this post the Prime Minister of Spain, Rodriguez Zapatero has been addressing the State of the Nations debate, and he has just had a standing ovation by stating within the last hour, that enough is enough and Spain will increase security on all her borders.
He emphasized the adopted measures to restrain the migratory pressure that the country is under, with a policy based on "legality", maximum frontier checkpoint, cooperation with countries of origin and the UE.

Fine words, but will he put them into practise.? Judging by the mood of the country based on what I have read....he will have too, if he hopes to continue being the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain.

SanJi x
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Sanji.. you are so well informed on this subject.. i too don't believe that the immigrants will ever leave the canaries..and IMO, i think the government needs to get tough.. i think a few years ago a boat load of people tried to get into Australia and their Navy sailed out to meet it and wouldn't even let it land on shore. The aussies were basically saying you either go back to where you came from or stay out at sea coz you aint landing here. There was a big outcry i think but the Aussies wouldn't back down. Can't remember how it ended, but maybe if that method of approach was taken in the Canaries we might see a whole new scenario. In fact, the other EU countries ought to be stepping in to help because this will eventually become a problem for the rest of europe as there are no restrictions on travel borders once you are in europe..and i guess it is easy to people smuggle..
It must be awful for the natives of the canaries to have their lives changed like this.. i would hope that it wouldn't want to make them pack up and leave. I am starting to get a real bee in my bonnet about the invasion of the canaries.. i love the islands and would want to retire there myself eventually..( but i would hope to contribute to the local economy rather than thieve off it)
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It must be awful for the natives of the canaries to have their lives changed like this


Just a small point but the current 'natives' are descended from immigrant Spanish colonialist stock themselves. The original inhabitants of the Canaries came from North Africa (probably Berbers from Morocco) and were 'swamped' by the Spanish invaders in the 15th century. No doubt they thought it was awful to have their lives changed like that too.

SM
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i am sure they did..however, i don't believe it was on such a scale as today's invasions...and nor was the economy as heavily reliant on the tourists who also invade all year round as it is today...
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The original inhabitants of the Canaries came from North Africa (probably Berbers from Morocco)

Just another small point :lol:
I think you will find that the original habitants of the Canary Islands were the Guanches, who were tall, white skinned, blue/grey eyed, blonde and bearded.
The origin of the Guanches themselves has never been established.
They would have needed boats to get to the Canaries and the Africans didn`t have sea vessels in this period of history.
Pyramids have been discovered on the Islands and this could only have come from a civilisation capable of building Pyramids, building ships and navigating the oceans.

Sanji x
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Back on topic. :lol:
The EU have agreed to send 6 helicopters and 10 boats to patrol the Atlantic Ocean off the West African coast, this will take a few weeks to put into operation because they are working out who patrols where.
Senegal has agreed to take back 700 of the "young" immigrants and Spain has agreed to the funding of a scheme, to encourage 10,000 young people to return to the countryside to take up farming.
In Senegal 60 suspected traffickers are in detention.
The higest percentage of immigrants have come from Senegal
The President of Guinea Bissau has agreed to take back 26.

I've just got the latest figures and this is how they read"¦"¦
In the 5 months of this year there has been a total of 9,494 illegal immigrants who have made it to the Canary Islands and at the present time there are in the Islands 3,266 that are in the Centres of Internamiento and 659 that remain in the "beach" police station of Las Americas, Tenerife.

32 made it to the Island of Lanzarote.
381 to the Island of El Hierro.
816 to Fuerteventura.
835 to La Gomera.
2,016 to Gran Canaria and
5,514 came aboard in Tenerife.

And it is estimated that thousands have drowned in the Ocean :cry:

Just keeping anyone who is interested, up to date on the situation in the Canary Islands :wink:

SanJi x
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thanks sanji.. i wondered how many had made it to Lanza, which i believe is the nearest island to africa..and yes, good point about the Gaunches. I also read that many of them, especially in Gran Can chucked themselves off cliffs to their deaths ( like lemmings really!) rather than live under the spanish colonists rule...

i had also read that many of the illegals invading at the minute are from Senegal, which i think might actually be a French Colony ( i have a vague recollection of hearing that soemwhere, but please correct me if i am wrong) so i don't understand why they would want to invade a Spanish colony as a gateway into Europe. This situation reminds me of the mexicans who attempt to enter the USA every day. I think poorer nations see on TV a commercialised image or they hear stories that everything is rosy in the garden of eden and think they fancy a little bit of that. Reality is very different and many who do survive the perilous journey find they cannot find work or become enslaved in a job that is little more than slavery, so may have to resort to crime to exist. This has a negative effect on the area they live in, causing resentment from the locals, ill treatment begins and so the spiral descends. This is the sort of thing i fear for the canary islands...i hope it won't happen, but steps need to be taken now to repatriate these people back to country of origin and try to smash the unscrupulous ring of gangmasters who trade in human misery.
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