The professional association JUCIL has recently submitted an official brief addressed to the Director General of the Guardia Civil to demand an urgent reinforcement of human and material resources in the face of “the serious migration crisis” experienced by the island of El Hierro, where since the beginning of November the arrival of about 6,700 migrant people has been recorded.
In the note circulated by the organization, it is warned that the current resources of the Armed Institute on the island are “clearly insufficient” to take on this workload “without putting at risk” the safety of the entire population of El Hierro and the integrity of both the citizens and the Guardia Civil officers themselves.
JUCIL details that, at present, the ordinary deployment is limited to a single Security Citizen unit patrol to handle the continuous arrivals of pateras and to cover all surveillance needs on the island, to which is added another patrol from the Fiscal service in charge of security at the airport.
The association explains that, although temporary support has been enabled—such as the commission of two or three additional agents and the dispatch of a USECIC section from Tenerife with eight officers—these reinforcements prove “insufficient”. To this lack of staff is added “a deficient planning” of leaves, activations, and changes of duty, with notices “day to day” that force the Guardia Civil officers who have been deployed to look for accommodation on their own. Given this, JUCIL “demands adequate logistical organization that guarantees dignified stays and rest periods”.
In the brief filed with the General Directorate, the group calls for specific measures to be adopted under the regulations in force. Among them, it requests the establishment of a gratuity for extraordinary services—in terms similar to that applied in 2021 after the crisis in Ceuta, with an amount of 100 euros per day of service after a minimum of four hours—as well as the recognition and urgent payment of the corresponding ACEX and CREX incentives to the agents involved.
The association also calls for reviewing and improving staff allowances, speeding up the payment of advances and settlements, and retroactively increasing the amounts earmarked for lodging and, especially, for the meals of the deployed guards, in order to adequately compensate the expenses incurred.
JUCIL also asks that “strict orders” be issued so that all services provided, together with schedule changes, rest periods and vacations for the staff assigned and seconded starting from 1 November, are reflected “with total thoroughness” in the SIGO application.
EPI, health protocols and recognition
As for the material resources, the association insists on the urgency of equipping the officers with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) and of implementing “clear” coordination protocols with health services in the event of possible transmissible diseases, including tuberculosis when there is medical suspicion.
JUCIL adds to its demands the creation of a specific badge or decoration that recognizes the work of the personnel deployed in the El Hierro operation, as a way to make visible the effort made in this context of migratory pressure.
The organization stresses that public safety and humanitarian care “cannot indefinitely fall upon the superhuman effort and the shortage of resources of the personnel on the front line”. Along these lines, it recalls the importance of recognizing the Guardia Civil as a high-risk profession, guaranteeing the right to a dignified retirement, and achieving a “real and complete” pay parity with the regional police forces.