The Minister of Territorial Policy of the Government of Spain, Ángel Víctor Torres, will travel this Sunday to the island of El Hierro to check firsthand the intense migratory pressure this territory is undergoing. His trip takes place after the understanding reached between the autonomous Executive and the central government to increase the available resources and address the emergency situation that the island is living through.
Starting at 13:00 hours this Sunday, Torres is scheduled to go to the port of La Restinga, the main point of entry for most of the migrant people who arrive at the archipelago and the scene, just a few days ago, of local protests over the social and economic impact that the migratory upturn is generating in the area.
The visit is set against a backdrop of heavy migratory pressure both in El Hierro and across the whole of the Canary Islands. Only this past Saturday, the Maritime Rescue center in Tenerife provided assistance to 1,324 migrant people traveling in 14 irregular vessels located in the vicinity of the islands.
Against this backdrop, last Tuesday led the state and Canary governments to hold a meeting to assess the situation and reach an agreement that will make it possible to respond to the needs arising from the emergency.
At the end of the Extraordinary Interministerial Commission, the State assumed the commitment to strengthen the healthcare system in El Hierro, to ensure "agile" referrals in a scenario of high pressure, and to maintain periodic meetings between administrations to ensure coordinated action in the face of this challenge.
It is planned that this Monday the President of the Canary Islands and the head of Territorial Policy will hold a new conversation in order to review the degree of compliance with the commitments made and to lay out the timetable for the next measures to be applied, including the compensations promised by the State to the population of El Hierro.