Migrant detention center (CATE) in Arrecife, next to the police station in the capital of Lanzarote, last October.
The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the declaration of general interest for all the works that the Ministry of the Interior plans to carry out in 2022. Among these works is the Temporary Attention Center for Foreigners (CATE) in Arrecife (Lanzarote, 64,497 inhabitants) , a camp for the detention of immigrants arriving by boat that was set up behind the police station in the capital of Lanzarote in October and whose opening is blocked by the City Council. During these months of administrative blockade, newcomers have been recurrently crammed into a ship without the minimum health conditions and in which men, women and children live together for more than the 72 hours allowed by law. Following the decision of the Council of Ministers,Interior sources maintain that the CATE will be able to start operating "immediately" and "without the need for ordinary municipal permits".
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The pulse of the City Council of Arrecife to Interior again crowds hundreds of migrants in a ship
Interior sources do not specify when the CATE will be inaugurated, which was financed with 2.1 million European funds, and police sources are still cautious about the opening.
Among other things, water and electricity supplies would still be missing, according to the same sources.
In any case, from the ministry they point out that the declaration of general interest of an infrastructure, “especially when it is made directly by the legislator”, prevents it from being impeded or hindered by “urban planning” or by “the exercise of powers municipal”.
The pulse initiated by the mayor of the PP, Astrid Pérez, and the General Directorate of the Police dates back to October, when the board of directors of the Port Authority of Las Palmas agreed to initiate the file for the free transfer of the land where the camp is located. , a plot behind the Arrecife police station in the port area. The City Council, against the criteria of the Port and Interior Authority, maintained that the start of the file was not equivalent to its transfer and that, therefore, the ministry had to wait to execute the work until the procedure was concluded, which can take up to two years. . But when the municipal authorities began to fight this issue publicly, also warning that it is a land at risk of flooding by sewage when it rains, the camp was already set up.
According to the version of the City Council, the ministry came to request a building license later, but did not complete the procedure.
On November 23, the corporation gave him ten days to present the construction project, justify the payment of the fees, and provide the deposit in case the installation was not authorized to demolish it, but Interior did not respond to the request.
After two months, on January 26, the City Council assumed the withdrawal of the ministry and opened the door to dismantle the site.
Asked this Tuesday on Radio Televisión Canaria, the mayor insisted that her technical reports are contrary to the opening and she criticized the ministry's non-compliance with legality.
Beyond the administrative mess, the mayor has made it clear that she does not want an immigrant center in the center of her municipality.
“I don't like CATE at all in the center of my city.
First, because it is not the ideal place and, second, because from a technical point of view it does not meet the requirements, ”she said this Monday, at a press conference dedicated to the issue.
“We spend a lot of money on tourism promotion so that some can arrive and settle wherever they want as if this were Venezuela.
In Madrid's Puerta del Sol they don't dare, but in Arrecife they do”.
Pérez was very critical of the ministry and the government.
He questioned the cost of the work —”they must be the most expensive tents and perimeter fence in history.
I don't think that costs more than 50,000 euros)” and maintained that he has received pressure from the government delegation to unblock the camp — “the worst thing is that they encourage me to prevaricate”—.
Although the situation is not comparable to the dock in Gran Canaria and the blockade of that camp pushes immigrants into an even worse place, such as the ship, Pérez also warned: “I do not want an
Arguineguín 2
. immigrants”
