The Government is “assessing the possibility” of opening an Emergency Reception and Referral Center (CAED) for migrants in the facilities of the Ciudad Real airport, a private and disused facility. This has been confirmed to elDiario.es Castilla-La Mancha sources from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.
For their part, sources from the Castilian-La Mancha Executive, from the PSOE, have described the situation as “atrocious”, regretting the ways in which the news was known. They affirm that it has been communicated through a telephone call to the head of the Ministry of Social Welfare Bárbara García Torijano.
Furthermore, they disagree with the place chosen to host migrants. “Is a barracks at an airport better than treating these human beings with dignity in the residential resources that the Government has throughout Spain, also in Castilla-La Mancha?” ask the same sources from the Castilian-La Mancha Executive.
The Ciudad Real facility, “one more” of those being considered
Regarding the “potential” reception center, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration affirms, as confirmed to this medium, that the use given to the airport facility currently is “marginal, for some private flights.” and that with the initiative “it would be a temporary center to welcome people arriving at the coast and coming from the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands and other points of arrival in the Peninsula such as Murcia, Almería or Alicante.”
To this end, the ministry is carrying out the pertinent studies and analyzes to conclude the “definitive suitability” of the project. Once finalized, said suitability will be confirmed along with the main characteristics of the center if it is “definitely considered viable.” The ministerial sources consulted add that this, like “many other” locations on the Iberian Peninsula, is being studied. The objective, they add, is to “relieve the tension on the islands” and that this “is one more, whose analysis by the ministry team is currently taking place.”
They also explain that the Secretary of State has already spoken with the Castilian-La Mancha counselor to “explain the procedure and the situation, within the dialogue and the constant means of collaboration.”
This medium has contacted the Ciudad Real airport to find out its assessment on the matter, without receiving a response at the moment.
For the PP it would be a “concentration camp” or the “Guantánamo of La Mancha”
For his part, the mayor of Ciudad Real, Francisco Cañizares of the PP, has shown in a statement his “rejection” of the implementation of a “concentration camp for immigrants” at the Ciudad Real airport, before knowing the details of the project. They have insisted on showing their “complete rejection” and regret that the local Administration was not involved.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Puertollano, Miguel Ángel Ruiz, has shown his “indignation” and has compared it to a “La Mancha Guantánamo”.
In a statement sent by the Popular Party, the mayor maintains that “not only is what the Government proposed is an absurd idea, but it is also an unacceptable offense, both in that it converts an installation that was once conceived as the flag of the progress and development of our province in a ghetto for immigrants.”
“It is a retrograde, arbitrary idea devoid of any logic, in addition to a lack of respect for this province and for the people who are forced to migrate from their country, an offense against the dignity of people,” he emphasizes.
In his opinion, “they intend to convert the airport, the place that was called to promote our progress, into a Guantánamo of La Mancha, isolated and segregated, an airport converted into an improvised shelter, without planning, without respect for the rights of those who arrive seeking a better future.”
“That the airport is transformed into a shelter for immigrants is a foolish idea that disrespects this region, this province and this region and, from this City Council, we are not going to tolerate it,” he concludes.
Source: www.eldiario.es
