Opinion

EUCOCO, Omicron and the nonsense of the Polisario's friends in Spain

photo_camera Sáhara

Relatively recently, at the end of 2021, the traditional annual 'bathing and massage meeting' between the friends of the Sahara in Spain and the Polisario, also known as EUCOCO, was held in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In this case, the venue was the capital of Gran Canaria, among other reasons because the previous year it had been postponed due to the state of alarm prevailing in that complicated 2020. A year later, in the midst of the explosion of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, and instead of the event being suspended again out of pure common sense and responsibility, it was held despite the obvious risks of exposure and contagion for potential attendees.

In a similar situation, also in Las Palmas and on similar dates, events in which, for example, the participation of the undersigned was guaranteed, had to be postponed, but due to a basic question of principle and concern for the safety and well-being of the attendees (speakers and public), it was decided to postpone them indefinitely. On the other hand, the main supporter of EUCOCO being held in Gran Canaria - whose name I do not think it is necessary to underline at this point - insisted, almost testosteronically, that an event he was not willing to postpone for the second time in a year should take place. Perhaps for some, arrogance and foolishness are ahead of any global pandemic.

On the other hand, the managers of the event must not have had much grey matter to spare, from the very moment that it occurred to them to organise an event of such calibre, focused on potential participants not only from Las Palmas, but also from the rest of the islands and national territory, in a tourist place par excellence such as the Canary Islands, in the middle of a week of exorbitant prices for the long weekend of the Constitution, with a registration fee of 150 euros, plus the costs of flights, accommodation and food and beverages. All this added to the aforementioned risk of contagion. Either the EUCOCO had to be organised above all else in the capital of Gran Canaria for the greater glory of Carmelo Ramírez and his Cabildo, or they had lost their minds. Although, in view of what has been seen, it would not be unreasonable to think of a mixture of both options.

However, the aforementioned 'annual bath and massage meeting' is by no means a gratuitous allusion, as the event was originally designated for the no less than 5-star Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Gran Canaria, in the tourist resort of Mogán, in the south of the island. This suggests that perhaps it was already foreseen that there would not be too many paying guests, perhaps invited by the organisers if you like, an 'all-inclusive' event. Something the Polisario leaders are used to, by the way.

Although finally it seems that someone finally had the good sense to propose the transfer of the event to INFECAR, the Canary Islands Trade Fair Institution, dependent on the island's Cabildo, a fact which gives us a slight idea of who is behind all the comings and goings. What we have no doubt about is that the INFECAR venue could well have ended up being renamed INFECTAR, in view of the nonsense of the non-cancellation of the meeting. Fortunately, the poor attendance and participation of the event, far below the figures usually provided by the organisation itself, meant that the omicron variant did not run rampant among people coming from very different places, a not insignificant detail if we stick to purely epidemiological issues.

These lines could probably have been written earlier, perhaps one thinks that the passage of time gives more weight to certain things, and that some time is needed to expose them properly, but today I understand that the content of the above is not at all trivial, on the contrary, it is still valid. Despite the time that has passed since December, hardly any mention has been made of the moral character of Polisario's friends in Spain, in collusion with the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, and of Polisario itself and its representatives in Spain. All of them put the health of third parties at risk in Las Palmas, while throughout Spain the utmost precautions were taken in all areas, starting with the restrictions ordered by government institutions and which had to be complied with.

Beyond the fact that the interested parties could use some legal loophole to justify the holding of an event of this nature, in order to claim that there was no breach of regulations, there is no doubt that this event, with a priori massive attendance even despite the restrictions, should have been cancelled or postponed for reasons so obvious that it is not even worth mentioning them. Especially when local public institutions were involved in its organisation.

And it is no small matter when in the workshops held during the event, and in its conclusions (of course prefabricated and drafted in advance as usual, despite the assembly posturing that is usually staged beforehand), certain values are extolled and elevated, violations of one's own rights by others are denounced, and countless demands are made of all kinds of organisations and institutions, both international and Spanish. In fact, with regard to COVID-19, they proposed in their conclusions "to continue promoting a pressure campaign so that the Spanish government, due to its status as the administering power of the territory and its responsibility, promotes material support to neutralise the effects derived from COVID-19 in the camps and liberated territories".

At this point, it is worth remembering that a large part of the Canarian political class accompanied and supported Polisario unwaveringly during those days, while the Canarian victims of its terrorist acts during the 1970s and 1980s await, amidst weariness and oblivion, justice and reparation through the oft-promised draft autonomous Law on Victims of Terrorism. A law that has been suspiciously delayed for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, their private party continued to be held during these days in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in the middle of last December, in the midst of the explosion and expansion of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, which left such lamentable after-effects. They talk about the wickedness of others, but when it comes to brazenness they know no bounds. And despite the weeks that have passed, I did not want to stop remembering it. After all, their shamelessness has never had an expiry date.