The Open Arms , for the moment, stays in Lampedusa . And from everything that happened on Monday, it follows that the NGO, more than not being able, flees the option to dock in Spain , because it rejects that possibility with reasons that hide part of reality. For the organization, the objective is to disembark as quickly as possible in Lampedusa, something logical, because the ship is one kilometer away and drags 19 days of anguish. But it is also known that the pulse with Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini prevents it. And that only leaves an alternative that will not be the best humanitarianly but is the only feasible now. It also happens that this path compromises the future of the organization.

Last April, the Open Arms received authorization to navigate to Greece and transport humanitarian material, but the NGO itself accepted that it did so "without authorization for search and rescue missions." In fact, the ship had been blocked in Barcelona for more than 100 days by decision of the Ministry of Development , which claimed security reasons. Which? He was not allowed to go out to sea since he could not disembark in Italy or Malta - the closest ports - to those who saved in the Mediterranean. Just that has happened now; That is why, when he was allowed to leave Barcelona, ​​he was only allowed to transport help, not to rescue. However, at the end of June, the founder of the NGO, carscar Camps , announced: "Six months blocked. We can't stand it anymore. We pick up anchors and leave. Before prisoners who complicit [in death]." And they went to the area of Libya to rescue, breaking the explicit veto.

The manifest and recognized breach would have consequences - a fine close to one million euros, a stronger blockade ... - if the Open Arms docks at a Spanish port.

The fear of the Open Arms

The events of recent days have revealed that this fear determines the position of the NGO, whose refusal to offer Pedro Sánchez is also explained as an attempt to guarantee his own survival, so that this episode is not the last of his humanitarian work, recognized. Therefore, on Tuesday they surprised by proposing the transfer by plane of the 107 migrants - a year ago, they sailed to Algeciras -. They argue that a three-day journey, to Palma , for example, would be unassuming, psychologically, for those embarked. Minister Calvo replied on Monday that when the rescued people are told that they are going with guarantees to a Spanish port that psychological state will mutate. On the contrary, from the ship it is insisted: "To give dignity to the shipwrecked people they would have to be transferred to Sicily and then to Madrid ". According to Riccardo Gatti , head of the current mission of the NGO, "renting a plane for 200 people costs 240 euros per passenger," cheaper than a ship, he says. He will not lie, but it sounds forced as an argument and conceals that this initiative also means keeping the ship away from the Spanish Government.

More strangeness: the Open Arms said it would accept to go to the Balearic Islands if Spain and Italy gave them "the necessary means" and there was security. Food and fuel were offered from Moncloa ...; from Rome , they guaranteed military escort. But the NGO did not move either.

For them, it would be desirable for the rescued to be transferred to a military ship. In fact, last week they appealed to the German Alan Kurdi case. Then, the migrants were transferred to a ship of the army of Malta, which led them to port. That option would also prevent the Open Arms from returning to Spain. But Minister Calvo rejected that possibility. "The ship is fine. Asking a ship that can come to come is not much," he said in La Sexta . It's not much, but it's almost everything.

For its part, the Italian transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, has offered Monday that members of the Italian Coast Guard escort the rescue ship to a Spanish port. "We are willing to take, with our Coast Guard, to an Iberian port to all migrants who are on board the Open Arms," ​​said the minister through his page on the social network Facebook.

There is a final element of contradiction between what is said and what underlies. From the ship the no was based on Spain in which the situation is "unsustainable". And the visit to the Open Arms of a group of doctors, on Monday, confirmed that the psychological situation worsens, but also that the state of health of the embarked can not be defined, even, as an emergency.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Open arms
  • Spain
  • Barcelona
  • Italy
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Madrid
  • Matteo Salvini
  • The sixth
  • Libya
  • Greece
  • Balearics
  • Refugees

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