50 Years After Franco’s Death, Giving A Voice To Spanish Dictator’s Imprisoned Mothers

A protester holds a banner with pictures of people who went missing during the Spanish dictatorship of Francisco Franco. John Milner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

BY ZAYA RUSTAMOVA

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SPANISH,

KENNEDSAW STATE UNIVERSITY

In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Francisco Franco’s death on Nov. 20, 2025, the left-leaning Spanish government led a vigil honoring the many victims of the dictator’s regime.

While the exact numbers remain impossible to determine, historians estimate that Franco’s men killed up to 100,000 people during the brutal Spanish Civil War, and tens of thousands were executed during his dictatorial rule from 1939 until his death in 1975. Hundreds of thousands more were imprisoned, sent to labor camps or subjected to political persecution. To these figures, we must add the roughly half a million people who fled or were forced into exile.

Among the multitudes of Francoism’s victims were women and children who endured psychological and physical abuse in prisons, orphanages and asylums. Yet for decades their experiences have remained marginal in the public narrative – highlighting the uneven acknowledgment of different groups of victims amid Spain’s broader struggle to confront its past.

Still, their stories remain alive in the testimonies of the women who were imprisoned by the regime. In the summer of 2024, I conducted research at the Documentation Center of Historical Memory in Salamanca, collecting documented written accounts of traumatic experiences suffered by Spain’s female population under Franco. They reveal the extent to which Francoist repression was structured through gender, framing women as inherently subordinate and subjecting those who resisted the regime’s patriarchal order to especially severe punishment.

Franco’s gendered violence

My study explores the testimonies of women imprisoned during the civil war or subsequent decades, all of whom endured suffering related to their motherhood. While some were detained for their ideological allegiance to the republic that preceded Franco’s ascent, others had no formal partisan affiliations or were merely related to men who did.

These women suffered what many survivors and historians have described as a “double punishment” – targeted not only for their beliefs or associations but just for being women and mothers.

The earliest testimony I came across was from a woman detained in 1939, just three years after Franco, a military general, led an uprising against the democratically elected government of the Second Republic that precipitated the civil war and his subsequent reign.

Under Franco’s dictatorial regime, women’s roles were rigidly controlled by the ideology of National Catholicism, which linked femininity, motherhood and loyalty to the state. The church reinforced this vision, “dictating that women served the fatherland through self-sacrifice and dedication to the common good.”

Those who defied the patriarchy were criminalized and subjected to “re-education” focused on religious values.

Women’s so-called “redemption” under this reeducation was no less violent than their confinement. As one witness described, in May of 1939 the auditorium of Las Ventas prison was prepared to celebrate “two girls and a boy (… recently) born in prison.” During the ceremony, a choir “composed of forty inmates, including opera singers, music teachers, violinists, and amateurs,” had to perform the national anthems with the fascist arm-raised salute.

Yet confinement itself was particularly brutal.

According to Josefina García, a woman imprisoned during the 1940s, guards regularly insulted and beat inmates. “If you were at home behaving like decent women, you wouldn’t be here,” she recalled one saying. García continued: “Of course, they used a crude, sexist language. The police ‘used words’ in a way that sometimes leave a mark deeper than a bruise.”

Gender also played a role in the type of punishment prisoners received. Following their arrest, women were subjected to head shaving, forced ingestion of castor oil and the subsequent public humiliation of being made to walk in circles while defecating. In addition, they were often subjected to sexual violence by prison guards or interrogating officers.

Recounting her experience, another witness reported the case of an 18-year-old sister of a guerrilla fighter in Valencia who “was subjected to terrible torture, stripped naked in a room with several Civil Guards who pricked her breasts, genitals, and stomach with … needles.”

Motherhood as battleground

One of the most painful aspects of Franco’s repression was the forced separation of mothers and their children.

Upon incarceration, women frequently lost custody of their sons and daughters, who were placed in orphanages or adopted by families loyal to Franco and his regime. Such violent ruptures of the maternal bond were more than an act of personal cruelty – they were a calculated political strategy rooted in the broader Francoist ideology.

Since Francoism promoted an image of women as obedient wives and self-sacrificing mothers devoted to the Catholic family model, Republican women were demonized as immoral, dangerous and unworthy of motherhood.

By stripping women of their children, the regime both punished them and reinforced its narrative that only “loyal” women could be true mothers.

Meanwhile, child-rearing or birth during incarceration was marked by fear and uncertainty. In certain cases, newborns were allowed to stay with their mothers for a short time. However, a lack of proper nourishment and mental exhaustion made breastfeeding an impossible task.

At times, women who began to lactate were denied the possibility of nursing their infants, leading to physical pain and emotional torment.

More often, babies were permanently taken away altogether, deemed at risk of being “contaminated” by their mothers’ ideological values.

“When I was arrested, my son was five days old,” one victim, Carmen Caamaño, reported. “About a year later, they said I no longer needed to breastfeed him and took the child out of the prison. Some friends had to take him in because I had no family there.”

There were also countless cases in which children were imprisoned alongside their mothers. With no other relatives to care for them, these children suffered from hunger, disease and a lack of basic hygiene in their overcrowded cells. For mothers, the psychological burden was immense as they were forced to watch their children suffer, yet they had no power to protect them.

In the summer of 1941, about six or seven children died daily in these prisons from starvation and diseases, according to accounts of survivors.

Trauma and resistance

Alongside trauma, there were also moments of resistance.

Mothers in prison looked for ways to nurture their children despite scarcity and fear. Testimonies I reviewed relate cases of inmates sharing food, telling stories and protecting children as best they could. These small acts of care were a quiet but powerful form of defiance.

Yet for many women, the trauma of these losses never healed. Survivors often speak of the pain of separation as an open wound that lasted a lifetime. Children raised in prisons or separated from their families carried the scars into adulthood.

Even decades after the regime ended, many descendants still struggle with the weight of this silenced past. Yet because of Spain’s Amnesty Act of 1977, which was granted for past political crimes, those responsible for atrocities committed under Franco have seldom been held accountable.

Histories of the Franco years often leave the grief of the intergenerational trauma in the shadows. And for the victims themselves, the traumatic motherhood experiences under his dictatorship reveal more than just personal suffering – they expose how authoritarian power can reach into the most intimate parts of life.

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

Accept Our King, Our God − Or Else: The Senseless ‘Requirement’ Spanish Colonizers Used To Justify Their Bloodshed In The Americas

Art from Madrid’s Museo de America depicts enslaved Indigenous people forced to build Mexico City on the ruins of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images

BY DIEGO JAVIER LUIS

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY,

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Across the United States, the second Monday of October is increasingly becoming known as Indigenous Peoples Day. In the push to rename Columbus Day, Christopher Columbus himself has become a metaphor for the evils of early colonial empires, and rightly so.

The Italian explorer who set out across the Atlantic in search of Asia was a notorious advocate for enslaving the Indigenous Taínos of the Caribbean. In the words of historian Andrés Reséndez, he “intended to turn the Caribbean into another Guinea,” the region of West Africa that had become a European slave-trading hub.

By 1506, however, Columbus was dead. Most of the genocidal acts of violence that defined the colonial period were carried out by many, many others. In the long shadow of Columbus, we sometimes lose sight of the ideas, laws and ordinary people who enabled colonial violence on a large scale.

As a historian of colonial Latin America, I often begin such discussions by pointing to a peculiar document drafted several years after Columbus’ death that would have greater repercussions for Indigenous peoples than Columbus himself: the Requerimiento, or “Requirement.”

Catch-22

In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas infamously divided much of the world beyond Europe into two halves: one for the Spanish crown, the other for the Portuguese. Spaniards lay claim to almost the entirety of the Americas, though they knew almost nothing about this vast domain or the people who lived there.

In order to inform Indigenous people that they had suddenly become vassals of Spain, King Ferdinand and his councilors instructed colonizers to read the Requerimiento aloud upon first contact with all Indigenous groups.

The document presented them with a choice that was no choice at all. They could either become Christians and submit to the authority of the Catholic Church and the king, or else:
“With the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we can … we shall take you and your wives and your children and shall make slaves of them … the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault.”

It was a catch-22. According to the document, Indigenous people could either voluntarily surrender their sovereignty and become vassals or bring war upon themselves – and perhaps lose their sovereignty anyway, after much bloodshed. No matter what they chose, the Requerimiento supplied the legal pretext for forcibly incorporating sovereign Indigenous peoples into the Spanish domain.

At its core, the Requerimiento was a legal ritual, a performance of possession – and it was unique to early Spanish imperialism.

‘As absurd as it is stupid’

But for all of its seeming authority, the reading of the Requerimiento was an absurd exercise. It first occurred at what is now Santa Marta, Colombia, during the expedition led by Pedrarias Dávila in 1513. An eyewitness, the chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, stated the obvious: “we have no one here who can help [the Indigenous people] understand it.”

Even with a translator, though, the document – with its lofty references to the Biblical creation of the world and papal authority – would hardly be intelligible to people unfamiliar with the Spaniards’ religion. Explaining the convoluted document would require nothing less than a long recitation of Catholic history.

Oviedo suggested that to deliver such a lecture, you’d have to first capture and cage an Indigenous person. Even then, it would be impossible to verify whether the document had been fully understood.

However, for the Requerimiento’s greatest critic, Bartolomé de las Casas, translation was merely one of many problems. A missionary from Spain, Las Casas criticized the spurious requirement itself: that a people should be expected to immediately convert to a religion they have only just learned exists, and
“swear allegiance to a king they have never heard of nor clapped eyes on, and whose subjects and ambassadors prove to be cruel, pitiless and bloodthirsty tyrants. … Such a notion is as absurd as it is stupid and should be treated with the disrespect, scorn and contempt it so amply deserves.”

Las Casas, who documented abuses against Indigenous people in multiple books and speeches, was one of the most outspoken denouncers of Spanish cruelty in the Americas. While he believed Spaniards had a right and even an obligation to convert Indigenous people to Catholicism, he did not believe that conversion should be done under the threat of violence.

Wars and forced settlement

Indigenous people responded to the Requerimiento in numerous ways. When the Chontal Maya of Potonchan – a Maya capital now part of Mexico – heard the conquistador Hernando Cortés read the document three consecutive times, they answered with arrows. After Cortés captured the town, they agreed to become Christian vassals of Spain on the condition that the Spaniards “leave their land.” When Cortés’ men remained after three days, the Chontal Maya attacked again.

Farther north, Spanish expeditioners Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Melchior Díaz used the Requerimiento to forcibly relocate various Indigenous groups.

A bloodthirsty governor of the province, Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán – so violent that the Spanish themselves imprisoned him for abuses of power – had driven Indigenous residents out of the Valley of Culiacan in a series of brutal wars. But in 1536, Cabeza de Vaca and Díaz forced several groups, including the Tahue, to repopulate the valley after convincing them to accept the terms of the Requerimiento.

Resettlement would enable the collection of tribute and conversion to Catholicism. It was simply easier to assign missionaries and tribute collectors to established Hispanic townships than to mobile communities spread out across vast territories.

Cabeza de Vaca encouraged Indigenous leaders to accept the proposition by claiming that their god, Aguar, was the same as the Christians’, and so they should “serve him as we commanded.” In such cases, conversion to Catholicism was just as farcical as the Requerimiento itself.

Violence and colonial legacy

Even when Indigenous people accepted the Requerimiento, however, Las Casas wrote that “they are (still) harshly treated as common slaves, put to hard labor and subjected to all manner of abuse and to agonizing torments that ensure a slower and more painful death than would summary execution.” In most cases, the Requerimiento was simply a precursor to violence.

Dávila, the conquistador of present-day northern Colombia, once read it out of earshot of a village just before launching a surprise attack. Others read the Requerimiento “to trees and empty huts” before drawing their swords. The path to vassalage was paved in blood.

These are the truest indications of what the Requerimiento became on the ground. Soldiers and officials were content to violently deploy or discard royal prerogatives as they pleased in their pursuit of the spoils of war.

And yet, despite the viciousness, many Indigenous peoples survived by stringing their bows like the Chontal Maya, or negotiating a new relationship with Spain like the Tahue of Culiacan. Tactics varied greatly and changed over time.

Many Indigenous nations that exercised them survive today, long outliving the Spanish Empire – and the people who carried the Requerimiento on their crusade across the Americas.

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

Hispanic Health Disparities In The US Trace Back To The Spanish Inquisition

BY MARGARET BOYLE

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE

LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES,

DIRECTOR OF LATIN AMERICAN,

CARIBBEAN, AND LATINX STUDIES PROGRAM

BOWDOIN COLLEGE

Many of the significant health disparities and inequities Hispanic communities in the United States face are tied to a long history of health injustice in the Hispanic world.

The health landscape of early modern Hispanic societies, particularly from the late 15th to 18th centuries, was a complex interplay between professional and nonprofessional providers shaping health care. The convergence of Indigenous, African and European practices, both in Spain and the Americas, affected how clinicians treated their patients.

This all played out against the backdrop of the Inquisition and colonization, when the Catholic Church prosecuted heresy. Consolidating religious norms promoted health care through charitable activity, such as the creation of hospitals, but also created challenges between the authority of the Catholic Church and competing health care initiatives.

My research focuses on how health and medical practices in early modern Latin America and Spain are represented through cultural artifacts, including literature, recipe books, the Inquisition and convent records. In our book, my colleague Sarah Owens and I explore how gender norms affected medicine and health care. We also consider how popular representations of health and medicine in culture inform widely held beliefs and biases about these experiences.

Understanding the historical roots of health disparities in Hispanic communities can help address them both locally and globally today.

Interplay of medical practices

Latin America and Spain in the late 15th to 18th centuries were home to a number of medical practices, including traditional medical knowledge and remedies and the professionalization of medicine through new universities and licensing systems.

Early modern medical humanists, or Renaissance clinicians, took up medical treatises by the ancient Greek and Roman physicians, including those of Galen and Hippocrates, and revived them in the context of “learned” medical instruction through European universities. The study of Paracelsianism, or the theories of Swiss physician Paracelsus, though more contested among practitioners because of its connections to the supernatural and occult, also affected a variety of health practices across early modern Spain and colonial Latin America. With the publication of anatomical treatises at the start of the 16th century, including the work of Renaissance physician Andreas Vesalius, the study of anatomy slowly and dramatically changed medical practice.

Traditional healing practices varied significantly but often provided accessible and culturally compatible care, including reduced language barriers. Many people in Hispanic communities still rely on these practices today. Discussions about the legitimacy and health effects of folk remedies in Latin America, such as varieties of herbal and holistic medicine and other animal-based remedies, are ongoing.

Gender and medicine

As health care became more professionalized during the early modern period, some women found ways to practice medicine in more formalized contexts, while others continued to work as healers or herbalists. These practices alternated between success and suspicion during the Spanish Inquisition. Accusations of sorcery and witchcraft along with sexualities outside heterosexual norms often collided with practices of health and medicine.

But just as pregnancy and child–rearing are not the only medical events that shaped early modern women’s lives, women medical providers weren’t only witches. Nuns in Arequipa prepared treatments in convents, and mothers and daughters made medicine within households in Madrid.

From Fernando de Rojas’ 1499 tragicomedy “La Celestina,” about the go-between who crafts love potions and repairs hymens, to the 2019 Colombian TV series “Siempre Bruja,” about a 17th century Afro-Colombian witch who finds herself in present-day Cartagena, the cultural legacy of witchy women healers in the Hispanic world continues to be deeply felt.

Class, race, geography and language

The transfer of plants, animals and diseases across the Atlantic also profoundly affected health outcomes.

European diseases such as smallpox devastated Indigenous populations. Meanwhile, plants from the Americas offered novel treatments for a number of illnesses globally. Peruvian cinchona bark is a natural source of quinine that proved effective against malaria, a disease prevalent in both Europe and the Americas. Other plants such as cacao seeds found various medicinal and ritual uses, including relieving exhaustion or anxiety or improving weight gain.

But access to this range of treatment methods was unequal, especially across social class and geography. Wealthier nobility in urban centers often had much greater access to scarce resources across the Iberian empire.

Health outcomes were also often linked to racial and ethnic hierarchies. Patients were classified as Spanish, mestizo – mixed European and Indigenous – or African slaves in treatment records. These documents show evidence of uneven access to care, while there is also evidence that some exchanges in care practices across these hierarchies were possible.

Forced displacement as well as language discrimination also affected health access and outcomes. Spanish wasn’t standardized as a language until the publication of Antonio de Nebrija’s “Grammar of the Castilian Language” in 1492, inscribed to Queen Isabel with the reminder that “language has always been the companion to empire.”

For example, while Arabic and Hebrew were widely spoken throughout the Iberian Peninsula before the forced expulsions of the Inquisition, politics around language resulted in centuries of stereotypes and discrimination against Muslim and Jewish medical providers, who had to navigate alternative licensing methods to practice medicine in Spain and its colonial territories.

Understanding the story of medicine

More than 400 years later, inequities in and commodification of Hispanic health and wellness continue.

Luxury travelers are sold wellness via Mayan purification rituals, among other assorted local remedies and practices that can be purchased, marketed and monetized. Wood from the Palo Santo tree, which healers have used for centuries for spiritual cleanings and pain relief, continues to be grown all over the Americas, including Mexico, Peru and Ecuador, and is now bought and sold globally to bring “good vibes.”

Considering these early modern health practices and inequities allows for deeper engagement with health care systems today. Informed critical thinking about medicine and health care across disciplines is a powerful way to consider how these histories continue to shape current values and practices, including ongoing disparities in health care.

One such discipline is narrative medicine. Using the tools of the humanities, physicians can broaden their view of their patients from simple metrics to human beings with stories to tell. This process involves perceiving and incorporating patients’ personal experiences, valuing narration of the past and recognizing the significance of the encounter between doctor and patient. While much of this research focuses on English-language narratives, cross-cultural and bilingual research in Spanish is expanding the field.

It is estimated that by 2060 there will be more than 111 million Latinos in the United States. Understanding the historical legacies that have shaped wellness and care practices, including the factors that determine care quality and access, can promote more equitable and culturally nuanced health outcomes.

READ ORIGINAL STORY HERE

A Record Number Of Migrants Have Arrived In Spain’s Canary Islands This Year. Most Are From Senegal

Red Cross workers distribute bottles of water to migrants on the dock in La Restinga on the Canary Island of El Hierro on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023...(Humberto Bilbao/Europa Press via AP)

BY RENATA BRITO

BARCELONA, SPAIN (AP) — A record number of migrants have made the treacherous boat journey on the Atlantic Ocean to Spain’s Canary Islands this year, and most of the 32,000 people are coming from Senegal.

The islands, located off West Africa, have been used for decades as a stepping stone to Europe. Boats also depart from Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and Western Sahara.

According to an Associated Press tally of figures released by Spain’s Interior Ministry and local emergency services, at least 32,029 people landed on the Canary Islands from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5. That exceeds the migration crisis of 2006, when 31,678 migrants disembarked.

Smugglers in Senegal pack young people looking for better opportunities in Europe into old artisanal fishing boats, charging them around 300,000 CFA francs ($490). The journey from Senegal to the Canaries usually takes a week of difficult upwind sailing for around 1,600 km (1,000 miles).

Migrant boats frequently shipwreck or disappear in the Atlantic.

To avoid border controls, smugglers take longer journeys, navigating west into the open Atlantic before continuing north to the Canaries — a detour that brings many to the tiny westernmost El Hierro island, at times overwhelming local authorities and emergency services.

Once a beacon of democratic stability in West Africa, Senegal has seen socio-political unrest with violent clashes earlier this year. President Macky Sall’s embattled government has dissolved Ousmane Sonko’s opposition party, popular among young voters.

A lack of jobs, the rising cost of living, depleting fishing stocks and poor health care are some of the reasons pushing thousands to leave Senegal for Spain, said Saliou Diouf, a Senegalese migrants’ rights activist and founder of the association Boza Fii.

The political crisis and crackdown on the opposition have extinguished any remaining hope young people had of a better future at home, Diouf added.

“They are looking for a way out,” he said. “They no longer trust the system.”

Their journey is one of the longest and most dangerous to Europe. At least 512 people have died so far this year according to the International Organization for Migration, though the figure is believed to be a vast undercount.

Diouf, who documents cases of missing migrants, says it’s impossible to know how many people have died because of the lack of information and transparency. Many migrants are not deterred by reports of shipwrecks, he said. They see those who make it and want to try their luck too.

While Senegalese migrants often struggle to obtain the necessary work and residency permits to stay in Spain, many eventually find ways to make a living in European cities or rural farmlands. When they do, the remittances they send home make a huge difference in their families’ lives.

Faced with the record number of arrivals this year, Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska flew to the Senegalese capital of Dakar last week to press the government to do more to stop boats from leaving.

Grande-Marlaska urged his Senegalese counterpart, Sidiki Kaba, to “act more quickly” and avoid more deaths.

“We agreed that we must combat irregular immigration with force,” Kaba said, acknowledging irregular migration as a “huge challenge” for Spain, Senegal and the European Union.

Spain has nearly 40 police and civil guard officers, four boats, a helicopter and an aircraft deployed in Senegal to monitor the country’s more than 500-kilometer (310-mile) coast and crack down on smuggling networks in collaboration with local authorities.

Madrid says the joint effort has successfully stopped 7,132 people from leaving Senegal this year.

During the 2006 “cayucos crisis” — named after the large canoe-shaped boats from Mauritania and Senegal often used by smugglers — Spain signed agreements with 10 African countries for them to accept returned migrants and stop new boats from leaving.

In the following years, arrivals to the Canary Islands declined and had been largely manageable until they spiked again in 2020 as a result of increased surveillance along the favored Mediterranean Sea route, among other factors.

Associated Press writer Babacar Dione in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this story.

Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Spain PM In Morocco To Mend Ties After Western Sahara Shift

In this photo provided by the Royal Palace, Moroccan King Mohammed VI, center, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, second left, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, second right, Prince Moulay Rachid, the king's brother, right, and Morocco's Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, left, pose before an Iftar meal, the evening meal when Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset, at the King Royal residence in Sale, Morocco, Thursday, April 7, 2022. Sanchez is on a two-day visit to Morocco that promises to mark an easing of diplomatic tensions centered on Morocco's disputed region of Western Sahara. (Moroccan Royal Palace via AP)

BY JOSEPH WILSON AND TARIK EL BARAKAH

RABAT, MOROCCO (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez traveled to Rabat on Thursday to meet with Moroccan King Mohammed VI seeking to mark the end of diplomatic tensions centered on Morocco’s disputed region of Western Sahara.

“Today is an important day for Spain and Morocco because we initiate a new phase of bilateral relations,” Sánchez said after meeting with the King before they shared, along with family members, the Iftar meal to break the day’s fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Relations between the two countries separated by the Strait of Gibraltar were severely frayed last April. Morocco was angered by Spain allowing the leader of the pro-independence movement for Western Sahara to receive medical treatment for COVID-19 at a Spanish hospital on request by Morocco’s neighbor Algeria, an ally of pro-independence Sahrawis.

Morocco responded by loosening its border controls around Spain’s North Africa enclave of Ceuta, provoking the unauthorized crossing of thousands of young Moroccans and migrants from other African countries.

The mood did not improve until last month, when Sánchez took the surprising decision that angered many of his political allies back home to alter Spain’s long-standing position on Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that’s largely barren but rich in phosphates and faces fertile fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco annexed it in 1976.

In a letter to King Mohammed, Sánchez backed Morocco’s plan to give more autonomy to Western Sahara as long as it remains unquestionably under Moroccan grip.

Morocco, in turn, sent back its ambassador to Spain 10 months after she was recalled.

After their meeting on Thursday, King Mohammed’s Royal Office issued a statement saying Sánchez “reaffirmed the position of Spain on the Sahara issue, considering the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the dispute.”

The Royal Office added that the leaders “agreed in particular to implement concrete actions in the framework of a roadmap covering all areas of the partnership, integrating all issues of common interest.”

Facing immense political pressure back in Spain for the policy change regarding Western Sahara, Sánchez needed to show some real gains from the meeting. He emerged with a commitment by Morocco to “progressively” reopen the frontiers with Ceuta and its sister enclave, Melilla, which had been closed since the start of the pandemic starting at a date to be determined. Maritime traffic of ferries that carry hundreds of thousands of travelers from Europe to visit family in Northern Africa at holidays will also be reinitiated, Sánchez said.

The Spanish leader said that both governments agreed to hold another meeting of high-level officials before the end of the year.

Morocco has grown in strategic importance to Spain over the past decade. Rabat is considered critical both in the fight against radical jihadi groups as well as in holding back increasing numbers of African migrants who want to reach Europe as they flee violence and poverty.

Sánchez and Spanish Foreign Minister José Albares have insisted that Spain continues to support the resolution of the Western Sahara question via a United Nations-backed referendum.

But the drive to appease Morocco has earned Sánchez sharp criticism both in Madrid and in Algiers.

His Socialist Party on Thursday lost a parliamentary motion backed by all the other parties, including the junior member in the government coalition, condemning the tilt toward Rabat. Its political opponents accuse Sánchez of having betrayed the Sahrawi people while getting nothing tangible in return from Morocco.

“Morocco has achieved one of its permanent demands in foreign policy, but I don’t think my country has received anything in exchange,” said Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the conservative leader of the main opposition party, after meeting with the primer minister ahead of the trip to Rabat and calling the government’s move “inadmissible” and a U-turn on 40 years of diplomacy.

Potentially even more problematic for Sánchez is the damage to relations with Algeria, which has recalled its ambassador to Spain in a sign of its continued support for the Western Sahara independence movement. Spain, while having a relatively low dependence on fossil fuel imports compared to other European Union countries, receives natural gas from Algeria via a pipeline and tankers carrying liquified natural gas.

Laurence Thieux, professor of Islamic Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid, said that she was surprised by the “scant consideration of Algeria in the decision” by Spain to tilt toward Morocco in the Western Sahara dispute.

“I have the feeling that Spain’s government, like many other European governments, is managing crises that force them to take short-term decisions,” Thieux said. “From the other shore (of the Mediterranean) there is a different sense of time because they are authoritarian governments that have perspectives that stretch beyond the next election.”

___ Joseph Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain

Spain Changes Stance, Backs Moroccan Rule In Western Sahara

FILE - Polisario Front soldiers talk during a shooting exercise, near Mehaires, Western Sahara, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. Morocco’s royal palace says that Spain’s prime minister has told the Moroccan king that a proposal for establishing an autonomous Western Sahara under Rabat’s rule is “the most serious, realistic and credible” initiative for resolving a decades-long dispute over the vast territory. The palace says Friday, March 18, 2021 that, in a letter to King Mohammed VI, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recognized “the importance of the Sahara issue for Morocco” and that “Spain considers the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007, as the basis, the most serious, realistic and credible, for resolving the dispute." (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

BY ARITZ PARRA

MADRID (AP) — Spain on Friday declared “a new stage” in its strained relations with Morocco after the Spanish prime minister wrote to the Moroccan king, agreeing that having Western Sahara operate autonomously under Rabat’s rule is “the most serious, realistic and credible” initiative for resolving a decades-long dispute over the vast African territory.

This marked an enormous departure from Spain’s earlier stance of considering Morocco’s grip on Western Sahara an occupation. The shift followed months of frosty diplomatic relations and led to the announcement of a flurry of visits by Spanish officials to its southern neighbor.

It also opened up disputes within Spain’s left-to-center governing coalition.

The United Nations has continued to regard Madrid as the colonial administrative power for Western Sahara, even after its annexation by Morocco immediately after Spain abandoned its African province in 1975. Over the years, the Spanish government’s official position, along with the European Union’s, has been to support a U.N.-sponsored referendum to settle the territory’s decolonization.

But according to a statement issued by Morocco’s royal palace on Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recognized “the importance of the Sahara issue for Morocco” in a letter to King Mohammed VI.

“Spain considers the autonomy initiative presented by Morocco in 2007 as the basis, the most serious, realistic and credible, for resolving the dispute,” the royal palace quoted Sánchez.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares confirmed the Moroccan announcement.

“Today we begin a new stage in our relations with Morocco and finally close a crisis with a strategic partner,” he told reporters. He added that the new chapter was “based on mutual respect, compliance with agreements, the absence of unilateral actions and transparency and permanent communication.”

Relations between Spain and Morocco hit a historical low last year after Spain secretly hosted for medical treatment the leader of the Polisario Front, which has led the yearning for independence by many Saharawis.

But when media affiliated with the Moroccan government revealed Brahim Ghali’s presence in Spain, Rabat allowed 10,000 people to cross the border into Ceuta, a Spanish city on the coast of North Africa. That leashed an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Morocco also recalled its ambassador in Madrid and hasn’t reinstated her.

Abdulah Arabi, who represents the Polisario in Spain, said Sánchez “succumbs to the pressure and blackmail” from Morocco by paying “a toll” to mend their damaged political and diplomatic ties. He said having Western Sahara be autonomous under Morocco is only one of many options that should be voted upon in a referendum.

“The solution has to be based on the choice voted by the Saharawi people,” Arabi said.

Some 176,000 Saharawi are believed to live in five refugee camps on Algerian soil, east of Western Sahara, in a sweltering desert that many consider no man’s land. They rely on humanitarian help and goods from international aid agencies, under the governance of the Polisario Front, which presides over an exiled Sahrawi republic.

In late 2020, their frustration over three decades in limbo led to the end of a cease-fire and new hostilities between Polisario forces and the Moroccan army.

Morocco departed from the agreement to hold a referendum for Western Sahara when it introduced its 2007 proposal of greater autonomy under its sovereignty. Using its leverage in keeping extremism in North Africa at bay and controlling the flow of African migrants towards the EU, Rabat has increasingly scored support for its proposal. First it was backed by France, then in late 2019 by the United States under former President Donald Trump, and more recently from Germany.

Western Sahara sits on vast phosphate deposits and faces rich fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean. Thousands of Sahrawis live in the Moroccan-controlled areas, where authorities keep a tight grip on dissent according to human rights groups.

A more assertive Morocco has also irked its regional foe, Algeria, a long-standing supporter of the Polisario that late last year severed diplomatic ties with Rabat.

Albares, the Spanish foreign minister, has been invited for meetings in Rabat later this month and officials were scheduling a visit by Sánchez himself, the Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs said.

In its statement, the Spanish government welcomed the invitations and said it wanted to face “common challenges” together with Rabat, “especially cooperation in the management of migratory flows in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.”

According to the Moroccan royal palace, in his message to the king, Sánchez wrote that Spain’s goal is “to act with the absolute transparency that corresponds to a great friend and ally.”

Sánchez, leader of Spain’s Socialists, has been at the helm of a fragile coalition with the far-left United We Can (Unidas Podemos) party, with the two sides often clashing over their views on feminism, social spending and foreign policy.

Soon after Morocco’s announcement, the junior partner’s most prominent leader, Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz, tweeted that she was committed “to the defense of the Saharawi people and to the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.”

“Any solution to the conflict must go through dialogue and respect for the democratic will of the Saharawi people,” Díaz added.

Tarik El Barakah in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

Over 4,000 Migrants Died Trying To Reach Spain In 2021

The shortest route to the Canary archipelago is more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Moroccan coat. Photo: Lluis Gené/AFP


MADRID, SPAIN (DAWN) -- Over 4,000 migrants died or disappeared trying to reach Spain by sea in 2021, twice as many as in the previous year, a migrant rights group said on Monday.

Migrant arrivals in Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic have increased since late 2019 after increased patrols along Europe’s southern coast dramatically reduced crossings to the continent via the Mediterranean.

This route is fraught with dangers due to strong currents and the greater distances involved.

A total of 4,404 migrants perished or vanished in attempts to reach Spain last year, up from 2,170 in 2020, according to Spanish non-governmental organisation Caminando Fronteras, which tracks data from boats in distress.

That is the highest yearly number since the group started keeping records in 2015.

The bodies of the vast majority of migrants, 94 percent, were never found so they are counted as missing.

Over 90 percent of the deaths or disappearances last year, 4,016, took place during attempts to reach Spain’s Canary Islands.

The shortest route to the archipelago is more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Moroccan coat.

“There are painful figures”,Maria Gonzalez Rollan, one of the authors of the annual report, told a news conference.

Migration routes to Spain were becoming more “feminised”, with 628 women and 205 children among those who died or went missing last year while trying to reach the country, she added.

The figures from the NGO are much higher than those from the UN International Organization for Migration which has tallied 1,279 deaths or disappearances of migrants on their way to Spain from northern Africa last year.

At least 37,385 migrants arrived in Spain by sea last year, according to Spanish interior ministry figures, slightly less than the 38,014 that arrived in 2020.

Cries in dark trigger migrant search

Spanish rescue services searched off the country’s southeast coast on Monday for 10 migrants missing at sea, after a passing vessel heard cries during the night from people in the water.

Emergency crews pulled 16 survivors and three bodies from the Mediterranean Sea after one small migrant boat sank and another took on water, Spanish authorities told state news agency EFE.

The search with helicopters and rescue boats began after a vessel in the area reported cries for help some 25 kilometres off the coast.

Survivors said there were 29 people, mostly men, on the two boats, according to EFE.

In another rescue, authorities rescued 51 men from an inflatable boat near Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands off northwest Africa.

Spains National Police announced that last year it arrested 202 people suspected of operating the boats taking migrants on the long and dangerous crossing from West Africa to the Spanish archipelago.

The Spanish Interior Ministry says more than 36,300 migrants reached Spain by sea last year up to Nov. 30. That was an increase of 1.4pc on the same period in 2020.

British Father [Gabriel Diya] And Two Children Who Drowned In Costa Del Sol Resort Are Named

A civil guard van is parked at the entrance of the Club La Costa World holiday resort near Malaga, Spain. Credit: AP

ITV NEWS

A British father and his two children who drowned in a swimming pool at a holiday resort in the Costa del Sol have been named.

Gabriel Diya, 52, his daughter Comfort Diya, 9, and his son Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, are understood to have died in the triple tragedy on Christmas Eve.

Mr Diya's Facebook account lists him as a manager of Open Heavens London, a Christian religious group with origins in Nigeria, based in Charlton, south-east London.

It is understood Mr Diya and his daughter are both British, while his son is American.

The three family members were found unresponsive in a swimming pool at Club La Costa World on Christmas Eve, a statement from holiday operator CLC World Resorts and Hotels said.

The incident occurred after the nine-year-old girl got into difficulties in the water and her brother, 16, and father, 52, attempted to rescue her, it has been reported.

According to Spanish journalist Fernando Torres, police divers on Tuesday found nothing wrong in the pool but investigations continue.

It is believed the divers have been inspecting the pool and its pump, but so far it is not known what caused the tragedy.

Mr Torres added a janitor, who he says was the first to jump into the pool to rescue them, found it difficult to get back out.

Operator CLC World Resorts and Hotels said in a statement: "The Guardia Civil have carried out a full investigation which found no concerns relating to the pool in question or procedures in place, which leaves us to believe this was a tragic accident which has left everyone surrounding the incident in shock.

"Naturally, our primary concern remains the care and support of the remaining family members; we would therefore request that their privacy be respected at this traumatic time."

A holidaymaker staying at the resort, which is near the town of Fuengirola, said she saw "bodies covered in white sheets" by the side of the pool, and could hear "a woman crying aloud".

Tanya Aamer, 23, from Birmingham, said: "The atmosphere as I was walking past is indescribable.

"Obviously we've never been in that situation before so we kind just began walking slowly in a slight state of confusion as to what we're witnessing and eventually when we got to the bottom it was just silent, no talking or anything."

CLC World Resorts and Hotels said management were assisting the authorities "fully" with an investigation into the deaths at the resort.

The statement said: "Management at Club La Costa World resort would like to offer its heartfelt condolences to the family affected by the loss of three family members on December 24 2019.

"The guests were found unresponsive in one of the resort's pools.

"First response teams and emergency services attended and administered first aid.

"The management are assisting the authorities fully with their investigation into the deaths.

"We would like to thank our first response team and the emergency services for their quick and appropriate responses, and our staff for the continuing support of the family at this difficult time."

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are offering assistance to a British woman following an incident in Spain."

Massive Rally For Catalonia’s Secession In Barcelona

A group reenacts Catalan army units from the War of the Spanish Succession during a performance to celebrate the Catalan National Day in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. The traditional September 11, called "Diada", marks the fall of Barcelona to Spanish forces in 1714. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

BY JOSEPH WILSON

BARCELONA, SPAIN (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards who support the secession of Catalonia gathered in Barcelona on the region’s main holiday Wednesday, just weeks before a highly anticipated verdict in a case against 12 leaders of the separatist movement.

Supporters of Catalan secession came from all parts of the wealthy northeastern region to its main city. Many carried flags or wore T-shirts supporting Catalan independence as they met for the rally in a large public square.

The Sept. 11 holiday memorializes the fall of Barcelona in the Spanish War of Succession in 1714. Since 2012, it has become the date of massive rallies for the region’s secessionist movement.

The Barcelona police said that around 600,000 people turned out for the event.

Polls and the most recent election results show that the region’s 7.5 million residents are roughly equally split between those in favor and those against breaking with the rest of Spain.

Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who has tried to thaw tensions with Catalonia since taking power last year, wrote on Twitter that “Today should be a day for all Catalans. For the path of dialogue within the Constitution, harmonious coexistence, respect and understanding.”

This year’s rally comes while a dozen leaders of Catalonia’s 2017 failed attempt to secede await a verdict from the Supreme Court on charges that include rebellion. They face spending several years behind bars if found guilty, and a heavy punishment would most likely spark public protests in Catalonia. The verdict is expected this month or next.

The movement, however, is going through its most difficult period since separatist sentiment was fueled by the previous decade’s economic difficulties, from which Spain has only recovered in recent years.

The pro-secession political parties have yet to agree on what the response to a guilty verdict by the Supreme Court should be. That has earned the criticism of the leading grassroots groups which have fueled the secessionist drive.

Regional Catalan president Quim Torra says that a guilty verdict would provide an opportunity to make another push for independence, without specifying how that could be carried out.

“The objective of independence should be the horizon of this country after the verdict,” he said in a recent interview on Catalan public television.

Other separatist politicians think the best move is to call regional elections in an attempt to increase their representation in the regional parliament and focus on gaining the backing of more than half of Catalans. Those against independence complain that the separatists have monopolized the holiday for their political ends.

But some activists have accused all their political leaders of not taking concrete steps to achieve their goal. Radical activists recently expressed their anger by throwing garbage and excrement on the doors of the offices of pro-secession parties.

“Not only have we not advanced, but we have taken some steps backward,” Elisenda Paluzie, the head of the influential pro-secession grassroots group ANC, told the crowd. “We demand that our leaders don’t let us down.”

Spain Finds 17 Dead Migrants, 100 Survivors In Mediterranean

In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, migrants arrive at the port of San Roque, southern Spain, after being rescued by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service in the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain's maritime rescue service saved 520 people trying to cross from Africa to Spain's shores on Saturday. Also, one boat with 70 migrants arrived to the Canary Islands. Over 1,960 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe this year, according to the United Nations. (AP Photo/Marcos Moreno)

BY ARITZ PARRA

MADRID (AP) — Spanish rescue workers combed the seas and shores of southern Spain on Tuesday, searching for 17 missing migrants a day after finding the bodies of 17 other migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in boats departing from North Africa.

The Spanish Civil Guard said it had found four bodies of migrants and 22 survivors Monday, all men from northern Africa, after their wooden dinghy hit a reef close to the coast, west of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Civil Guard said 13 of the survivors were thought to be unaccompanied minors.

It also said 17 other people traveling were missing, but could have reached Spanish shores. The Civil Guard on Tuesday resumed the search for them both on sea and land.

Earlier on Monday, Spanish maritime rescuers found 80 people, including five women, and recovered the bodies of 13 dead migrants in the Alboran Sea, part of the western Mediterranean migrant route into Europe.

The migrants were traveling in two different boats, the Spanish Maritime Rescue Service said, adding that they were all transferred to the Spanish enclave of Melilla, which borders Morocco.

The U.N. says over 2,160 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe this year, 564 of them trying to reach Spain.

At the Strait of Gibraltar on the western edge of the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe are only 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) apart but the waters there can be dangerous due to high winds and strong currents. Still, the short distance has made that route the most popular choice for migrants heading to Europe after fleeing violence or poverty at home.

Nearly 54,000 migrants have entered Europe this year through Spain, more than the combined migrant arrivals to Italy and Greece, which had been the most popular migrant destinations in previous years. One-fifth of them arrived in October, the month with most migrant arrivals so far this year, according to U.N. statistics.

The World Without Colonies – Dakhla Without Potemkin Village

BY EMHAMED KHADAD

Image Via Modern Diplomacy

Last November marked forty two years since 350,000 Moroccans crossed into the Western Sahara as part of the staged manipulation called “Green March.” November 6 is a dark day for the Saharawi people, because it epitomizes Morocco’s illegal military invasion and partial occupation of Western Sahara.

In October of 1975, the International Court of Justice had totally rejected Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over Western Sahara, and having failed to win the legal argument, Moroccan King Hassan II responded with force. He ordered the Green March, a manufactured “civilian” invasion, which was (rein)forced with an deployment of 20,000 Moroccan heavily armed troops.

Legacy of Dictator Franco still alive

With Francisco Franco on his deathbed, the Spanish colonial forces that had controlled the territory since 1884 did nothing to resist the annexation. In fact, that time Spanish dictatorship struck a deal to cede control of the territory to Morocco and Mauritania. The “Madrid Accords” between Spain, Morocco and Mauritania deliberately excluded any representatives of the indigenous Saharawi people of Western Sahara – in the best fashion of neo-colonialism. Mauritania later relinquished its claim – applauded by all progressive word. However, Morocco has continued legacy of Dictator Franco and its occupation in defiance of international law and the world community calls ever since.

The Saharawi people refused to stand idly by and watch while their land was stolen. For fifteen years, the Frente POLISARIO resisted the invasion and fought a war with Morocco. In 1991 the Organization of African Unity (the precursor to the African Union) and UN – backed by the NAM/G-77, jointly brokered a ceasefire between the Frente POLISARIO, the legitimate political representatives of the Saharawi people, and Morocco with the agreement that the Saharawi people would be allowed to exercise its right to self-determination through a referendum. The Western Sahara nation is still waiting – its people divided between a brutal and oppressive Moroccan occupation in the west and the harsh desert refugee camps of southwest Algeria.

Western Sahara is divided by a 2,700 kilometers of sand “berm” that is littered with landmines and manned by tens of thousands of Moroccan troops. The landmines, in direct contravention of the Ottawa Treaty on anti-personnel mines, pose daily risks and dangers to the lives of the Saharawi population and their livestock in the liberated area of the territory. Those under occupation are denied basic human rights and freedoms; they are discriminated against and are frequently subject to arbitrary arrest, intimidation, detainment and torture. These areas are – by many independent accounts – some of the worst on planet earth. Those living in the refugee camps are exiled from their homeland – all that for decades, with new generations born under the refugee tends. The precariousness of this situation was highlighted recently when severe flooding destroyed the camps and created a major humanitarian disaster.

Morocco – Neocolonial Master-blaster

For decades, the legitimate representatives of the Saharawi people have followed a peaceful path towards liberation, patiently making their case to the world that they too deserve to exercise their fundamental right to self-determination – elementary liberty granted to any world nation. Saharawi do this knowing that they have the full weight of international law on their side and that no single country in the world recognizes Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over Western Sahara.

Some of the strongest support for Saharawi right to self-determination comes from the African continent and the Non-Aliened Movement, where many countries have fought their own battles for freedom in recent history. Western Sahara is the last colony in Africa, classified by the UN as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, still awaiting a process of decolonization.

The AU (African Union) has been clear in its support, stating that “Western Sahara remains an issue in the completion of the decolonization process of Africa” that must be resolved. Many countries in Africa and around the world formally recognize the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is a full and founding member of the African Union. Morocco, on the other hand, is the only country in Africa that is not a member of the African Union due to its illegal occupation of Western Sahara. And still, the UN Security Council has chosen to ignore the calls of Africans, its African Union as well as the NAM to rid the continent of colonialism, oppression, flagrant brutality and economic plunder.

For over 25 years the UN Security Council has had the responsibility to facilitate a referendum on self-determination in accordance with the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, tellingly called the United Nations Mission on the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). But France and few otherrP-5 (permanent members) of the Security Council have failed to live up to this obligation by acquiescing to, or in some cases assisting with, Moroccan obstruction of the negotiating process. In the context of this stalemate, it is incumbent upon the UN Secretary-General to point the finger at Morocco and acknowledge that it is the reason why the UN’s efforts to resolve the conflict have ground to a halt. As a first step the UN Secretary-General must follow through on his promise to visit Western Sahara. This would at least send a signal to the Saharawi people that the UN is serious about resolving the conflict.

A new “Green March” every year in March

Unfortunately, what we are witnessing this mid Marchis again a bogus Dakhla Forum. This new form of “Green March” brings stashes of naïve officials and manipulated spectators – all free of charge. This ‘summit’ in the center of Concentration Camp has no deliberations, directional agenda or substantive brainstorming. It is rather a showoff, pathetic one. This lavish pampering of (mostly purely informed and misused) visitors in Potemkin Village of brutally enslaved and tortured Dakhla has only one aim – to desperately try to legitimize this unjust occupation. Regrettably, some of the delegates are either European National (MP) or EU parliamentarians (MEP) who are taking per Diams (rather incorrectly) from their taxpayers – besides being fully covered by Morocco with a business class travel and the first class accommodation for themselves and for their spouses. Finally, nobody in the EU approved MPs or MEPs to participate at dubious political whitewashing events contrary to their constituencies’ official line – even charging their taxpayers for the non-existing costs.

It is hypocritical for the major Western powers, particularly some with the UN Security Council, to claim that they are the bastions of democracy and human rights while failing to stand up to Morocco when it denies the Saharawi people the basic right of self-determination. All Saharawi ask for is what their are owed under international law: the right to decide their own future.

Too often, the world has ignored the situation in Western Sahara because the ceasefire has held and Western Sahara nation has not returned to war. But the status quo is not sustainable. An increasingly restless generation of Saharawi youth will not accept that it is their fate to live and die without ever knowing freedom from occupation. The international community should take heed and live up to its responsibilities before it is too late.

People Traffickers Target Spain To Exploit New Route Into Europe

BY GRAHAM KEELEY

JANUARY 20, 2018

A group of migrants wrap themselves in blankets as they arrive at the southern Spanish port of MalagaJORGE GUERRERO/GETTY IMAGES

MADRID, SPAIN (THE TIMES UK) -- People traffickers are adopting the tactics of drug smugglers as migrants increasingly make Spain the route into Europe.

Swift motor launches have swapped hashish for human cargo as they head to southern Spanish beaches from Africa

Figures released yesterday showed that 22,900 people arrived in Spain from Morocco or Algeria last year, more than double the previous year, according to Frontex, Europe’s border agency, although estimates vary.

By contrast, chaos in Libya led to arrivals in Italy falling by more than a third and tighter controls in Turkey meant that arrivals in Greece were down by more than 70 per cent on the previous year.

Fabrice Leggeri, the head of Frontex, said that he expected crossing attempts to increase this year. The agency was finalising plans to start a permanent border operation in the western Mediterranean and to increase the use of air surveillance.

Mr Leggeri said that traffickers had started to use the kind of fast launches used by drug smugglers, which can pack in more migrants than flimsy inflatables and which could more easily evade patrols.

Political upheaval in Morocco’s Rif region, along with Spain’s economic recovery, have played a key role in making the Iberian peninsula more attractive to migrants. Nearly 40 per cent of those who were stopped while trying to cross the sea to Spain were from Algeria or Morocco.

Overall the numbers fleeing war or poverty in Africa in search of a new life in Europe by crossing the Mediterranean halved last year, with 171,635 arrivals by boat, compared with 363,504 in 2016, according to the International Organisation for Migration).

The increase in arrivals in Spain has worried observers, who claim that the EU is failing to tackle the underlying problems that drive migration.

“The gangs are just changing routes to Spain when tougher controls are introduced in Italy or Greece. This will just carry on unless government policies are changed,” said Estrella Galán, secretary-general of Cear, an organisation working with asylum seekers. “Governments need to tackle the causes of migration, decriminalise it and introduce a visa system.”

Migrants heading to Spain arrive on beaches in Tarifa, Malaga, Almeria, Motril and Murcia. Spanish police believe that migrants pay traffickers up to €3,000 for a seat in a boat. At least 223 died trying to reach Spain last year compared with 116 the year before.

Last week seven migrants died from exhaustion, hypothermia and starvation in a boat that was found off a beach in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. Two alleged traffickers were arrested.

Thousands more try to scale three-metre high razor wire fences in Melilla and Ceuta, Spain’s cities in north Africa, or hide in cars that cross the border.

José Antonio Nieto, secretary of state for security, said Spain was working with Morocco and Algeria to combat people traffickers. “Chasing mafias and human trafficking networks is the top priority,” he said.



Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has called on the EU to increase funding for southern European countries to combat the traffickers.

Spain's Premier Rejects Catalan Mediation Offers

Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont waits to make his opening speech at the parliament in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. Puigdemont says he has a mandate to declare independence for the northeastern region, but proposes waiting "a few weeks" in order to facilitate a dialogue.

MADRID (AP) — The Latest on the crisis over Catalonia's independence bid (all times local): 4:45 p.m. Spain's prime minister has rejected offers of mediation in the Catalonia crisis, and called for respect of Spanish law.

Mariano Rajoy, while thankful for the approaches, said that "there is no possible mediation between democratic law and disobedience and unlawfulness." Rajoy made the comments while addressing Spain's parliament a day after Catalan officials signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain.

Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said the previous day that he would proceed with the secession but was suspending it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations. Rajoy finished his address to parliament on Wednesday calling for all Spaniards to "put an end to this division and to do it with serenity, prudence and the final goal of recovering coexistence."

4:30 p.m.

Spain's prime minister says that this month's referendum in Catalonia was part of a strategy "to impose independence that few want and is good for nobody."

Mariano Rajoy is addressing parliament a day after Catalan officials, including the regional president, signed what they called a declaration of independence from Spain. Rajoy has described the crisis as "one of the most difficult times in our recent history."

Rajoy said that Catalan authorities broke the law by holding the Oct. 1 referendum and incited street protests to give an appearance of legitimacy to the vote. He also said that nobody should be proud of Catalonia's referendum or the image it gave, and that not a single country supports Catalonia's push for secession.

2:40 p.m.

Spanish news reports say the National Court is summoning for further questioning two senior officers of Catalonia's regional police force and the leaders of two pro-independence civic groups in connection with the referendum.

The private news agency Europa Press and other media outlets say the four are to appear Oct. 16 before investigative magistrate Carmen Lamela at the court in Madrid on suspicion of sedition.

The summons could not be immediately confirmed by the court.

The four were released after questioning last Friday but the court said they would be recalled once it reviewed new police evidence relating to the banned Oct. 1 referendum on Catalonia's independence from Spain.

2 p.m.

The European Union's executive body says it remains firmly behind Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in his handling of the contested independence vote in the northern Catalonia region.

European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis says that "the Commission is following closely the situation in Spain, and reiterates its earlier call for full respect of the Spanish constitutional order."

He said EU commissioners on Wednesday briefly discussed developments in Spain. Catalonia's separatist authorities have appealed to the Commission to help mediate with Madrid but Rajoy has not sought EU help.

Dombrovskis said: "We are supporting the efforts to overcome division and fragmentation, to ensure unity and respect of the Spanish constitution."

1:50 p.m.

Spain's opposition leader says that the country's two main parties have agreed to renegotiate laws governing autonomy amid Catalonia's independence bid.

Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez says that a deal was reached with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to open talks in six months on reforming the constitution that would allow changes to current setup governing Spain's 17 regions, including Catalonia.

Sanchez said that his party wanted the constitutional reform to "allow for Catalonia to remain a part of Spain."

Sanchez says his party is backing Rajoy, who leads the ruling Popular Party, in pursuing clarification from the Catalan regional leader over whether independence for the northeastern prosperous region was declared Tuesday.

Sanchez said that Catalan president Carles Puigdemont needs to put it in "black and white" what his plans are.

1:20 p.m.

A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel says a declaration of independence by Catalonia "would be illegal and would not receive any recognition" from Germany.

Spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer, when asked if Germany would help negotiate between Spain and Catalonia, also told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday the German government considers Catalonia's independence efforts an internal issue for Spain and Germany would not get involved.

Demmer added it's important that Spain's unity be maintained and that the rights of all Spaniards will be guaranteed.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy formally demanded the Catalan leader clarify whether independence has been declared following an announcement Tuesday from the head of the wealthy Catalonia region that he was proceeding with a declaration of independence but was suspending it for several weeks to facilitate negotiations.

12:20 p.m.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has formally demanded the Catalan leader clarify whether independence has been declared, saying that is needed before he can decide what steps to take.

In a veiled threat, Rajoy said the clarity was required by the constitutional article that would allow Spain to intervene and take control of some or all of Catalonia's regional powers.

Rajoy issued the demand Wednesday following a special Cabinet meeting to respond to an announcement from the head of the wealthy Catalonia region that he was proceeding with a declaration of independence but was suspending it for several weeks to facilitate negotiations.

12 p.m.

A Greek anarchist group has ended a brief, peaceful demonstration at Spain's embassy in Athens to protest against the Spanish police crackdown on Catalonia's independence referendum.

Police say 18 people were detained for questioning after they voluntarily left the embassy building in Athens city center.

No damage was reported during the two-hour protest.

The anarchist group Rubicon said that Wednesday's protest was prompted by the Spanish government's "violence and repression," but it was not in support of Catalan independence.

11:45 a.m.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to deliver a statement at noon (1000GMT) Wednesday expected to focus on the response to a Catalan declaration of independence that separatists put on hold while calling for mediation efforts.

Rajoy chaired the closed-doors meeting at the government's headquarters in the Moncloa Palace, on the outskirts of Madrid.

Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said late Tuesday that he would proceed with the secession but would suspend it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations. But the government has given little indication it is willing to talk.

10:55 a.m.

Police say a Greek anarchist group is staging a sit-in protest at the Spanish embassy in Athens.

In a posting on a left-wing website, the Rubicon group said Wednesday's protest was held to protest the Spanish police crackdown on the Catalan independence referendum. The group added, however, that it does not support Catalan independence.

The group has staged a series of brief, peaceful invasions at the offices of state institutions, political parties and private corporations to protest policies it disagrees with.

Greek left-wing groups have expressed support for Catalonia's independence drive, holding a peaceful protest at the Spanish embassy last week.

10:30 a.m.

Cyprus has rejected a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia's leader, saying it violates Spain's constitution.

The ethnically divided island nation said Wednesday that it fully backs Spain's territorial integrity and sovereignty and pledged solidarity with the country and its people.

Cyprus said the best way to resolve the crisis is through peaceful dialogue in line with the Spanish constitution.

Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday he would proceed with secession from Spain but was suspending it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations.

Cyprus faces its own problem with breakaway Turkish Cypriots who declared independence in 1983, nine years after the island was split when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece.

Only Turkey recognizes the island's breakaway Turkish Cypriot north.

10:25 a.m.

Catalonia's government spokesman says that if the Spanish government decides to intervene over the region's autonomous powers, it will be seen that there is no willingness to talk and Catalonia will be obliged to press ahead with its commitment to independence.

Jordi Turull told Catalunya Radio that Wednesday's events would show if the possibility of dialogue exists for the Spanish government, and "the international community will see."

He said the Catalan government has not changed its plans but wants to talk.

Catalan government leader Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday he would proceed with the secession but would suspend it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations.

But the Spanish government, which is meeting Wednesday to discuss its response, said the declaration was inadmissible.

One of Spain's options could be to apply Article 155 of the Constitution, which allows the central government to take some or total control of any of its 17 regions if they don't comply with their legal obligations

9:45 a.m.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says a unilateral declaration of independence by Catalonia would be "irresponsible."

Gabriel said in a written statement Wednesday, "Europe's strength lies in its unity and the peace that was brought by the European unity."

He said that "a solution can only be successful through talks based on the rule of law and within the frame of the Spanish constitution."

Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said Tuesday he would proceed with secession from Spain but was suspending it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations.

The Spanish government is holding an urgent meeting Wednesday to discuss its next steps.

9:15 a.m.

The Spanish government has started an urgent meeting to discuss its next steps to halt the northeastern region of Catalonia from proceeding with a declaration of independence.

Spanish national television showed images of the ministers gathered around a table as the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, got underway.

Wednesday's meeting is taking place after Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said the previous day that he will proceed with the secession but is suspending it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations in what is Spain's most serious political crisis in decades.

Rajoy is to address parliament later Wednesday.

8:45 a.m.

The Spanish government is to hold an urgent meeting to discuss its next steps to halt the northeastern region of Catalonia from proceeding with a declaration of independence.

Wednesday's meeting is taking place after Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont said the previous day that he would proceed with the secession but was suspending it for a few weeks to facilitate negotiations.

Spain responded by saying the declaration was inadmissible, adding that it was based on an invalid independence referendum.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is to appear before parliament later Wednesday to discuss the referendum and what he plans to do next.

Portugal Approves Citizenship Plans For Sephardic Jews

Jewish prayer shawls are stored on a shelf at the entrance of the Jewish synagogue in Lisbon. Portugal is following Spain and granting citizenship rights to the descendants of Jews it persecuted 500 years ago.

LISBON, PORTUGAL (AP) — Portugal's government on Thursday approved a law granting citizenship rights to the descendants of Jews it persecuted 500 years ago, following Spain's adoption of similar legislation last year.

Cabinet spokesman Luis Marques Guedes said the government passed changes to its nationality law, providing dual citizenship rights for Sephardic Jews — the term commonly used for those who once lived in the Iberian peninsula.

The rights will apply to those who can demonstrate "a traditional connection" to Portuguese Sephardic Jews, such as through "family names, family language, and direct or collateral ancestry." Applicants will be vetted by Portuguese Jewish community institutions, as well as by government agencies. Applicants will also have to say whether they have a criminal record.

Similar legislation is pending in Spain's parliament. The Portuguese Parliament unanimously endorsed the law in 2013. Since then, the government has been drawing up the legal details and establishing administrative procedures. The effective date of the law was not immediately announced, but will be when the legislation is published soon in the country's official gazette.

Jewish community leaders say they expect the application procedure to take four months. Applicants will not need to travel to Portugal. Portuguese monarchs, eager for tax revenue and Jewish talent that helped Portugal become one of Europe's wealthiest nations during the Age of Expansion in the 1400s, had protected their thriving Sephardic community.

After Spain drove out Jews in 1492, some 80,000 of them crossed the border into Portugal, historians estimate. King Joao II charged the fleeing Sephardic Jews a tax to shelter in Portugal. He promised to provide them with ships so they could go to other countries, but later changed his mind.

In 1496 his successor King Manuel I, eager to find favor with Spain's powerful Catholic rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella and marry their daughter Isabella of Aragon, gave the Jews 10 months to convert or leave. When they opted to leave, Manuel issued a new decree prohibiting their departure and forcing them to embrace Roman Catholicism as "New Christians."

The "New Christians" adopted new names, inter-married and even ate pork in public to prove their devotion to Catholicism. Some Jews, though, kept their traditions alive, secretly observing the sabbath at home then going to church on Sunday. They circumcised their sons and quietly observed Yom Kippur, calling it in Portuguese the "dia puro," or pure day.

Though officially accepted, the New Christians were at the mercy of popular prejudice. In the Easter massacre of Jewish converts in 1506 in Lisbon, more than 2,000 Jews are believed to have been murdered by local people.

The Portuguese Inquisition, established in 1536, was at times more cruel than its earlier Spanish counterpart. It persecuted, tortured and burned at the stake tens of thousands of Jews. Now those events are widely viewed as a stain on Portuguese history.

In 1988, then-president Mario Soares met with members of Portugal's Jews community and formally apologized for the Inquisition. In 2000, the leader of Portugal's Roman Catholics issued a public apology for the suffering imposed by the Catholic Church, and in 2008 a monument to the dead was erected outside the Sao Domingos church where the Easter massacre began.