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Las Palmas hosted a conference on June 18 under the theme «International Terrorism and Radicalization: A Current Analysis and the Victims’ Perspective», at the initiative of the Spanish Association of Victims of Terrorism (AVT). The event drew the attention of Morocco’s Al Aoula television channel, which featured it prominently in its 9 p.m. news bulletin.
The meeting took place without a representative from the Canary Islands Association of Victims of Terrorism (ACAVITE), an organization that has made recognition and reparations for victims of Polisario attacks one of its main causes. Since the death of its founder, Lucía Jiménez, in May, the association has been undergoing a transition period expected to culminate in the appointment of new leadership.
Although ACAVITE was founded in 2006, it was not until November 6, 2015, that the Spanish state officially honored 40 victims of Polisario attacks.
Polisario turns to Aminatou Haidar
While the conference was not exclusively focused on acts attributed to the Polisario during the 1970s and 1980s, it reportedly generated concern among circles close to the Front in the Canary Islands. In that context, Aminatou Haidar travelled to Las Palmas, where she sought to engage with local media and political actors.
During a series of meetings, the activist defended armed action against Morocco, echoing comments made by Polisario leader Brahim Ghali in an interview published Monday by the Spanish daily ABC.
«The new generation no longer believes in peaceful resistance. It is fully in favor of war, of weapons. This is deeply regrettable, but I can understand them because the international community is indifferent and refuses to apply international law», Haidar said.
She also argued that «the deadlock in the decolonization process» and «the lack of concrete results are seriously eroding confidence in the United Nations and in diplomatic channels», according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
The conference did not conclude with an explicit condemnation of the Polisario. According to a summary of the proceedings reviewed by Yabiladi, no reference was made to acts attributed to the Front, despite the event programme including testimony from Fadel Da Mohammed, presented as «a victim of the Polisario Front».
Notably absent from the event, ACAVITE had asked Spanish judicial authorities in May 2021 to order the «immediate arrest» of Brahim Ghali while he was hospitalized in Logroño. The association argued that he was the «presumed intellectual and material author of murders, mass kidnappings and disappearances of Canary Islands fishermen and crews at sea between 1973 and 1986».
According to ACAVITE, «300 Canary Islanders are victims of Polisario terrorism whose families are still awaiting recognition and reparations», while the Spanish state has officially recognized only 40 victims.
