– CARTAGENA CITY COUNCIL
The mayor, Noelia Arroyo, considers the central government’s refusal to install a CETI in the municipality, as reported in the local press and attributed to the government delegate, to be a «success» of the political and social pressure exerted by Cartagena, but will demand guarantees that this refusal is definitive.
«Cartagena has made clear its solidarity and willingness to contribute to solving the problem, but the solution cannot be to concentrate all the resources dedicated to managing immigration in the area here alone,» he said.
For this reason, he added, «we think it is good that there is already talk of Cartagena not being the site of a second centre of this type, but we need guarantees. We have already had the experience of being told in the past that we would not have a CATE, and in the end it was imposed on us in the port.
Arroyo recalled that since the existence of visits to military installations in Cartagena with the aim of creating a centre for the temporary stay of immigrants became known, she has conveyed the opposition of the local government to both the government delegate and the Minister of Integration, Social Security and Migration. The mayor is waiting for a written reply confirming the government’s final rejection of a CETI in Cartagena.
«Our rejection of the concentration of resources includes the creation of camps in Cartagena to receive migrants arriving from other parts of Spain, since it has already been demonstrated that the government is not able to adequately manage even those who arrive directly in Cartagena,» said Arroyo.
SOCIAL SUPPORT
The mayor recalls that the opposition to the concentration of resources in Cartagena has been supported by the majority of the City Council through various initiatives by the political groups that were approved in the last ordinary plenary session.
In addition, organisations such as the Confederation of Business Organisations of Cartagena (COEC), the Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Neighbourhood Associations of Cartagena and the Region (FAVCAC) have joined this opposition.
All of them, says the Mayoress, «are aware of our duty of solidarity, but they also share the need to locate the resources where there is no migratory pressure, so as to guarantee these services without creating new problems».