"In the local press here it's a front-page story every day. The president of the local Tenerife government has written to all the media asking them to "tone down" their coverage as it is undermining the tourist industry, the driving force in the local economy.", writes Jonathan Power in the International Herald Tribune.

Now that makes me angry. Sr. Martin, is most welcome to write to me, but my response to the situation remains that having people properly and fully informed, rather than have them guessing, speculating and imagining all kinds of worries - that only lead to fear, hate and prejudice - is better than sticking your head in the sand and pretending there isn't a problem.

Last night I was talking to someone who has a flat near the police station in Las Americas. They tell me they "don't like it" there. It wasn't outwardly said, but it was obvious that what they meant is that they just weren't comfortable with a lot of black men nearby. And one of their biggest concerns, one I hear all the time, is about the diseases these people might bring to the islands.

Maybe there is some more risk, but does it not occur that receiving 10 million tourists from all around the world and a large number of South American returnees already means that we are risk of some outside diseases?

Even if Africans have a higher incidence of AIDS, it is hardly an added risk, because 99% of locals are not going to get close enough even to shake hands with these guys, let alone do that which it requires to become infected.

Of course there is a problem. A human one. If nothing else, we need to see to it that these desperate Africans do not continue to risk their own lives. And, for that, the west as a whole must help them, not shun them.

If the problem is not going to go away (and it isn't), then surely channeling it in the direction its nature is already heading would be the easier solution?

Only last month, we reported that almost 92% of those registered unemployed in the Canary Islands refused to pick tomatoes. I know what I would do about it: I'd give the work to those who are prepared to do then, which is too simple, I guess.

And, as Jonathan Power continues:

But the government has no intention of standing up to the highly subsidized Spanish farmers who are clamoring for cheap labor. No one sees the irony of the migrants ending up helping to keep the price of Spanish oranges competitive with Morocco's, or Spanish flowers and vegetables competitive with those from Senegal.

There is the other irony, that while six or seven thousand have arrived in boats, it is said that there are almost 20,000 on the islands who have entered calmly and fairly invisibly through the airports on tourist visas and simply never left.

As Mr Power says:

Meanwhile in Tenerife something else is going on. Not that long ago there was no tourist industry to speak of. From the turn of the 19th century onwards young men had got on rickety ships and crossed the Atlantic to Cuba and Venezuela. Today there are daily direct flights to and from Havana and Caracas, reuniting families but often bringing back those who never found prosperity on the other side of the Atlantic.

Tenerife is more swamped with returning Latin migrants than it is with Africans. Spain has no trouble employing either group. The economy purrs ahead and employers beseech the government not to return the boat people to whence they came. But rank-and-file Spaniards don't like this massive African influx. Racism is endemic.

Sadly, it touched near home recently, when a group of 32 young immigrants (all minors) were brought to a campsite in Garachico to be housed. Local residents received them by protesting in the streets and shouting abuse at the kids.

Of course people have a right to protest and it is great that we live in a country where protest is now allowed, but in this case, it is through being ill-informed.

One might go as far as to say ill-educated. Arnoldo at Imakinaria, also asking the question as to whether Canarians remember that their ancestors had done the same, when crossing the Atlantic to Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina in search of work and a dignified life, calls the protestors an embarrassment, inhuman and xenophobes. I wholeheartedly agree, but recognize that it is not entirely their own fault that they have not been better educated. And, to be fair, the protestors did suspend their actions, once they had the facts explained to them.

Yes, racism undoubtedly exists here and is worse if your skin happens to be black. It also exists if you have pasty-white north European looks too, because you are considered "fair game" for price hikes, if nothing else.

It merely makes me laugh, because I have never been a fan of pedantic "political correctness" in language, but so far, I have only met one person locally who is well informed enough to know that it is no longer politically or technically correct to call me an "extranjera" (foreigner), since the Royal Decree passed in 2003 made all us "comunitarias" (European Union citizens) equal.

These things can only be overcome by better information and education, not by "toning down" the coverage because it is undermining the tourist industry. Doing that will only lead to more "inhumanization" - only seeing tourists as numbers, for the money they bring - and will generate more hatred and intolerance, not just of African immigrants, but of all outsiders. / Rant mode off.

On Tenerife, the migrants come and go

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