Debunking the Myths Surrounding Morocco and the Canary Islands
The notion that Rabat harbors ambitions of seizing the Canary Islands lacks credibility when examined against the backdrop of historical facts. In 1978, during a time when Algeria attempted to leverage the Canary Islands issue by arming a separatist movement and pressuring the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to declare the archipelago a "territory pending decolonization," it was Morocco that publicly aligned itself with Spain. This historical context is crucial, as it highlights that Morocco has never claimed sovereignty over the Canary Islands. Instead, Morocco actively supported Spain in defending its sovereignty over the archipelago when it faced persistent challenges from Algeria beginning in 1977. This reality deserves a detailed revisit, especially given how systematically it is overlooked in contemporary Spanish discourse.
Following the signing of the Madrid Agreement—a tripartite accord between Morocco, Spain, and Mauritania on November 14, 1975—Algeria launched a prolonged diplomatic campaign aimed at distancing Spain from this agreement. Algeria's strategy involved asserting that the Sahara issue remained unresolved and recognizing the Polisario Front as the "legitimate" representative of the Sahrawi people. To further its objectives, Algeria provided refuge to a fringe movement advocating for the independence of the Canary Islands, led by lawyer Antonio Cubillo, head of the Movement for the Self-determination and Independence of the Canary Islands (MPAIAC). Algeria supplied Cubillo with the necessary media resources to propagate his cause, including a dedicated program on the state-run Algerian radio, La Voz de Canarias Libre, which broadcast separatist calls directed at the archipelago.
The Algerian Maneuver and Its Implications
It is essential to note that the MPAIAC was not merely a rhetorical nuisance; its armed wing, Fuerzas Armadas Guanches, carried out a bombing in a shopping center in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1976, demonstrating that Algerian support extended beyond propaganda to backing an organization willing to resort to violence against Spanish civilian targets. This context is vital, as the threat posed by Algeria to Spain's sovereignty over the Canaries was not an abstraction confined to the meeting rooms of OAU committees but stemmed from a movement that had shown its capability and intent to strike within Spanish territory.
When it became clear that Spain had no intention of adopting an openly hostile stance toward Morocco by recognizing the Polisario as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawis, Algeria resorted to blackmail, using Spain's territorial integrity and sovereignty over the Canary Islands as leverage. From 1977 onward, Algeria aimed to have the MPAIAC recognized as a national liberation movement and the Canary Islands as an African territory awaiting decolonization. This culminated in proposals at the OAU's Ad Hoc Committee on Liberation meetings held in Tripoli from February 13 to 18, 1978, suggesting that the Canary Islands be classified as a colonial territory needing liberation and advocating for economic and logistical support for the "Canarian liberation" movement.
The Algerian maneuver regarding the Canary Islands cannot be understood without the broader rivalry between Algeria and Morocco, crystallized around the Sahara dispute, which was itself marked by the global dynamics of the Cold War. Algeria could count on Soviet and Cuban support, while Morocco aligned itself with Washington and Paris. By positioning itself as the main supporter of the Polisario on the international stage, Algeria had a vested interest in increasing the diplomatic costs for Spain in its rapprochement with Morocco and Mauritania. Utilizing a marginal separatist movement served less to advance the cause of the Canary Islands than to provide leverage over Madrid—a proxy pressure strategy described by historians, both Moroccan and Spanish, as emblematic of Algerian regional diplomacy during this period.
As reported by fr.le360.ma.
