On the Day of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and Madeiran Communities, ADN has criticised the Government of the Republic, claiming Madeira was prevented from sending its own emergency response team to assist following the devastating earthquake in Venezuela.
In a press release, the party said that 18 Madeiran operatives, including firefighters and an EMIR doctor, were ready to deploy within 24 hours.
The team, trained in urban search and rescue operations involving collapsed buildings, included personnel who had received specialist instruction at the Academy of Chilean Firefighters. According to ADN, they were fully self-sufficient and equipped for a 12-day mission.
“Yet they remained on the ground,” the statement says.
“Not for lack of capacity. Not for lack of will. They remained grounded because the decision was never in Madeira’s hands. It was for Lisbon to decide who would go and who would stay, even when those who were ready first were the ones left behind.”
ADN also referred to comments made by the President of the Regional Civil Protection Service of Madeira, who said: “It is not for us to decide the deployment.”
The party argues that those eight words illustrate the limitations of Madeira’s autonomy, describing the Region as having the resources, qualified personnel, and immediate response capability, but lacking the authority to decide how its own emergency teams are deployed internationally.
It further claims that the Regional Government was left appealing to the national authorities for a third flight, despite Madeira already having a team prepared to leave.
“This is not an isolated failure,” the statement continues. “It is the structural reality of an autonomy that exists on paper but disappears precisely when it is needed most.”
ADN goes on to argue that if regional autonomy does not allow Madeira to decide when and how to assist when it has the means to do so, then it is “an empty autonomy.”
The party believes the Autonomous Regions should have the authority to mobilise their own civil protection resources for international humanitarian missions without having to wait for authorisation from Lisbon, which, it says, may arrive too late or not at all.
Concluding, the party states: “The hope of those who suffer cannot depend on the goodwill of those making decisions far away. That is true for Venezuela, and it is equally true for Madeira.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
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