Movement for Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary Islands

The Movement for Self-Determination and Independence of the Canary Islands (MPAIAC) was a group of armed independence struggle, founded in 1964 by Antonio Cubillo, whose goal was secession of the Canary Islands of Spain. During the 1970s, it operated through two terrorist groups: the Guanche Armed Forces (FAG) and the Canarian Armed Detachments (DAC), directly causing one death, and indirectly causing 583 deaths and 61 injuries. It maintained excellent relations with other terrorist groups., mainly GRAPO, which provided it with weapons and explosives, and with socialist Arab governments, such as Libya and Algeria, which provided financing.

The MPAIAC advocated the creation of a Guanche Socialist Republic in the Canary Islands integrated into the African context.

In 1979 the organization renounced terrorism and expelled Cubillo, its founder and until then general secretary.

History

Beginnings: Algerian foundation

The MPAIAC was founded on October 22, 1964 in Algeria by the lawyer Antonio Cubillo, previously linked to the Canarias Libre and voluntarily expatriated in 1962 for unclear reasons. Among others he was joined by Ángel Cuenca, José I. Díaz "el Mexicano" and Ángel Cabrera "el Rubio", a common criminal with a long history. The inspiration for his way of fighting was the National Liberation Front of Algeria. This movement, through armed or bomb attacks on civil and military institutions, generated the political tension necessary to achieve the independence of Algeria. Algeria was precisely the country that most supported the MPAIAC.

The MPAIAC, supported by the Algerian government, strategically opted for an Africanist line, resorting to the nationalist exaltation of the ancient aborigines of the Canary Islands of the island of Tenerife known as Guanches. With this, in 1968 he managed to get the support of an ad hoc Liberation Committee of the extinct Organization for African Unity (OAU), led by Algeria, which in a secret meeting declared the Canary Islands as a geographically African archipelago, alleging the geographical juxtaposition of the islands with respect to Africa.

In the geopolitical context of the Arab Cold War, from 1975 to 1978 the Algerian intelligence services made Radio Algiers available to the MPAIAC, which started the radio broadcasts of La Voz de Canarias Libre for the Canary Islands. Thus, Algeria could favor its geopolitical interests in the area during the Western Sahara war, and promote the creation of an independent Canary Islands favorable to its interests. At the beginning of February 1976, a delegation from the Democratic Junta of Spain formed by Rafael Calvo Serer, Santiago Carrillo and José Vidal-Beneyto visited Algiers and requested the closure of the station, to facilitate the Spanish Transition, and the concession to Cubillo was not withdrawn until 1978.

Terrorist attacks in Spain

On November 1, 1976, the MPAIAC began terrorist activity through the Guanche Armed Forces (FAG), detonating an explosive in the Preciados Galleries in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. After this attack in the capital of the Canary Islands, the following attacks targeted the Canarian tourism sector, attacking a hotel, numerous tourist offices and travel agencies in the capital islands. The MPAIAC supported El Rubio, the assassin of the industrialist Eufemiano Fuentes and, at the end of 1976, it facilitated his escape to Algeria.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, March 27, 1977, they explode a bomb in the flower shop of the Gran Canaria Airport passenger terminal, injuring 7 people and announce a second bomb, forcing the flights to be diverted to Los Rodeos Airport, in Tenerife. This event was decisive in the largest air accident in the history of aviation, with 583 fatalities. The terrorist Cubillo denied planting the bomb and blamed the deaths on air traffic controllers, the pilots and the prevailing fog. Terrorist activities did not stop. That same month, MPAIAC militant Santiago Marrero entered the La Isleta barracks (Las Palmas) to steal weapons, dying in a shootout with the surveillance Army soldiers. On Tuesday, June 14, 1977, the day before the general elections, they attacked Pescanova in Madrid. On January 2, 1978, they hijacked the ship Antonio Armas, which was heading from Las Palmas to Valencia, and they diverted it to Orán. At dawn on February 3, a bomb exploded at the monument to Cervantes in Madrid. On February 24, 1978, the terrorist activity of the MPAIAC caused a fatality in the attack on the Banco de Vizcaya de La Lagoon. Police bombardier Rafael Valdenebro was mortally wounded while trying to defuse the bomb planted by the MPAIAC. The 27-year-old bombardier was hit in the head, arms and legs and died on March 8.

On April 5, 1978, Cubillo was the victim of an assassination attempt, being stabbed in Algiers, leaving him disabled for the rest of his life. The government of Houari Boumédiène of Algeria silenced what had happened for 72 hours while they ordered the arrest of all Spaniards living in Algiers. The reason was the use of propaganda in favor of the Liberation Committee and the appearance of Cubillo at the OAU summit to divert attention in Algeria from the economic and political problems affecting his Government. The National Court ruled in 1990 that "undetermined" persons, but "belonging to the police services", commissioned the murder of José Luis Espinosa Pardo, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison and paid compensation of 150,000 euros. In 2003 Cubillo would get 150,253 euros from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior under the Law of Solidarity for Victims of Terrorism. Much later, Cubillo and his frustrated murderer come face to face in a documentary on Radio Televisión Canaria. In this The documentary reviews the history of the MPAIAC, and former members of ETA point out that in the 1970s the MPAIAC had much more international support and recognition. This is due to how the Canary Islands case was linked to decolonization files in Africa.

1979: expulsion of Cubillo

The MPAIAC finally renounced the armed struggle and in 1979 expelled its founder and general secretary, Antonio Cubillo, for not agreeing on some approaches with the leadership. Cubillo continued to present himself as a spokesman and leader of the MPAIAC, delegitimizing the use of the name by the other group. Later, Cubillo founded the National Congress of the Canary Islands (CNC). Within the CNC there will also be disputes over the distribution of $25,000 and subsequent financial aid that supposedly went to his private account in France and would have ended with attempts at aggression among its members.

The political objective of the MPAIAC, the independence of the Canary Islands, was at stake in the negotiations with Spain to join NATO in the second half of the 1970s. The United States let Spain understand that, if it did not enter NATO, NATO, would support the MPAIAC. After the decision of the Government of Spain to start the procedures for accession, the closure of the Algerian radio station controlled by this armed group took place.

Around 2003, some of the former members of the MPAIAC who were expelled in their day reconstituted this organization, although this reconstitution will not be recognized by most of the historical militants. On the other hand, the political activity of the reconstituted MPAIAC is practically nil and hardly goes beyond the Internet.