Ernesto Gómez Abascal

This year marks the 41st anniversary of the beginning of the Polisario Front’s fight against the illegal occupation of its territory by the Moroccan monarchy.

Although the Saharan people’s struggle dates back further, it was in May 1973, when the Polisario Front was formed and initiated an organized struggle to achieve national independence.

The Spanish colonizers, after being defeated in Cuba in 1898, had occupied the territory of Western Sahara – known as Sagüia el Hamra and Río de Oro - almost completely desert, in the northeast of Africa, with a scarce, essentially nomadic population, but rich in phosphate and with an attractive fishing bank off the coast, inside its territorial waters.

Spain, according to a ruling by the United Nations Decolonization Commission, was obliged to initiate, at the beginning of the 1970’s, the process of self-determination by the population of Western Sahara, in order to put an end to its colonial status. Reactionary political interests, however, determined that the majority of the territory was handed over to the ambitious and expansionist Moroccan monarchy, and a southern portion to the government of Mauritania, which renounced its control shortly thereafter, due to its inability to resist the Saharan independence fighters.

Morocco was left with the entire territory and initiated a demagogic campaign called "the green march," sending hundreds of thousands of its citizens to colonize the region.

The process of self-determination continues today, pending enforcement by the UN and successive Spanish governments, committed to the economic interests of Morocco and other NATO countries. France, in particular, rather than actively working to secure self-determination has obstructed the agreed-upon process. A large percentage of Saharans live in refugee camps in Algeria, in inhumane conditions, or on the fringe of liberated territory, behind an immense militarized wall, in an area full of land mines and all types of explosives created by the occupants.

The monarchy, just like the Zionists from Israel, not only illegally occupy foreign territory, but have also tried to expand and take parts of Algerian and Mauritanian land.

In 1962, after winning independence from France, and years of bloody fighting, Algeria faced attempts by Morocco to gain control of parts of the country. At that time, a regiment of Cuban tanks was sent to help our Algerian brothers repel illegal Moroccan aggression.

Before the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, a UN delegation visited the region and interviewed its inhabitants, as well as authorities from bordering countries, determining - as stated in their report - that the Saharan people have clearly expressed their desire for complete independence and opposition to any form of annexation by neighboring countries.

Morocco invaded the territory illegally and forced – through blood and violence - a large portion of the population, to flee to the desert and regions adjacent to Algeria, leaving no alternative for those who began the struggle for national liberation.

As with the illegal occupation of Palestine, Western powers to impose a double standard in this case, as well. Rabat authorities carry out all manner of violations; they repress and massacre the Saharan people, imprison hundreds under inhumane conditions, torture and disappear citizens, but are not summoned before international courts or Human Rights Commissions. Morocco also does not appear in the famous and hypocritical lists published by the U.S. State Department. On the contrary, they receive extensive aid from their allies, including advanced weaponry. Of course the "great Western press" completely overlooks what is happening in Western Sahara.

It was in large part there, in November 2010, where the "Arab spring" began, when popular protests occurred or were promoted in other countries in the region. In the large refugee camp, Gdeim Izik, on the outskirts of the city of El Aiun, thousands of Saharans, including women, elderly people and children, demanding freedom and independence, were savagely attacked by Moroccan soldiers and security forces, who set fire to the camp, resulting in an as yet unknown number of dead, injured and disappeared.