by Pilar Saavedra-Vela
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| The Greek coastguard has caused the deaths of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over a three-year period, witnesses say, including nine who were deliberately thrown into the water. The nine are among more than 40 people alleged to have died as a result of being forced out of Greek territorial waters, or taken back out to sea after reaching Greek islands, BBC analysis has found. The Greek coastguard told our investigation it strongly rejects all accusations of illegal activities. We showed footage of 12 people being loaded into a Greek coastguard boat, and then abandoned on a dinghy, to a former senior Greek coastguard officer. When he got up from his chair, and with his mic still on, he said it was "obviously illegal" and "an international crime.” —BBC, June 17, 2024 |
In myths of Greece
the ancients were supremely
cruel. Prometheus, chained
to a pillar, an eagle
will pick at his liver forever.
King Acricius, on hearing
prophesy of his death,
set his own daughter
Danae and her child adrift
in the sea—the child Perseus
survives and one day
will slay his grandfather king.
In modern Greek seas
ancient cruelties surge and seethe:
boats full of emigrants
from the war-torn Middle East
risk the Mediterranean
to seek refuge, a new European life.
From the shores, Coast Guards
have been filmed
forcing immigrant mothers
and children, and men,
onto rubber dinghies,
tugging them out to sea,
setting them adrift.
A new Perseus might be
from Iran or Syria, or
Afghanistan.
He might survive:
he might one day
kill the sailors who,
sent to save him,
instead set him
and his mother adrift.
Pilar Saavedra-Vela has lived in Costa Rica for 37 years. Born in Colombia, she grew up in the DC area, where she returns almost every year. A translator, editor and hotel owner, she has been writing poetry since 2006 (she composed poetry earlier, just didn't write it down). She has had poems published in The New Verse News and Passager.