Libia es prácticamente la única puerta de salida de los flujos migratorios que provienen de todos los rincones de África, puerta que quedó abierta de par en par desde la crisis que precipitó la muerte de Muammar Gaddafi, quien era el dictador que controlaba esos flujos a cambio de los pagos que recibía de gobiernos europeos.
La crisis desatada en el este país por intereses ajenos, trae las consecuencias que hoy se viven en el Mediterráneo con relación a este drama, realmente difícil de solucionar sin una mirada mas amplia a lo que son sus muy diversas causas.
"To tell the story of Libya's escalating migration crisis, one must weave together the threads of instability left behind by a toppled dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, and the power vacuum filled by rivaling factions vying to take his place. The chaos allowed smuggling networks to thrive, suddenly opening up a lucrative market designed to profit off trading humans like other goods and commodities.
The country's 1,100-mile coastline has effectively become an open border without government forces to monitor who comes and who goes. Smugglers have filled the void, willing to tightly pack hundreds of migrants at a time into flimsy vessels and shuttle them to Italy".
"Coming from the south, migrants flee the vestiges of wars that have left entire nations in ruin. From the east, they escape a life of indefinite military servitude and violent conflict. From the west, they evade destitution and governments that arbitrarily jail whomever they please. Some arrive by choice, others by force. But Libya is the purgatory where most migrants prepare to face the deadliest stretch of the Mediterranean Sea".
"Gaddafi once proudly served as protector to his country's maritime border, promising that, for a sizable compensation from Europe, makeshift loads of human cargo would not suddenly arrive in search of refuge on Italian shores. The European Union in 2008 cut a deal with the dictator, agreeing to pay $500 million in exchange for keeping migrants away. Italy later redoubled that deal. Gaddafi received an additional $5 billion over 20 years, a financial package intended to right the wrongs of colonialism, on the condition that he kept a tight grip on the border.
Those deals dissolved along with Gaddafi's iron-clad rule over Libya. Clinging to the European money that helped finance his dictatorship, Gaddafi in 2010 did little to hide the racial subtext in his threats to Western leaders: Without him, their countries would be flooded with unwanted foreigners.
"Europe runs the risk of turning black from illegal immigration," Gaddafi warned. "It could turn into Africa."
http://www.msnbc.com/specials/migrant-crisis/libya